Thursday, 30 October 2008

Canal St Martin, Bastile & Montmartre

Before coming to France i watched a movie called which literally translates as "The Fabulous Destiny of Amélie Poulain" I was really excited about it as it shows a lot of scenery on Paris and somehow after watching the movie i was quite intrigue with all of the sights i've seen on the movie especially when Raymond told me then oui bien sur, we can go to all those sights and realised your dreams of reliving the movie when we are in Paris! The moment he said that i was baming with joy and just couldnt wait to go to those places Amélie Poulain went and did things. So my journey to Montmarte was a memorable one especially when i can walk by the fruit market and where Amélie Poulain use to venture about in the story and also particularly to the cafe where Amélie was working! It was an awesome journey and i owed it all to mon cherié, Raymond :)

here is a bit of insight about the movie i picked up from Wickepedia. Amélie is a 2001 French film directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet and starring Audrey Tautou. Its original French title is Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain which literally translates as "The Fabulous Destiny of Amélie Poulain"; poulain is French for foal. Written by Jeunet with Guillaume Laurant, the film is a whimsical and somewhat idealised depiction of contemporary Parisian life, set in Montmartre. It tells the story of a shy waitress who decides to change the lives of those around her for the better, while struggling with her own isolation.


The journey begins....

Before we reached the Canal St. Martin, these are the cafe thats just next to the Canal

And finally.....I present to you Canal St.Martin



Just looking at my face you would know i was estaticly happy with this visit to the canal St. Martin as i can recall in the movie how Amélie was when she was here....it was a wonderful great feeling!

The whole wide angle view of the canal

1st Mission accomplished!


Canal St Martin

After the long stretched of canal, we went to the end of the canal where its called Bastille. Its where they have a fairly large area for traders to sell their stuffs like a typical "Pasar-Malam" and its really beautiful! lots of varieties and colours and particularly the people are just so amazingly mixed with different cultures! Just simply beautiful!



Sea food area where a big french man was shouting and doing the auction for fish. Marché de poissons


Then you can find all sorts of traders there wine, socks, cheeses, olives and etc...i ended up buying three pair of socks for 2€ and a very nice bottle of wine ;)

Then i saw beautiful flowers...especially the sun flowers :)

and the food section where i saw some yummy chicken paella..was yummy indeed!

Then the next bit of the journey brings us to Montmartre

This little map was a big help indeed and it explains everything about where is where around montmartre and my advice is to look it up so that you will know where to go from there.


The ever so famous Moulin Rouge

And here is the cafe where Amélie Poulain works and if you look carefully bottom middle u can actually see my reflection on the mirror taking this picture hehehe :) And that is Amélie Poulain by the way :)

some shots inside the cafe and yours truly C & R :)



As we proceeded going uphill for about 10 minuted or so...we finally reached to the traders place and the area is full of painters who can do live sketches would have love to do one with Raymond but unfortunately time is not on our side so we proceeded to place where Amélie Poulain did a lot of screen shots here including the photomaton which i finally get to sample doing :)

here is a what we managed to do on this trip as i was really curious on this thing called photomaton so we got ourselves a taste of it :) look and see our own photomaton just like in the
Amélie Poulain movie :)

Voilà photomaton! It is actually an automated photo taking kiosk :) hehehe


going through the heaps of painters around montmartre and they are all so beautiful ...


paintings encore!

i love what she was doing!


The Sacré Coeur Church ( Sacred Heart Church) , Montmartre, Paris


sights around the church


Having a picnic just after the cascade just below the church for the weather was really nice to just sit on the grass and enjoy the view


Some of the street performers performing nearby they were really great entertainers.


One last look at the church of Sacré Coeur


the view from the top of montmartre


view looking down.....



Had our late lunch at the La Chat Noir and it was exquisitely yummy! The cheesy jambon omelette was just out of this world! But my salmon in white sauce and pasta was just as good!


The streets heading back to our car close to the metro station



last but not least,
Yours trully
C & R

1 comment:

Alys said...

benci aku so said the green eyed monster! hehehe