A Walk Through Bohemia

Dear Family and Friends,

One tourist attraction that we had not done on a previous visit was the Sacré-Cœur Basilica.  

The weather was perfect and there were thousands of people doing the same.

Since the basilica is built on top of a hill it can be seen from most anywhere in the city of Paris.  It was constructed between 1875 - 1914.

The hill, Montmartre Butte, that it is constructed on has quite a colorful history. In this neighborhood many famous artists lived, or at least at one time had a studio.  Salvadore Dali, Claude Monet,  Pablo Picasso, Vincent van Gogh and Pierre-Auguste Renior to name a few.

The struggling artists of that time could not afford to live here now.  It is full of tourists eating and drinking at cafes and shopping at souvenir stores.

There are many artists hawking their ability to do a portrait of you while you pose.  This lady below seems to be quite talented.

Keeping well hydrated on a sunny hot day like today is important.

After a rest, we continued down the hill.  We visited the Montmartre Museum which included Renior's gardens.  Through photographs and paintings you were shown the colorful history of this bohemian neighborhood at the turn of the the twentieth century.

Renoir's grape vineyard.

After the museum is always the gift shop.  Here is Chuck trying on a hat like the one used in a portrait of Van Gogh.  Actually, Chuck did buy a hat but not this one.

I will tell you about the hat he bought later.

After the museum, we continued our walk down through the neighborhood.

When we got to the bottom of the hill, we stopped at this sidewalk restaurant for lunch.

Chuck's salad with ham, fried potatoes, cheese, tomatoes, lettuce and topped with a poached egg.

My lunch consisted of a small steak, salad, french fires and in the cup is a wonderful onion reduction dip.

We ended out walk by making our way to the famous Moulin Rouge.  They are performing the "Can-Can" for tourists still at this place.

Below is a Renior painting... notice the hats the men are wearing in the upper right corner.  These straw hats were quite popular and can be seen in many paintings of the 1890's.  The reason I am pointing this out is...

because that is the type of hat Chuck bought at the museum gift shop.

It looks like a sunny Sunday is ahead for us.

Love,
Nancy