Visiting Montmartre or how my children rode every carousel in Paris

Today it was up to Montmartre (where the movie Amélie is set) an outing that we aborted yesterday when it started to pour as we were leaving the apartment. It did the same thing this morning, but we decided to go anyway, which proved to be a wise decision as when we emerged from the Metro it was clear. This was after a good 45-minute ride during the course of which Teddy said “is this ours?”at every single stop; if you’ve ever been to Paris, you know there are many stops between the fifth and eighteenth arrondissements.

We started in the Place des Abbesses, where the je t’aime wall has the words “I love you” written in 311 languages.

Then we wandered up the hill to the Place du Tertre where numerous (pretty mediocre) artists paint and draw and peddle their wares. Tommy was fascinated and wanted to watch each artist work. I asked him which one he liked the best, and he replied indignantly, “I like all of them!” He would have stayed there for a long time, but we pressed on and up to get the view of Paris from Sacre Coeur.

The boys refused to pose nicely until Caroline ponied up a euro so they could use the telescope.

I had intended for the children to ride the funicular down the hill, but when they saw the carousel at the bottom, they took off for it instead. I’m convinced that they will have ridden on every one in the city by the time we leave. This is one of the more satisfying ones. For one thing it has a fabulous backdrop. And it also is a double-decker! The boys of course had to ride on the top, which made it impossible to get a decent photo with them on it.

After a quick picnic at the playground next to the carousel, we walked over the Halle St-Pierre, a former market building that now houses a contemporary art center and café. The exhibit space there specializes in “outsider art” by people who have never been formally trained. How great was our excitement to discover a series of paintings of subway cars! Tommy has done nothing but talk about how he wants to draw in the Metro.

It started to rain again as we were leaving, so we dashed over to the Pâtisserie Couderc and indulged in some tea and treats before beginning the long trek home.

For the first time since we’ve been here, we didn’t take the stroller and made Teddy walk today because we knew there would be lots of steps. And he did great. Although he started trying to get us to carry him the minute we left the apartment, we managed to keep him trucking on his own two legs until we started to head for home, when, exhausted, he threw his arms around my neck in a way that still makes my stomach drop with crazy love and joy, even though I carry him at some point every day.