Mont Marte, Sacre Coeur and Michel

My second day in Paris was spent at Mont Marte..Sacre Coeur.

My host took me to Anvers to experience the cacophony of vendors of all creeds and colors, peddling all sorts of things under the sun.. from intricate french lace and museum-piece tapestries, to tacky shoes and cheap perfumes.

We stopped to have cafe-au-lait at a Parisian cafe, taking a break from the tourists traffic. Finding our way toward the end of the street, there in its stark white coolness, beautiful and serene Sacre Coeur standing aloof and alone on Mont Marte. Elegant and beautiful, despite us having to evade the swarm of African immigrants pushing tacky "love knots". Since the "butte" is quite a steep climb, my host Kak Fatimah and Dayangku preferred to do some shopping instead and let me climb the hill to view the sceneries.

There, on top of Mont Marte, while I was taking pictures of the
first cherry blossoms, tall dashing green-eyed (turqoise to be exact) Michel emerged suddenly into my lense view and asked boldly if he can take my pics. When I laughed it off and said NO, he persisted in buying me coffee and offering to show me the inside and out of Sacre Couer, from a French architect specializing in old building restorations perspective.

Mont Marte, Sacre Couer and Michel

Pics by Teliung

What are the odds? Yes, believe it or not, that's what Michel is..and he speaks perfect English! After 3 NOs and he still wouldn't budged (insisting that when he got up this morning, he saw Mont Marte from his bedroom window and was just compelled to come to meet me.. right! I'll say the Frenchman are overdramatic..), I gave up, finally acquised to let him show and explained Sacre Couer. And after assessing him as being "genuine" (knew his architecture stuff), afterwards let him buy me coffee :) So we had our first "date" at that cafe on top of the funicular train on Mont Marte.

When Kak Fatimah and Dayangku asked me if I want to wander around still after lunch, I decided to let Michel show me around Mont Marte including the winding roads leading to Picasso favourite pub and the last vineyard on Mont Marte. We had our second coffee at the same cafe where he proposed we meet again the next day..throwing caution to the wind I agreed.

What the heck, I am on vacation! :P and Paris seems to insist on fulfilling its prophecy as the city of romance!

Cherry blossoms on Mont Marte

Pics by Teliung