Montmarte

Our first full day in Paris, we decided to explore in the neighborhood of the apartment.  I don't get tired of the view.

The first item of business was finding some food to stock in the apartment. Finding food anywhere in Paris is never a problem. Actually ordering it sometimes is (Thanks for the tips, Diane--they helped!).  We managed to find a few grocers and bakeries, and getting food was fairly easy. I did end up with a salmon sandwich instead of ham, but it's all good (C'est bon!)

There are a lot of steps in Montmarte:

Greg with our daily bread:

While we were out on our morning explore, we found the Cafe des 2 Moulins, a site from the movie "Amelie".

After putting away our groceries and enjoying our fresh bread, we took off to explore more of Montmarte.  A few steps up from the apartment is Sacre Coeur:

View of the city from Sacre Coeur (carousel with green top at bottom right was also in the movie Amelie) :

Sacre Coeur:

Next to Sacre Coeur is the Church of St. Pierre-de-Montmarte, one of the oldest churches in Paris (from 1147). Before the church was built, a temple to Mars was on the site.  Four of the columns in the church are believed to have originally been part of the Mars temple.  The grey column  in the picture is one of the Roman columns.

Some classic views of Montmarte:

Montmarte was (and is) home to many artists. Vincent Van Gogh slept here:

After about 2 miles of walking, it was time for some refreshment. I also ordered onion soup, perfect for the chilly day, but I was too hungry to stop to photograph it.

For my friends that have seen the movie, "Exit through the Gift Shop", I thought you would enjoy seeing this street art as much as I did:

Finally, back in the apartment for sunset over Paris:

Still so much to see and do! I thought 7 full days would be enough, but I can see now that it won't be.