Montmartre

Wednesday morning, and I still had visions of the museum’s instruments dancing in my head. How could I top that? Funny you should ask. As I mentioned in the opening of this series, my travel agent had unfortunately chosen the French national holiday, May 1 – today – as the beginning of my pricey 2-day Paris Pass (“Everything you could possibly want to do in Paris in one handy coupon booklet!”)…and Paris was closed. Oh sure, there were more street vendors out than ever before, and cafes and boulangeries (bakeries) were going full tilt, but I was approaching “crescent overdose.” So what to do?

I had heard that Montmartre was a nice area to visit, and I imagined it would all be outdoors, so this seemed the perfect plan. Just for fun, as it was vaguely on the way, I decided to first try to find the “Guitar Store row” that I had read about. It took a while (the iPhone GPS crapping out for the umpteenth time), but I finally located the area, which was, as expected, closed. Judging from the dark windows I peered into, I didn’t miss a thing. Checking the Metro map, I looked up the closest stop to Montmartre and saw that I was probably just close enough for a walk.

A long walk…

…uphill

It actually was a great, fun winding climb through another maze of streets. I didn’t even bother with a map; I just made sure I was always ascending, and when I spotted others trekking upwards, I’d follow them.

The foot traffic became heavier and heavier until it finally exploded into a full-blown tourist’s mecca. If you love tchotchkes or having your portrait drawn (with a large cartoon head) in under ten minutes, this place is nirvana. One soon sees what the real attraction is, turning a final corner…