Harry’s New York Bar

Getting there

Station Opera/Auber
Metro: purple line 8/ pink line 7/ green line 3
RER: A (red)

Harry’s New York Bar 5 rue Daunou (http://www.harrysbar.fr/en/)

The place where they created the Bloody Mary, the Blue Lagoon, the Sidecar and I imagine the hangover…

In 1911, a former US jockey (Tod Sloan who invented the famous ‘monkey crouch’ racing style) wanted to open a bar in Paris. With the threat of prohibition looming in the states, one place they new would not be subject to the threat of alcohol becoming a rarity was France (come on imagine telling the French they couldn’t drink anything, this country is like one big vineyard and the French hate doing as they’re told). So he convinced a friend who owned a bar in New York to dismantle it and literally move it panel by panel to Paris.

They chose the area of Opera given it’s location at the time which as an area with the famous Opera House and it’s shopping had attracted a lot ofAmerican expats already so….it made sense to open here!

Since then, the rest as they say, is history and over the years the Bar was frequented by a number of famous American expats and international celebrities such as Ernest Hemingway, Coco Chanel, Rita Hayworth, Humphrey Bogart and even, occasionally, the Duke of Windsor who came to taste a few of the most famous cocktails in the world which were created here.

The downstairs piano bar is where Gershwin composed An American In Paris and even in literature in the Ian Fleming short story “From a View to a Kill”, James Bond recalls visiting Harry’s Bar during his first visit to Paris at age 16 a place described by Mr. Bond “That had started one of the memorable evenings of his life, culminating in the loss, almost simultaneous, of his virginity and his notecase”.

Please note you are looking 10€ and more for a drink here, but If its good enough for Bond it’s good enough for me. After all, you only live once twice.

“A Harry’s pick me up please shaken not stirred s’il vous plait”.

Shadows of the Jazz Age

Getting there

Metro: Montparnasse/Bienvenue (Purple Line 4/Green Line 12)

“Paris, was the 20th century. It was the place to be.” – Gertrude Stein

You can follow in the footsteps of Ernest Hemmingway, Picasso, Scott Fitzgerald, Gertrude Stein… heck start where it all started: at a crossroads in Montparnasse.

As you exit Montparnasse Bienvenue, take Sortie 5 for Blvd du Montparnasse and then enjoy the stroll for 5 minutes down the Blvd past the shops and cinema till you reach the crossroads of Blvd du Montparnasse/Blvd Raspail. Here are four great cafes of the jazz age decorated in glorious Art Deco’ness and decorated with photos of the writers and artists who met, chatted, argued, dined and even slept here.

La Coupole (102 Boulevard du Montparnasse)

Le Select (99 Boulevard du Montparnasse) A scene from Hemingways 3rd novel Fiesta is set here

Le Rotonde (105 Boulevard du Montparnasse)

For me this is the more famous and my favourite, I love the story of this place! it was a favourite of Picasso in the early part of the 1900’s (post his days of squatting at the Bateau Lavoir in Bohemian Montmartre as following the outbreak of World War 1 many artists, Picasso included, moved away from Montmartre, mainly to Montparnasse). During the creative era of the early 1900’s the proprietor allowed the impoverished artists to sit here for hours nursing a cup of coffee which cost no more than 10 cents. If they fell asleep, the waiters were instructed not to wake them. Often if a truly poor artist couldn’t pay their bill, the owner would often accept a drawing, keeping it until the artist could settle his tab. Because of this little system, there were times when the café’s walls were littered with a collection of works of art the worlds richest and greatest collectors couldn’t even dream of.

Opposite is L’Auberge de Venise (10 rue Delambre) formerly called the Dingo Bar where Hemingway met Lady Duff Twysden, the model for Brett. Here, too, he first met F Scott Fitzgerald (author of the Great Gatsby if I must give you a hint) and whilst no longer a dive bar from the glorious jazz age, but now, a rather nice little restaurant the wooden counter remains (yes you can touch it if you must).

And not forgetting….

La Closerie des Lila’s (109 Boulevard du Montparnasse) a little further down the Blvd, you can dine in the very place where Fitzgerald read the Great Gatsby to Hemingway.

After this restaurant if you take the left onto St Michel Blvd you have the very handily located Station for RER line B (Station Port Royal, the next stop on this line is Denfert Rocheau if you want to visit the Catacombs!), or you can not be so lazy and enjoy the walk through the small but pleasant Jardin de St Michel. From here you can keep left and wander through the vast grassy and tree lined expanse of the Jardin de Luxembourg, enjoying its all year round landscaped glory under the watchful eye of theEiffel Tower, or you can keep to the right of the park and stay on the Blvd to enjoy the quirky little shops as you enter the sedate and sophisticated neighbourhood of St Germain which leads you into the lively Latin Quarter with its array of bars, restaurants and tourist boutiques all just ‘au bord’ the Seine. Whist you are here you can also continue stalking the literary greats as The St Germain neighbourhood was the final abode of….

Oscar Wilde

L’Hotel at 13 Rue des Beaux Arts
Metro: St-Germain-des-Prés .

Okay this isn’t technically Montparnasse but its close. Previously known as the Hôtel d’Alsace, Oscar Wildest last days on this earth were spent here in room 16 wittily remarking “I am dying beyond my means”. However his last words were famously reported to have been “Ether this wallpaper goes or I do”. Witty to the end and sadly for the world it was the wallpaper that won that one.

However along with Marie Antoinette’s misconstrued ‘let them eat cake’ (which thanks to history we know she didn’t actually say), what he ACTUALLY said was “This wallpaper and I are fighting a duel to the death. Either it goes or I do.”

Which is still funny and a touch sad given that this former world-renowned literacy great was in fact lying, broke and abandoned by nearly all of his friends, on his deathbed in a cheap hotel in France. But he still got in one last quip! And “Either this wallpaper goes or I do” is a great thing to say considering his situation was far from humorous. Unfortunately also as with all good stories he actually said this weeks before he died and his actual last words were in fact, as far as we know, part of a mumbled Catholic prayer. Dommage.

For me shadows of the Jazz Age you might want to try this cool place here ‘Harry’s New York Bar‘. But for this you need to head over to Opera.

Legay Choc Boulangerie

Metro: Hotel de Ville (lines 1 / 11)

Okay so it’s a boulangerie, it’s in the Marais, the gay district, it has gay in the title, of course it’s going to sell penis shaped products and why not!

Of course they sell perfectly delicious normal shaped products too this is after all an award winning bakery, but that’s not the point and that’s not why I’m writing about it. I don’t want to detract from the fact that their ‘baguettes de magique’ and phallic shaped brioches are very reasonably priced and delicious! But you may want to eat them in private…

Muhahahahaha my fiancé displaying absolutely no shame whatsoever

They have a website where you can view all innocent and x-rated products so um…enjoy I guess!

Le Gaychoc official website

Getting there

Nearest metro is Hotel de Ville, then you have to walk… Stop complaining and get used to this walking business, it’s hardly like all routes aren’t scenic. It’s about 10 mins so best if I give you this and an explanation below:

Walk along Rue Renard so you pass in front of the Hotel de Ville (the town hall) then you can take lots of pictures as you go. Turn right into Rue de la Verrerie (lots of shops along here ladies) so you walk alongside the Hotel de Ville, cross over the road, then take your first left into Rue du Temple and go all the way down enjoying the shops and quaint old building frontages of the medieval Marais district as you go until you reach the crossroads. Here take the first right into Rue St Croix la Bretonnerie and look for no. 45. Or the cue of people out the door, or those giggling in a shop window… But it’s literally the first shop on your right!

45 Rue Ste Croix la Bretonnerie
75004 Paris
France

+33 9 75 96 60 17 (if you feel the need!)

Rose Bakery, Montmartre

Getting there

Metro stop: Pigalle Line 2, then walk for 5 minutes; turn your back to the metro station (so you are looking down hill) and walk straight past the monprix on your left and head down Rue Frochot. You will come to a cross roads cross straight over here (so across Rue Victor Massé) continue straight down Rue Henry Monnier and then first left down Rue de Navarin, you will reach a T junction….cross over the street it’s right in front of you at no. 48 Rue des Martyrs.

Don’t be fooled by the fact the facade looks like this

That’s the entrance honest!

Nope I’m definitely at the right place:

So I’m a big fan of going for a cup of coffee. It was Starbucks that did this to me, in London I lived in Starbucks. It started off as a free wifi thing then became an obsession. I love coffee houses, chilled out, unpretentious, perfect to sit and chill alone or with friends (and again because I spend a lot of time alone it’s nice to be able to go somewhere where you know people aren’t going to look at you like you’ve been stood up which is often the case with bars).

Paris knows how to do coffee houses, or tea rooms. Starbucks is actually a bit of an insult here and unsurprisingly so. So in my quest for an awesome place to chill with a coffee one day I stumbled upon this little place called the Rose Bakery! For weeks I said I would visit and never did, then one day I was on a mission and went into Paris to check out another tearooms called ‘tea and tattered pages’. I missioned all the way there only to find this place sadly has now closed down due to the American lady who owns it sadly being struck by illness.

Ah I found it…..!

C’est dommage 😦

So now what? My brain jogged me… Go check out that English place! It’s near the station home you may as well… Actually I think my brain just needed some caffeine and cake, so I got my gps on and trundled off to the nearest metro to the Rose Bakery.

Brief History

The couple that own this bakery (he’s French she’s British) actually used to run a knitwear shop and developed a passion for baking, which it turns out they are pretty good at. They initially set up in London’s Marylebone High Street selling sandwiches and quiches and slowly the business expanded and instead of taking it to larger premises they merely took it to another country and opened up in Paris.

Brave considering they are in the land of gourmand; I know as untrained bakers lets set up a bakery in the land of the boulangerie.

However with good presentation and pride in produce (not to mention keeping it manageable the bakery only seats 30) they are now more than a success. Packed from morning til evening they even sell English produce, fresh produce, organic produce. . 


Restaurant? Shop? Market? You decide…

The premises are by known means fancy;

The main dining room

Plus I have to say that the amount I paid for it was pretty scarey I had a nice latte and a delicious (it was pretty amazing, complete with the kind of icing my mum makes so well) slice of fruits de rouges,
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but still nearly choked when they asked for 9,00€ at the end of it. Hmm standard Starbucks price i guess but a lot cooler.

You can have great healthy main meals here starting from 10€ all very fresh and even the negative reviewers on the net absolutely couldn’t fault the food so they are definitely doing something right! Vive la difference 🙂

Mmmmmm cake

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Refuge des Fondues

Getting there: metro stop Anvers (line 2), it’s about 5 minutes walk from here! dodge up the nearest side street you see lined with touristy shops and cafes heading up towards the Sacre Couer and stop at the T junction. You should see this:

Now turn your back to it, that’s the street you just came up…

Now look right and head up here:

Eventually you will get to a junction, don’t go straight on and don’t go immediate right up the hill, take the road in the middle the ‘rue des trois freres’

It’s about 30 seconds up there on your left past a couple of creperies. You can’t miss it, the front is bright red with spotlights, a picture of a clown weight lifting with a barbell of cheese and a gold baby bottle for a door handle (this is actually very relevant). Also if you arrive after 8pm at night then you’ll be able to spot it by the large crowd of people waiting outside for a table.

So what’s so special about this place?? Why the crowds?? Well the food is good, the atmosphere is great and you get to drink out of BABY BOTTLES!!!

Yes!!! Rumor has it that as their is a tax on wine by the glass in France so this is how they get round it. It’s not a glass after all it’s a baby bottle. At 3,50€ for a bottle I hear no complaints. I’m not going to lie its a little weird at first and the guys always seem to take to it faster than the girls…

Anyway for 21€ you get 3 courses and an apero (aperitif: which consists of a small glass of sweet rosé) also one baby bottle of wine is included. 3 courses consists of; a selection of appetisers and then either meat or cheese fondue. If there’s two of you it’s good to order 1 of each, they give you a LOT

Aperitif and appetisers:

Mains:

What you get is two lit burners on your table to keep your food hot; then for the cheese option you get a large pan with lovely melted cheese fondue (a mix of 3 different types of mountain/montagne cheese) placed on the burner accompanied by a basket of bite size chunks of bread to dip in said cheese (the basket is replenished every time it looks so much as if you are nearing the bottom of the basket so make sure you are hungry) and for the meat you get a big bowl of raw chunks of beef (this confused my ignorant fondue virgin self on my first visit, I mean I know the French like their meat reeeeeally undercooked and of course they are the ones that insist on the whole steak tartare which is basically raw mince and if you want a medium steak here you have to ask for it seriously well done) but this was ridiculous! Big raw chunks!!! Then I realized when they gave us skewers and a big pan of hot oil that you basically cook the meat yourself in the oil and then they give you a plate of sauces you can dip your chunks of steak in after if you so wish. Delicious!!! They give you a lot, 3 of us struggled to get through a big meaty bowl for only two people last time!

Meat before and after!

It’s not just the food and cheap wine that people come here for though it’s also the crazy ambience. This is a tiny little restaurant, you are sat so closely with the other diners be prepared to make friends, obviously something which comes naturally after the first bottle.

Everybody is seated either side of a long table on benches, usually ladies will be placed wall side because you have to climb over the tables to get in there. No you don’t have to, you are massively ENCOURAGED to do so by the waiters who aid your climb whilst you are cheered on by your fellow diners. Often the restaurants on the otherside of the street can hear when you are deciding to leave your table from the cheering and whooping sounds emanating from the doorway!

Standard everybody cheering the poor people peering in through the window who were waiting outside in the rain for our table…

As I’ve said this place is small, it is also filled with the burners that are keeping your cheese and the oil for your meat molten hot and naturally it gets pretty toasty in there so don’t dress for winter, make sure you leave your layers on the walls of coat hangers provided.

All around the walls is the scrawl of people who have left their marks over the years. Ask for a pen they will happily oblige so you can add your ‘waz ‘ere’ alongside everyone else’s.

Ps. Those last two pics are literally the size of it.

Tips: arrive early, the place opens at 7pm, if you arrive between 7-7:40pm whether you have made reservations or just rock up on chance; chances are you’ll get a seat, but after this time you face a long wait for however many people are occupying those spaces to eat their food (and the French are not fast eaters) and enjoy several good baby bottles of cheap wine and have their deserts or coffee etc etc.

Once the place starts to get busy people wondering up the street looking for somewhere to eat will be attracted by the happy sounds coming from the open doorway and when they see the food and baby bottles then they want in as well, not to mention the French are late eaters so after 8pm it is far more likely that they will rock up and take over the tables.

I did wait once for nearly an hour with a group of 9 of us, and we arrived at 7:45pm for our reservation at 8pm finally got in just before 9pm! If your table is ready when you arrive it’s yours! If your table is ready and you aren’t all there, they will give it away to the next people that come along (couples note you will get seated a lot quicker than if there is a large group of you!). It may seem unfair but they like to keep the place full and they damned well know you’ll wait because you’ll have such an awesome time when it is your turn to be seated that you’ll forget all about how frustrating the last 40 mins staring through the window egging everybody in there on to hurry up and finish, truly was.

Address: 17 Rue des Trois Freres, 75018, Paris
Tel: (+33) 01 42 55 22 65 (good luck with that…)

Moulin Rouge & Cimitiere de Montmartre

Nope not the movie, although the movie is one of my favourites and the trigger for my obsession with Paris. Moulin Rouge actually means ‘red mill’ in French.

Getting there:

If you want to walk and absorb the atmosphere of the red light district then alight at Anvers as you would for the Sacre Coeur and head along the main road (so heading away from the metro station) and keep walking past all the sex shops, occasionally stop to giggle and take pictures… and you’ll be there in 10 minutes.

We have all done it…

I recommend you walk down the middle of the boulevard though for better views (pavements on either side of the road are a bit cramped) and DO stick to the middle, they have sneaky bike lines at the outside and most bikes don’t have bells on…. Alternatively if you are THAT lazy (or don’t want your partner getting ideas) then take line 2 to Blanche which conveniently is located right in front of it!

History

Opened on the 6th October 1889 by the shows creator Jospeh Oller and his manager Charles Zidler (the movie wasn’t all fiction you know). This club is more famous than its other review types in Paris (such as the Lido) for being the birthplace of the cancan as we now know it. Cancan by the way is French for ‘scandal’. I would quickly like to point out though that the cancan whilst suggestive was nowhere NEAR as raunchy as the “the women dancing it didn’t wear underwear…..” seedy reputation it has gathered like a game of Chinese whispers over the last 120 years. The dance is actually an offshoot of the “gallop” and was developed by terribly respectable and well to do couples in the ballrooms of montparnasse, it was a gallop with added kicks and arm movements which later became the can can as we know to it today!

moving on… I have yet to see the show at the Moulin Rouge “Féérie” as to do so would involve taking out a small loan but if you want to take photos from outside it’s FREE!

Doing it my way:

If you want to see a show however…. Here you are:

Shows: 7 days a week 2 shows a day, lunchtime (1pm entrance) and dinner (7pm entrance)
Prices: Adults 95€ – 200€ for show only or incl. dinner, drinks options
website: Moulin Rouge official

I haven’t put up a link to buying tickets as honestly, just google them, the price is consistent throughout they aren’t discounted anywhere. HOWEVER sometimes on some websites you can buy the tickets in with a reasonably priced seine cruise or discount tickets for the Eiffel tower so look around!

So you have taken pics of the Moulin Rouge, now where? Well theres a couple of options

Outside the Moulin Rouge you can pick up le petit train de montmartre, a little white road train which goes on a 40 minute circuit of Montmartre including passing the Sacre Coeur. More info on its other stops here:

petit train de Montmartre

2. Staying on the same side of the road walk a little further on to Place du Clichy where you will find the Cimitere du Montmartre (cemetary).

Cimetiere de Montmartre

Getting there: If you haven’t walked from Blanche (line 2) at the Moulin Rouge, then nearest metro station is: Place de Clichy lines 2/13. It’s a bit disorientating when you exit Place de Clichy station. My suggestion is look for the Starbucks (or KFC) and walk up that street with those on your right hand side. You should then cross one road, keep walking to the second road, this is also Blvd de Clichy. Turn right into Blvd de Clichy then look over the road (you are going to have to cross!) you should see an Irish bar called Corcorans (also reasonably priced drinks here and they do excellent full english breakfasts and pie & chips if you really can’t deal with French food) on the left hand side of the bar is the entrance to the Cimitiere!

The entrance is big enough, set just back from the road (and under another main road as you will see!) but you can still easily walk past it.

If you are walking from the Moulin Rouge then keep to the same side of the road for about 5 minutes then keep your eyes peeled for the last bar on your right at the end of the blvd which happens to be Corcorans the Irish bar (I may tell them about this blog and see if I can get a free breakfast for the advertising!) voila the entrance is there.

So why a cemetery?? Personally I find them peaceful and interesting. I found Pere Lechaise a little hard to cope with mind maybe that’s a little too much death in one place for my liking.

If you happen to be in Paris with someone though who really wasn’t up for this like I found myself in the situation of once (graveyard??? Okay dear whatever you say) then there is always the French Flair Rugby bar over the road and also the aforementioned Irish pub. Leave them to it. However last time the tables fast turned and I recall standing in Pere Lechaise (which is a MASSIVE graveyard) feeling a little strange about the surroundings whilst my ex husband (who in the morning had been very much of the ‘why graveyards?’ opinion) went tripping off across the headstones, clutching a map in his hand and enthusiastically saying

“according to the map Chopins grave is around here somewhere!!”

All I could think very darkly was, great, what’s he going to do when we find him, invite us in for a cuppa?

So you never know who is going to enjoy it more, anyway you are on holiday, experience something new and unusual and nobody does thngs more chic including death than the Parisiens!

This Cimitiere was opened in 1825 and whilst built in a very busy place with two intersections literally passing through it, it’s just so….peaceful!

Mind you Parisian graveyards do have massive over crowding issues (this history of Parisian cimitieres and over-crowding is a whole blog in itself, morbid but fascinating; In 1786 cemeteries were banned from Paris after the closing down of the Cimitiere les invalides due to it basically being a massive health hazard. But then when there’s so little space left in a designated space to bury your dead you’re leaving them lying around the edges then it’s not going to end well or hygienically. Don’t worry the bodies did end up somewhere respectful, they are lining the catacombs under the streets of Paris, you can go see so for yourself at the Paris Catacombs at Denfert Rocheau)

With this cemetery though it’s not so much the amount of dead taking up the space but there insistency on large and exotic mausoleums to remember them by.

The Cimitiere is even divided into named avenues

There are maps on the way in so you can locate the famous (can’t say rich and famous, rich pretty much applies to everyone buried there, you have to be!) as amongst the towering angels and mausoleums you’ll find the resting places of

Nijinsky

Alexandre Dumas

I could go on all day, it’s the resting place of many a dancer, playwright, musician, actor. Singer…. Who knows maybe they will offer you that cup of coffee 😉

Open: 7 days a week 16 mar to 5 Nov: 8am – 6pm. 6 Nov to 15 Mar: 8am – 5.30pm,
The gates open at 8.30am on Saturdays, and at 9am on Sundays and bank holidays.

Official leaflet and map PDF here:

Sacre Coeur

metro: Anvers line 2

If you get off the metro at Anvers on line 2, don’t expect the Sacre Coeur to be right there in front of you, you actually need to dodge up the nearest side street you see lined with touristy shops and cafes and voila….

There it is

You have to go away from the main road to get to it and oh did I mention…. It’s on the top of a hill?

But for the idle amongst you don’t let that put you off, it happens to have a very handy monorail/lift thingy known as the funicular. So handy in fact it even has its own wiki page here:

Montmartre funicular

For the rest of you and anyone reading this who is an ex PT client of mine, get on the stairs, I believe there are 225 (not all in one go I will also add and it’s nice to stop and take in the view as you ascend).

Choices choices…

Perched at the top of what is known as the Butte (which means small hill in French) of Montmartre, the Sacre Couer is a pretty impressive sight. For me this place is more fascinating than Notre Dame if religious buildings are on your itinerary. Built in the late 19th century it was actually constructed as a massive memorial to honour the 58,000 people who had lost their lives and to inspire faith in the French people during what was a very trying era after they had basically been owned during the Franco-Prussian war (Do you know how hard I am trying here not to make a joke about this being something by now they are used to… Or maybe that could explain why they have so many magnificent churches…. To my French friends I’m sorry I shall stop right there).

Alongside there defeat during the war Paris had at that time its own internal war going on (they love a good argument). In 1871 Paris was ruled for two months by a workers party known as the Paris Commune. Before too long it was kicking off between the Commune, ultra-Catholics (stronger & more reliable than normal Catholics I guess) and royalists (who were backed up by the French Army…)

Naturally the Commune lost (hence them only lasting two months) in a series of battles (blood, guts, it was nasty) and after the archbishop of Paris gave the order to build the basilica as a way to “expiate the crimes of the communards”.

Fine, but the Communes didn’t exactly do all the fighting, the other groups had spilled a fair amount of blood too so no one was really guiltless of committing horrible crimes here, which caused much controversy (although obviously no one listened else I’d have nothing to write about)

The Butte of Montmartre was a religious site and the Communes first rebellion just so happened to have been in (guess where?) Montmartre (riiiiiiiight!) so where better place to stick it?

Paul Abadie was chosen over 77 other architects to design the new basilica. Sadly he died not long after the first foundation stone was laid so never got to see it completed.

Inspired by Eastern Bazantine (late Roman Empire) architecture it cost 7 million French francs raised mostly by private donations. A large portion coming from visitors and pilgrims to the site to see the provisional chapel and watch its construction, kind of like an early tourist attraction if you like. I wonder how long they’ll drag out Barcelona’s Sagrada Familia like this 😉

A random fact:

You may notice the Sacré-Coeur is extremely washing powder white. This is because its built with what is basically a self cleaning stone (known as travertine stone). Super clever stuff, it is also frost resistant and constantly exudes calcite, so no matter the weather or pollution it’s permanently white!

Le Vue (the view)

You can climb to the top of the dome (another 300 steps for the energetic amongst you and my ex PT clients) although this isn’t something I have done myself! There is a charge for this though, the basilica however is free. The view is apparently comparable with that of the second floor of the Eiffel tower, however if you don’t have a head for heights, the legs for stairs or the wallet for emptying then the view from the steps alone is pretty damned near perfect.

View from the steps during the day

And at night…

Another fine view during the day

And again at night…

The interior of the basilica is really impressive and very beautiful BUT they don’t allow photos, so who am I to dishonor that. Go see it for yourself.

Life around the Basilica

After your visit it’s easy from here to wander back down via the sites of Bohemian Montmartre so take your time! The Place de Tertre is literally just round the corner but if you don’t want to walk anymore, then you can pick up le petit train de montmartre which goes in a 40 minute circuit from the Moulin Rouge. You can find more details here:

petit train de montmartre

Around the second week of October, Montmartre holds its Harvest Festival on that day. Sample the cuisine and stay into the night for the fireworks, truly spectacular! (go easy on the vin chaud though if you want to make it to the evening)

When to visit

Sunday’s obviously it gets pretty packed and as the day builds up so do the American tourists, evenings are also pretty heaving which basically says its best to go in the morning. That said it doesn’t really matter, everyone in the basilica is quiet, you can’t take pictures inside anyway, there is plenty of room outside for that must have shot (the place is big enough) so rock up there when you are ready I say, although going for sundown is pretty spectacular…

Address: Pl. du Parvis-du-Sacré-Coeur, Montmartre, Paris, 75018 | Map It
Phone: 01-53-41-89-00

Cost: Basilica Free / dome €6
Hours: Basilica daily 6 am-11 pm;
Dome and crypt Oct-Mar: daily 9-6. Apr-Sept: daily 9-7
Website: http://www.sacre-coeur-montmartre.com
Metro: Anvers (line 2) or Abesses (line 12) plus funicular

Hello world!

Hello indeed!

So I live in the most beautiful city of Paris and right now people can’t convince me to think otherwise, j’adore Paris. Moving here was a bit of a dream and everything i knew it would be so I’m always out and about exploring the city any chance I get and no matter how many times in the past I have visited this place, since moving here i have discovered there are so many cool places that I have just never seen before and stories i have never heard before and aren’t generally advertised either, but all enhance your experience.

It’s such a large city and there’s so much to do asides the obvious. I’ve taken various friends to unusual places here and they’ve all said the same thing

“wow we’d have never thought to come here” or “Paris isn’t like we imagined at all!”

No it’s not, I find it’s better! People I know who have visited in the past and generally view it In a negative light can, in one afternoon, change their minds just by seeing something new, seeing it through different eyes or just taking the time to regard it differently!

With my fiancé living in another country I spend a lot of time on my own exploring and sometimes really miss having someone to turn to and appreciate the things I discover with, so in some small way I guess I get to do that by sharing it with all of you who are (hopefully) reading this and also hopefully one day you’ll be inspired to check out these places with your friends, families, loved ones whoever! But will see the beauty and character in it that I do and enjoy that moment when you can turn to that other person and go ‘wow look at this…’

Dream, believe, discover.

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