Quartier Caulaincourt Montmartre

[GitteK]

Penny, yes the spiral stairs going up from the metro to the square is the ultimate Montmartre test !

If you are new to Paris and don't think further about it, you forget that the metro from "downtown" doesn't take you to the top of the hill, but drops you off 5 floors underground.

And when you see the big, uncanny steel-box elevator, it is easy to decide climbing the stairs instead. WRONG decision !

At first you think: this is a nice stairway with mural paintings to look at.....
And then you start wondering, when it will end .........
And THEN the thought hits you: OMG, we are only 1/2 way up !
I always warn the tourists who are reluctant to go into the elevator, about those killer stairs. I took them once, will not do again !

[framboiseetrose]

I'm with you, Demarais -my knees are giving out now and I'm just looking at the pictures.

Monmartre is an area that I know very little about. I used to go to rue Caulaincourt as a friend has her framing studio there years ago so I went on the bus and avoided all those stairs and beautiful hills.

[ouiparis]

Haha, the infamous Abbesses ascent! Try doing that in 2-inch heels (which is what I did on my birthday three years ago)!

[gracejoan]

I had rented a lovely PVA apartment in Montmartre until Pat and Jim (laidback) took some pictures of what I would be faced with...that took care of that! I wouldn't want to be in the heavy touristy area of Montmartre, any more than the heavy touristy areas in any arrondissement.
I did take the bus to Montmartre to the Lamarck/Caulaincourt area on my last trip. I wandered around a bit and then caught the bus back to some flatter land wanderings.

I think I am spoiled by spending so much time in the 7th...other places just do not seem to be able to compare, in my opinion!
Joan

[Megan]

This is a great thread guys - am staying in an apartment in Montmatre for a month over Christmas . It is a good renimder that I will need to start hill training. I have made a very big list of must dos !!

You are truly Paris experts - I think you should all put together a Paris Guidebook !

[Ellen]

Thank you for such an interesting post. I have really enjoyed reading.
My husband and I are due to spend a weekend in Paris in september, we have booked a hotel on Rue des Abbesses.
I having spend a holiday in Paris last year, fell in love with montmartre, and promised myself if I was to ever go back I would book my hotel there. It will be my husbands first time in Montmartre, Paris even.I'm hoping he will finally understand why I love the place so much. I belive the sun setting from Sacre Coure can be breathtaking , I can't wait to see if its true or not.
I'm hoping to take some great photos to paint from when I get home.

[suzanne]

This has been a very enjoyable post. I love this area too. I wanted to do the Paris Walks Mont Marte tour but due lost luggage (nothing to wear) we missed it. I have toyed with the idea of staying there, but I'm afraid my feet would be killing me after a day or two of the those stairs and hills.

Oh those stairs coming our of the metro are killers. We climbed them once because we did not notice the elevator until we arrived at the top. Last year I noticed that the elevator looked new.

[Laidback]

Today we went food shopping at the Poteau market which conveniently starts right at the Local metro(Jules Joffrin) in front of the mairie of the 18th arr. and I hopefully fleshed out the area with a few more photos. This is the exterior of the mairie which isn't any thing special to see:


but the interior is a gem with a graceful double stairway leading up to the salle des fetes which can be used for wedding ceremonies, etc.


There are a couple of paintings by the local bad boy/son of Susan Valadon, Maurice Utrillo and some sweet statuary as you enter the antechamber


The grand salle des fetes is rather sumptious with giant chandeliers highlighting the ornate decor:



Most of the market is on Rue Poteau which rises NW from the mairie. One of the only functioning boucheries chevalines remaining in Paris will be on your left with no scripted sign , but it is readily identified by the red horse heads:
.
There is a good rotisserie across the street where you can buy freshly roasted chicken, pork, lamb, duck and several delicious sausages. Tonight we feasted on a selection of merquez, chipolatas, and toulouse sausages still warm from the rotisserie

I can't seem to keep these rude intruders out of my photos


Back across the street there is a good charcuterie, and what we consider the best butcher shop, the Boucherie Nouvelle, an excellent fromagerie (I think many of you know of Quatrehomme) and at the corner a good fruit and vegetable market.





Just a bit further down the street is the area's indispensable Monoprix...indispensable maybe but not photo worthy. All along the street there is a liberal sprinkling of cafés, hardware shops and all of the little commerces necessary to support neighborhood life, not tourist trade. I can't remember an "I heart Montmartre" T-shirt/gewgaw/postcard along the street, but if you require something of this sort don't despair because you can hop on the Montmartrobus at the mairie and whisk right up to Place du Tertre and be abundantly supplied along with some fabulous art bargains if you are into paintings of Elvis on almost real velvet.

Please don't come here if you are expecting the charm of Mouffetard, Rue Cler or the Buci markets as this is simply a residential market a bit like the one on Rue Levis.

[geordy]

Wow...what a kismet! Before I went out for pizza I wrote down the address of that town hall..becuase of the Utrillos..mentioned in Eyewitness Travel Top 10 Paris(a birthday gift) and now I see photos and a description!!!!

BTW this is an interesting guidebook...Montparnasse shows up in "Around Town--Greater Paris" not as a regular neighborhood like St. Germain or the Marais....and the paragraph on it starts.."Though many visitors never venture as far south as Montparnasse.." and goes on to mention the infamous Tour...

I went there on my first trip , to La Coupole, and have stayed in/near the area a few times!!!

[Shoesy]

LB - The double stairway is absolutely breathtaking , and the grand ballroom looks like a perfect venue for a wedding. If I hadn't married off both my kids, maybe........

[Ellen]

Merci for such a wonderful tour. Unfortunately when I go next week , I won't be able to try out all those shops as we're staying in a hotel on Rue de Abbesses. I'm kicking myself now that we haven't rented an appartment. I certainly will in future. I'm not a foodie by any means , in fact I'd describe myself as a very picky eater, but I get the feeling that if I was to stay in Paris long enough I'd be converted.

[ray]

Lb, Another batch of excellent photos. You mentioned photo intruders, but did I spy someone we know in front of the Fromagerie?

[Shoesy]

Ray - I also noticed that familiar - looking lady who apparently found a whole bunch of goodies to buy in that shop. ;D

[chicchantal]

I love this area so much, and am wondering if anyone has any photos in the rain because it's just so atmospheric then?

[Laidback]

The weather was forecast to be rainy, drizzly today...the perfect atmospheric condition to visit the haphazard but curiously charming Montmartre cemetery. I think cemeteries are best visited on a grey, overcast drizzly day. So with parapluies in hand we set off down Rue Caulaincourt, which overpasses the cemetery and entered by Rue Rachel which is the only entrance except for the entrance on Joseph Lemaistre only on Toussaints day. I would advise you to pick up a free map at the station on your right as you enter. I have only 68 years experience on this earth but as of yet this is THE most illogical, poorly conceived , frustrating map that I have encountered. All the graves of note, and there are many, are listed by name, section number, and number within the section. So far so good but now the bafflement begins; the names are not in alphabetical order and neither the section numbers or grave numbers are in numerical order. The map shows clearly delineated and named streets but most of them are undetectable narrow lanes. I guess the price is right.

As we entered the cemetery the clouds parted and we were wishing we had sunglasses rather than bumbershoots. But this is a magical, peaceful domain right slap up against Place Clichy.


Cats are in charge here and well know it, suspiciously granting a few photos before continuing on with their full time job.


Surprisingly to me, some of the biggest names residing here have the less imposing sepulchres. For example compare the tomb of the incomparable painter of ballerinas, Degas:



with this unknown temple like tomb,


or this carefully wrought hommage to a young doctor/senator who was killed opposing the coup d'etat of Napoleon III; perhaps Anne266 knows who Alphonse Baudin was, but who else among us?


Hector Berlioz got his just desserts


But one of the wealthiest, most tragic families in France, the Camondos, Have a sadly neglected little edifice that hardly has enough space to walk around, much less house a memorial to Nissim, Moise, Abraham and other family members.


Alexandre Dumas, Fils, fared somewhat better, but wouldn't it be so much more appropriate to have camelias in memorium to his greatest work rather than geraniums? I don't recall a novel called "La Dame aux Geraniums". Fittingly, Marie Duplessis who was the real life "Lady of the Camelias" is buried no more than 100 yards away.


Then we come to the splashiest grave in the place, befitting the much beloved pop star, Dalida; I hope to live long enough to see what Johnny Halliday comes up with. All this for an Italian girl from Egypt; more power to her:


Next up is the more sedate tomb of the more licentious "La Goulue" immortalized by Toulouse Lautrec as the inventor and high stepping, star performer of Le CanCan at "Le Moulin Rouge"


Apparently this cemetery is still a work in progress as we saw these sculptors at work as we were exiting.


There are many other celebrities who have set up permanent residence here, including the "real" Truffaut.

Have fun in finding them in this 3 or 4 tiered maze; as for us lunch beckoned.

[MaisonMetz]

Laidback -

Rainy, drizzly days are wonderful for visiting graveyards, and if there is ground fog as well, it can be particularly atmospheric. Our first Père Lachaise visit was on such a morning, and I still have fond memories of the experience. Nonetheless, I must admit sunshine can improve photos, and yours are terrific.

BTW, I found an online map of Montmartre's cemetery, not in English or French, but there is an alpha listing by name and a numberical key for the location of graves shown on the map. Have no idea how accurate it may be, but it may provide an alternative if one were to print off a copy: www.meijsen.net/graveyart/mm/htmls/fr_bgr_mm.htm

Once again your photos and descriptions will tempt readers to head to the neighborhoods described when their feet next touch Paris. I feel Montmartre calling... Chapeau!

Jo

[Darcy]

Thanks, LB, very good photos! I've seen part of the Montmartre cemetery but I need to return with MM's map. Thanks, Jo!

[Darcy]

Jo, I've just looked at the website you posted. It is EXCELLENT!! Thank you so much. Not only does it give a map and locations of famous and/or interesting graves, it has photos of the graves listed.

The only little problem I ran into was that when I printed the map, I got only part of it, because not all of it showed on the screen without scrolling. Can someone help this techno dummy?

Thanks

[Laidback]

MaisonMetz you are going to have to endure another exalt for that map(with px yet). I don't know the language but it is obviously from a country more disposed to efficiency and organization than our beautiful, bemuddled France.

I would have committed immoral acts to have had a printout of it during my visit. Malheureusement my apt. doesn't have a printer, but I would have scurried right down to an internet café and run me off a copy, thus saving about an hour of head scratching from my visit, had I known the level of inadequacy of the free one provided at the cemetery.

[denise]

:)Dear Laidback...it is so nice to get up in the morning and have these lovely guided tours to start the day.

The cemetery has never appealed to me before but I am now thinking of giving it a go.

I think you AND Gitte could get together and write a travel guide.

Just think of all the wonderful places and wonderful food you could cover between you!

Thanks for a great start to my day.

Denise
Love from England