Paris, France Part 3: Montmartre, et. al.

My favorite of the Parisian areas I visited is Montmartre which has the feel of a (relatively) small French village in the midst of the vastness that is Paris. Situated on a hill, it’s also the highest point in the city and is where much of the film Amélie was set. Maggie and I took a walking tour on Saturday night for an overview and then returned on Monday with Bouba and met Dana for lunch.


Part of Montmartre Cemetery where a number of famous people are buried




The real Moulin Rogue – as opposed to the fake one we have here in Geneva


Our tourguide, Jay, in front of the café where Amélie works in the movie




Moulin de la Galette, one of the city’s last surviving windmills


statue of the “Man Who Could Walk Through Walls” from a book by a French author


Au Lapin Agile, a restaurant Picasso used to frequent (and pay for with artwork)


pretty little Absinthe poster


the beautiful Sacre Coeur


recreating a scene from Amélie, sans blue arrows and avec many more tourists


Pickerington reunion! (the fact that we’re all wearing America’s colors is pure coincidence)


the city seen from the top of the hill

One afternoon Maggie and I came across a street performer who had a fairly elaborate set-up for an unsatisfying James Bond-inspired bike gag. Seemed about right (and at least he wasn’t a mime).



On Easter evening, Maggie had several friends and classmates over and Bouba treated us all to a delicious Senegalese dinner. It was a lot of fun, even if I didn’t understand half the French being spoken.


Bouba presents our dinner…


…and we all dig in…


…some more literally than others (this is the traditional way you’d eat in Africa, as anyone familiar with Ethiopian would know).


Bouba examining my contribution to the soirée


my hosts on a night out at a local bar


and I was also there

And that pretty much covers my weekend in Paris. It was great (as always) to reconnect with old friends and find inspiration in life and culture. The city definitely does have a unique atmosphere, and in watching Amélie and Paris, je t’aime again afterwards I recognized plenty of truth in their romanticized depictions.

This narration from Alexander Payne’s poignant closing vignette of the latter film says it all:

“Sitting there, alone in a foreign country, far from my job and everyone I know, a feeling came over me. It was like remembering something I'd never known before or had always been waiting for, but I didn't know what. Maybe it was something I'd forgotten or something I've been missing all my life. All I can say is that I felt, at the same time, joy and sadness. But not too much sadness, because I felt alive. Yes, alive. That was the moment I fell in love with Paris. And I felt Paris fall in love with me.”