Last Day of Sightseeing in Montmartre

The weather was quite lovely to explore Montmartre before Doug and I returned to Toronto Nov. 28th.  Pigalle, as well as Abbesses, is one of the few original Art Deco metro stations remaining in the city.

 

The picturesque district's cobblestone streets and charming restaurants help preserve the atmosphere of prewar Paris.

The Musee de Montmartre is located in a townhouse that once provided living quarters and studios for many artists, including Utrillo and Renoir.

The reproduction sign of a rabbit escaping from a cooking pot hangs in the reconstruction of the Café de l'Abreuvoir at the Musee de Montmartre.  Au Lapin (rabbit) Agile, a popular restaurant and cabaret in Montmartre, took its name from the humorous painting by Andre Gill.

Utrillo enjoyed many evenings at Café de l'Abreuvoir - I enjoyed a brief afternoon visit!

The museum has a great deal of memorabilia related to The Chat Noir, a mythical French nightclub/lively dance hall hidden in the backstreets of Paris's bohemian quarter.

Two lovely Alfredo Mueller lithographs on display at the Musee de Montmartre.

At the back of the Musee de Montmartre, visitors can see the popular Au Lapin Agile (pink building) and the adjacent Montmartre vineyards, where about 1,000 bottles of wine are made annually from the remaining 2,000 vines.  The wine is sold for charity.

Another view of the Montmartre vineyards.

La Maison Rose, called the "quintessential" Montmartre bistro, also serves delicious hot chocolate.  It's a few minutes north of the Place du Tertre.

Another view of the Montmartre vineyards; the Musee de Montmartre is the white building/upper left.

Doug and I had planned to have lunch at the Au Lapin Agile, but it's only open from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m.

Montmartre once had more than 30 windmills, used for pressing grapes and grinding wheat; this is one of only two still standing.

(blog entries by Heidi Hutson)