More from Montmartre (2)

I’m reverting to my post of last Friday and with some more Montmartre spots which I believe are worth a visit, if you have the time. You can revert to the Google map in the previous post.

I recently told you about a small “wild” park, close to the Père Lachaise cemetery. There is a second, similar one on the northern slope of Montmartre, “Parc Saint Vincent”, neighbour to the vineyard “Clos de Montmartre”. It’s very discrete, open for visitors only Saturday afternoons during the summer months. It’s not extremely spectacular, but if you are really interested in wild trees, bushes and flowers, this may a place to go. Two young ladies, in charge of the park, collected frogpoles in the small pond, to be shown to some visiting kids later in the afternoon. In my Friday post, I showed some pictures from some nice private homes. Here are some other examples from a small street, called Villa Léandre.One curiosity, which you can normally only see from the outside, is the present home of FEMIS, the French state film school, actually European, previously called IDHEC. The school moved in here in 1999 in what used to be “Pathé” film studios. The school has got a number of – at least in France - well-known pupils like Malle, Resnais, Sautet, Schlöndorff, Zulawski, Corneau, Costa Gavras, P.Leconte, C.Miller, Téchiné, R.Enrico, J-J Annaud, Boisset... In the studios some of the more famous French films were partly shot, e.g. some of the most famous Marcel Carné films (see below).

I have a tendency to talk about cemeteries. The most famous one here is of course the Montmartre Cemetery on which I have made several posts. There is a second, very small one, the Calvaire Cemetery, open to public only one day each year (November 1) on which I also posted. There is a third and last one at Montmartre, the Saint Vincent Cemetery. Also here you can find some celebrities buried like composer Arthur Honegger, painter Maurice Utrillo, film director Marcel Carné (Quai de Brumes/Port of Shadows, Hôtel du Nord, Le jour se lève/Daybreak, Les Enfants du Paradis/Children of Paradise...), author Marcel Aymé (Le Passe-Muraille/The Walker-Through-Walls). A sculpture of Aymé, made by Jean Marais, representing him as a walker-through-walls, can be found outside his home at Montmartre. Finally, there is also another grave of the Debray family, owners of the last surviving Montmartre windmill, “Moulin de la Galette”. Four brothers of this family are buried at the Calvaire cemetery and there is a story linked to this, which I have already told, giving the background to the name “Moulin Rouge”. I know, this is again too long, but as a last souvenir from this walk around Montmartre, some flowers (and bees):

I will be away for two days. I'm sorry, but I will not have the time to visit your blogs. I promise to do it later!

More from Montmartre

When you make a first visit to Montmartre, you normally concentrate on Sacré Coeur and the Place du Tertre. There is more to see. I have already covered a few items which you can find under the Montmartre label.

Comparatively few visitors visit the northern side of Montmartre. You can also reach Sacré Coeur from this "opposite side" and get a different first view, like here on the top picture.

In any case, unless you use the small bus service or the funicular, you must be prepared to climb some stairs. These photos were taken a July Saturday afternoon and you can see how much calmer it is on the northern slope of the hill, compared to the crowd in Rue Norvins leading to Place du Tertre (top left) . There are a number of things to be seen, including the oldest Montmartre remaining building, today the Montmartre Museum. Renoir and Utrillo lived and worked here during periods. There is also the vineyard, “Clos de Montmartre” (on which I already posted), and the famous small cabaret “Lapin Agile” (on which I also already posted). You can also find e.g. the well-known “Maison Rose”, painted by Utrillo (which obviously has got a second floor added.) Generally, you can also just walk around and enjoy the calm environment, look at the nice housing, more easily find a free table at a bar or restaurant...... or sit down rather alone in one of several parks. In one of them, you can find a statue of Saint Denis – “patron” of Paris and France, who according to the legend was martyred and beheaded at Montmartre and then walked, carrying his head in his arms, to Saint Denis, north of Paris, where he finally died and where the Saint Denis Basilica was then erected (see post). There are some other specific spots to be seen, but I believe this post is again getting too long. I will revert. In the meantime, I wish you a very nice weekend!

Stravinsky Fountain

Very close to the Pompidou Centre (Beaubourg) you can find the Stravinsky Fountain. It was created in 1982 by Niki de Saint Phalle and her husband Jean Tinguely, inspired by Stravinsky’s music. It contains totally 16 sculptures. The most spectacular one is perhaps the Saint Phalle illustration of the Firebird (L’Oiseau de Feu), on the right of the top picture. These mechanical sculptures are still functioning some 25 years later (not always the case with other modern sculptures). (A video would have been better here.)

In the background you can see the flamboyant gothic church, Saint Merri, with its 14th century bell (the oldest one in Paris).








 

(I recently showed a Niki de Saint Phalle "Flying Angel" in Zürich and less recently "Birdman" by Jean Tinguely.)

Mid-month theme – subways

The 15th of each month is the day for the mid-month theme – “subways”, which I share with bloggers from NYC, Stockholm and Budapest. You can find today’s posts and some other related posts by using the following links:


New York City Daily Blog - Stockholm by pixels – Budapest by Andrea Gerak – Peter’s Paris


(As I rather recently have changed blog, you can find some older subway posts under the following link: PHO.)


This view is of an express subway train, coming from Versailles, just before it reaches the Paris underground. It’s taken close to the Seine River. I was surprised to find all these wild flowers. (Photo taken some three weeks ago.)

I made a second post today.

Too late...

There was a meeting of the Union of the Mediterranean countries held in the Grand Palais in Paris last Sunday. During the National Holiday festivities Monday (July 14) the UN Secretary-General, some 40 national leaders and foreign ministers watched the traditional military parade. I was too late. The stand was empty. I could just see some nice colours on the pavement which had helped the parading troops to take the right direction, some cables, some equipment... ... and I was not invited to the cocktail party at the Elysée Palace. I could just notice that the guests obviously were well treated. The supply of food and drinks seems to have been taken care of.

... and, I'm sorry, but I did not bring any pictures from the free concert for some 700 thousand people (James Blunt - who even performed in French - and number of French artists) and the fireworks around the Eiffel Tower; you already saw some pictures of the Tower a couple of days ago.