Paris is a remarkably flat city. That’s what makes the views from rooftops in the City of Lights particularly magical - you can see everything for miles. However, there remains one exception - the venerable neighborhood of Montmartre. In the past it was known for artists and poets who were just as off-kilter as the neighborhood’s nearly un-Parisian topography and layout, and later on becoming more of a red-light district. Today, the neighborhood is nearly overrun with tourists posing for unironic selfies in the middle of the streets. Does this add to the ambience of the spot I will shortly recommend? No. But it certainly provides some quality banter.
Anywho, exit Metro Ligne 12 at Abbesse, and continue east until you’re at the belly of the tourist beast - the base of Sacre Coeur. Proceed up the endless steps or splurge for the funicular. Hang a right, then a left up the steps and you’re at the front gates of the church. The Big American Energy in this area is not what we’re going for - to get to the spot with the real ones, you need to climb the stone pillar at the top right corner of the steps and hop the chain-link fence. Continue east in this semi-off limits grassy portion of the hill and find a comfortable spot to sit down.
You are now presented with a nearly panoramic view of Paris, and there are few words to describe the feeling of being there. Sometimes I get physically nauseated thinking about just how much I miss being in this exact spot. When living in the city, my friends and I would plan entire days around going to the hill at sunset - bringing pastels, poetry notebooks, wine, and cigarettes in our school backpacks just to hightail it there in time for sundown. House music would play as a perennial cloud of smoke sits above the Parisian side of Sacre Coeur.
There’s something special about staring at a city that you’re a part of, it’s almost like admiring the beauty of your life from 3rd person. As jaded as life can make you, there’s something about a view to rip away the mundane and expose you to the raw beauty surrounding your day-to-day life. As the sun would go down, the amount of wine would do the same and everyone slowly scatters into the night.
-DG
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