Eight Churches and Still Counting

Saturday, March 22. Today starts out with blue skies and sun and we decide to go to walking around La Butte Montmartre so we take the metro Line 1 from Hotel de Ville, changing at Concord to pick up Line 12 to Abesses. Instead of taking the usual route down rue Yvonne Le Tac to the base of the funicular, we start by visiting the little church across the street, L'eglise St-Jean-de-Montmartre. Although it has a red brick facade, it was the first religious building in Paris built with reinforced concrete. Apparently, it was hailed by architects (and other open minds) at the time but so shocked the "Administration" that it cited the curate of the parish with an infraction of the building permit!!

Up the stairs of the Passage des Abesses to the Place Emile-Goudeau. Here is the famous Bateau-Lavoir (a former piano factory building later converted to studios) where Pablo Picasso and Juan Gris, among others, worked. It was also a gathering place for modern poets such as Max Jacob and Apollinaire. No gas, no electricity, and only one outlet for running water but, hey, the rents were cheap!

We continue up (and I do mean "up") the little rue d'Orchamps and emerge onto rue Lepic directly in front of one of the two remaining windmills on Montmartre. (Apparently, in the 1800s, there were 30 windmills here which were used not only to grind wheat but also to press wine and to crush iris roots for perfume.) Rue Lepic leads us directly to the Place du Tertre, which we cross on our way to Sacre Coeur.

Before continuing to Sacre Coeur, we visit the little-visited church next door: St-Pierre-de-Montmartre. Jed wants to catch the view of the city from the terrace in front of Sacre Coeur while the sun is out (well, actually it has been sort of in and out, with little rain showers) but before we get there, it starts to hail. The wind is blowing furiously and my umbrella turns inside out! But it passes as quickly as it came, and we can actually see the clouds passing across while we stand there overlooking the city. The air is crystal clear (the wind has blown away any smog) so each building below is in stark relief. Jed decides to "jeter un coup d'oeil" inside the basilica; I stay outside watching the rain clouds pass away in the distance and the path of the sun falling on the rooftops of Paris.

We go back to the Place du Tertre and wander around the square (it's mobbed: Easter weekend is a big travel weekend in Europe). The artwork on offer runs the gamit, from pure "schlock" to some that is not bad. What all of it has in common, however, are astronomical prices. Do some people actually pay 140 (and up) euros for this stuff? We have moules frites for lunch at one of the outdoor cafes in the square, then head down the hill to see the vineyard. On and on down the hill to Lamarck Caulincourt metro stop and back to Chatelet.

Walking back to the apartment, we pass the Fontaine des Innocents and stop by Saint Eustache to find out the time of services on Easter Sunday. Along the way, we see a band playing on the steps of Les Halles, during the second hail storm of the day! (According to Jed, they are playing Gangsta's Paradise by Coolio, which is on the Dangerous Minds soundtrack, a film with Michelle Pheiffer, in case you wanted to know!)

We rest and warm up (much needed) for awhile, during which time I bore Jed with my photos of Paris from last fall (!), until it is time to go to Theatre de la Huchette. This tiny theatre has been playing the same two Ionesco plays every night (except Sunday) for more than 50 years, and Jed wants to check it out! We see La Cantatrice Chauve (The Bald Soprano) and then sit in the Cafe du Petit Pont having tea (me) and wine (Jed) until it is time to walk over to Notre Dame to see the bonfire in the rain and the wind! The bonfire begins the Easter Even service and is quite impressive. Not as many people here as we expected. Maybe it's the cold, the wind, the rain!

Back to my apartment to warm up (you cannot imagine how cold it is) and then walk to L'Alivi for dinner. Although we have reservations for 10 p.m. , the place is a mob scene and we have to wait a few minutes for a table. Jed has: Foie gras aux figues et kir corse (avec chataignes) followed by civet de sanglier (wild boar). Janet has: U Panzettu (amazing sausages, chestnut something, and very mild cheese) followed by gratine aubergines. Lots of the house red wine. For dessert, Jed has three Corsican cheeses and I have three cremes brulees (I kid you not, that's how it comes. Each one is flavored with a different Corsican spice.) And of course the after-dinner myrthe.

As the crowd starts to thin out, Olivier sits down and talks to us for a few minutes. We shut down the restaurant down at minuit et demi and stagger home. A most satisfying day!

Afterword: In the past 48 hours or so, we have been to six churches, one cathedral and one basilica: St Merri, Notre Dame, St Julien le Pauvre, St Severin, St Etienne du Mont, the two Montmartre churches and Sacre Coeur. And tomorrow Saint Eustache!