Montmartre – Bohemia, Cabaret, Modern Art?

Montmartre is an interesting area. I stayed in Pigalle (famous for its nightlife and a red-light district similar to Singapore’s Geylang) which houses rows and rows of night-clubs, bistros and sex stores. Main reason for choosing the area is the convenient of metro to airport, Moulin Rouge (cabaret) which I had wanted to visit since the movie in 2001 and Sacre-Coeur, the majestic church.

Street was pretty quiet in the morning when I strolled along on the first day. Shops were not opened and could only view items from the windows. Streets increased in gradient as I walked towards the highest point where Sacre-Coeur was. The walk reminded me of the days I was in San Francisco. I walked passed Sacre-Coeur but did not go in as I wanted to save the visit with hubby.

Montmartre to me, is an area with many artistic feel. It is a place where many artists, including Pablo Picasso and Vincent van Gogh, had studios or worked in. There are many interesting shops selling unique handmade jewelry and quirky items. Pop colours and interesting displays in shopfront attracted my attention. I love the range of blue bracelets displayed in one of the shops. The jewelry designer presented a creative way to create stack without having to put them on one by one. Another shop display was packed with pinks and burgundy to remind me that summer is coming to an end and we should welcome fall. I was intrigued by a shop selling adorable household items which I had seen them for sale in one of the shops in Hong Kong’s Harbour City. All these items can be found along the street of Rue Tardieu.

Walking along Rue de Steinkerque, seems to teleport me back to Bugis Street. The road that leads me to Sacre-Coeur from Anvers metro station, is filled with shops selling Paris souvenir. I love this street. It is filled with tourists and trinkets that can be brought home. Personally, I love the musical box. Usually musical boxes are square but the ones sold here are round and beautifully decorated with significant Paris icons. On the same road, it is a must to visit Maison Georges Larnicol which sells chocolates. Even if you are not a chocolate lover, walk in to view the amazing chocolate artwork of Notre Dame.

Lastly, gonna leave a picture of Chicken Spot. Hubby and I had cravings for fried chicken and apparently, could not find any KFC. We were so glad we found Chicken Spot and went back two days straight for snacks. It was really good.

Loving the Trains in Paris

I can’t help but to share more about my observations and feelings on the RER or metro. I caught the metro every day while in Paris. It was the most important form of transport for us. Every morning before going out, I would pull out the metro map and discussed with hub on which line we should take and changed. There were just so many choices that we could make. Sometimes, we bickered insisting that ours were the shortest way. Sometimes, we blamed ourselves when we realized that we had taken the wrong route. After two days of trial and errors, we decided to ask the information counter before we confirmed our routes.

Metro tickets are at €1.70 per trip. If taken together with RER, it will be wiser to buy from the information counter as the staff will combine the ticket price. As compared to Singapore, the price of the ticket does not account for distance. One ticket allows me to travel to any station at any distance. So even if I plan a longer route, I will only waste my precious time.

The interior of each station is unique to make me slow down my every walk and to see more.  There were different interior designs for each station. It’s like an art gallery! Some days, I would see workers in coveralls holding rolls and rolls of posters, changing the big posters in stations with scraper and pail. At times, there would be street musicians playing in the underground. This sight is quite common in Singapore but to see a group of eight musicians playing and promoting their music with different kinds of big instruments is somehow rare.  🙂 Stations hardly have escalators too. Every day, we had to walk many flights of stairs to reach and out of the metro. A lot of training on our calves. 🙂 Vending machines for snacks and drinks can be found before boarding the metro so which means food is allowed but the metro remains clean.

The metro is not as long as Singapore’s MRT and they have cabins that do not allow passengers to pass through. The doors are not automated for older metro. Passengers have to push a button or lever to open the doors in order to alight or board. An ingenious idea is the lever chairs near the doors (like our olden days’ cinema chairs). When the metro is not crowded, passengers tend to push down the chairs to rest. There is a rule on the metro that these chairs should not be seated if the metro is crowded.

As the metro passed by many stations, graffiti can be seen almost on every walls in the tunnels, all beautifully drawn. At times, sudden blast of music could be heard in the metro, someone personified as Michael Jackson dancing to his hits or just an old man playing on his button accordion. At the end of their performances, they would go around to collect gratuities.

RER is somehow not as exciting as metro in Paris but a good time to enjoy the scenery. Maybe it travels a longer distance and further out of Paris. Pictures above were all taken in a RER on my way to Disneyland Paris. We took the wrong route and got stranded in Gare St-Lazare, one of the main stations. In the end, we had to seek help from the Metro information counter to direct us the shortest way to reach our destination. It was my first time on a double-decker train. Train was pretty empty and clean. 🙂 Since a long journey, we camwhored!

Train system in Paris is so complicated and definitely needs time for further investigation. Put aside the inter-twining routes and fifteen color-coded lines, I think I am in love with the train systems in Paris with so much to see and feel.