After lengthy public transport rides yesterday I decided to stay closer to home and get my bearings in my new neighborhood. It's a lovely place, near both Montmartre and the funky shop neighborhood of Abbesses. I started there, cruising down the Rue Daremont on my way, checking out charcuteries and art stores as I went.

I set up to do my first piece of a corner building covered with vines I'd spotted out with my hosts my first night on France.

Then I walked on, visited the Art Deco church in Abbesses. It has lovely murals and stained glass, as well as the loveliest roll of honor I've ever seen, done in brilliant mosaic.

I wound my way up the hill of Montmartre to the Sacre Coeur and was surprised to find such crowds of tourists. It felt like downtown all of a sudden. That church also had lovely mosaics. I fell for the small, intimate, modern stations of the cross that line the ambulatory.

I finished having lunch at a cafe in a busy square, more for the view and the table to draw at than for the food.

I took a nap, did grocery shopping, and did a smaller circle of the neighborhood before cooling dinner. I now feel quite confident getting myself around the diagonal streets, so different from the grid of Memphis that I'm used to. It's nice to start feeling at home here.