Montmartre, Pigalle, and Marais

Trudging along the old streets of Montmartre, every turn a new stairway leading to places unknown, I find myself submerged by the charm of it all. This is probably one of my favorite arrondissement simply because if colorful and charming mated and had a lovechild the 18th would be it. 

Winding north to Rue Norvins where it meets Saint-Rustique and Des Saules I stumbled onto a classic Montmartre scene.

We stopped for a bit of coffee and a fantastic creme brûlée at  La Maison Rose located on 2 Rue De L’abreuvoir. It appears to be a relic of days past during the golden days of the 18th. 

A few more shots while exploring further

Just a short walk over we headed to Pigalle, which was once the seedy area and even after a clean up it still tell its old tales. First stop at the famous Moulin Rouge, which translate to the red windmill. The cabaret was forever immortalized by Baz Luhrman movie by the same name. 

With the sun still high in the Parisian sky we took a metro over to the George Pompidou Centre in the Marais district to take in some modern architecture and art.

Needing a place to rest our weary legs, we plopped down on our little spot at the Place des Vosges, the oldest planned square in Paris and a locales favorite. Not only is it one of the most beautiful squares, it offers wifi! When the park was closing, a guard came up to us and told us we had to leave in french and I did my very best Parisian act to hide the fact that I am a tourist.

As if a magical gift to end  a perfect day, the sunset was purely sublime during our walk back to our apartment.