I'm a huge fan of Amelie so I was very happy to find that there was a local walking tour of her home turf, Montmartre. Our guide was actually an Australian, Peter, who had been taking these tours for 7 months now while supporting his girlfriend who is studying fashion design here in Paris.
Peter at Colignon's
The tour was lovely, taking us through the real locations of the Amelie movie including the cafe she works at, Cafe Deux Moulins, of course Sacre Coeur and also Colignon the grocer's shop. Also we had some interesting stories told to us about St Denis patron saint of Paris who walked and spoke the Gospel after he was beheaded (he held his head in his hands), Picasso, Moulin Rouge, Van Gogh, Dali, Modigliani, the French Revolution, the best bakery and where to buy wine and much more. I love Montmartre!
Van Gogh lived here.
Sacre Coeur
St Denis
Inside Cafe des 2 Moulins
Tiff you would have appreciated the little mini tour of the work of Space Invader. We saw about 5 of these in Montmartre alone. My favourite one was done on a little chimney and coordinated very well with its surroundings.
During the tour I met a lovely couple from NZ, Rod and Helen. Funnily enough I found out Helen happens to be my old colleague from Taranaki, Tim's, aunt! She is an OT from Hamilton. Funnier still they happened to be staying in the same place as me. So we had a very pleasant 3 course meal together in Montmartre, looking out over the portrait artists: menu express 15 Euro , soupe l'oignon, boef bourgignon and glace. The only mar on the night as Rod said is that we had ordered and drunk a bottle of red wine between us and we were fleeced at 36 Euro. None the less a very fun night out and lovely to share travel stories with some Kiwis.
Bad weather today so I will leave Versailles for another trip and perhaps brave Montmartre or the Iles with an umbrella, or shelter in the Louvre.
Moving to another hostel just for tonight then Venice on Friday. I will be staying on the Lido for a few nights. Please excuse my absence from here if you do not hear from me for a few days, I will try find internet access where possible.
Love & Hugs!
3 comments:
small world, eh? you get hounded and stalked even in France, lol.
I wish we could have explored Monmartre more back then, but at 5am, there wasn't much to see. Also, lugging a 4 yo toddler and a huge tum wasn't too easy either, lol.
Are you going to take a cruise on the River Seine?
oh char, i would so love love to go visit monmartre. i also love the whimsical Amelie, the soundtrack is great. A waitress job in the city would not be bad at all! I have heard about the space invader tags in europe, it is super cute.
:)
did you know that huey was in monmartre recently? i saw pics on her flickr page!!
Wow! I just thought I'll pop in here to see if you have updated anything but...you have! and more than I expected! Sounds like you are having time of your life! I wish I was travelling with you hon...especially the Amelie tour...I'm jealous!(:
Can't wait to see your travel pictures later...
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