A day in Montmartre.

So just two days ago on Friday afternoon I finally made it to both Moulin Rouge and the Montmartre Cemetery. I've decided that Montmartre is officially my favorite area in Paris (excepting the Bastille stop which is definitely best for nightlife). It was a beautiful day and Moulin Rouge was disappointingly anticlimactic, so I wandered around the cemetery for at least three hours, listening to haunting Manchester Orchestra and chasing grave cats up and down stairs (or should I say chasing the spirits of the dead up and down stairs......).

Moulin Rouge..wah, wah..


Of all the famous artists buried here I'd definitely say the black one is Dalida and the striped one is François Truffaut...something about the former's spunky antics and the latter's aloof demeanor fit both famed-for-trouble singer and supercilious French director perfectly. I guess that makes the chubby, fluffy one in the second picture Stendhal ;]




Directors Jason Bognacky and Clay Lipsky's dreamy "I've Got Friends" --kind of silly but beautifully filmed and appropriately themed, you'll see why.


All of the graves are above ground so it felt like I was wandering amongst a city of tombs, perfect for the pique of my morbid curiosity. Leave it to Wikipedia to describe its ambiance best:

"The cemetery epitomizes the artsy, quixotic, gentle, almost whimsical Paris that every romantic visitor secretly cherishes."





I was the epitome of a romantic visitor, meandering around with a smile on my face, climbing up on the graves to get a better view, imagining what it would look like like if, in fact, the dead were to rise up out of their above-ground graves during the rapture. Pretty gnarly.

Here are some of my faves:

Romantic visitor.


















I ended the day with a nutella-banana crêpe, some much needed Christmas shopping, and a nighttime view of the city from the threshold of Sacré Coeur where I ran into my friend Sahar. We exchanged evening plans before I went home for mussels and wine with Véronique. Very successful day, I feel much better that I can cross a few more Paris must-dos off my list ;]