The giant vanilla meringue that is Montmartre

What was crossing the French's mind when they decided to build the Basilica of the Sacred Heart (Sacré-Cœur) ? It looks nothing short of bizarre: crowning the Montmartre hill, it resembles a giant white meringue.

  

Even the Dome of the Basilica has a form very unusual: don't you agree it looks like an onion ? Unlike most of the monuments in this city that darken with pollution and smog, the white limestone of which ​​the Basilica is made has the characteristic of not retain dust and smog. So, after every rain (believe me, it rains a lot!!), the Sacre-Coeur is even more brilliant. 
Among all the monuments of Paris, the Basilica of the Sacred Heart seems to me the least attractive, from the artistic point of view,  save only for the giant mosaic inside. Obviously there are few who share my opinion, given that the Basilica is the second most visited monument in Paris after the Eiffel Tower.  

Aside from it, the walk by funicular or on foot, to this hill, with its cobbled streets, stairs, street entertainers, music, painters or portrait artists, remains one of my favorite destinations. 

is that a puppet or a man hanging from the window?

  
How unusual to find, in the middle of this city, a vineyard ("Le Clos Montmartre") or a windmill ("Le Mulin de la Galette").

Le Mulin de la Galette

Le Clos de Montmartre with its vineyard

 I try sometimes to imagine how this place was at the end of the last century, when here lived and worked Picasso, Renoir, Van Gogh and so many others. What a time! How I'd like to be able,  if only for a moment, to be there, at that moment of time! Perhaps, I could be depicted in some of Renoir's paintings....

  

Bal du Mulin de la Galette

 I almost forgot...there's my favorite Taverne in Paris right here! 

At the "Taverne de Montmartre"

 Of all the places in Paris, I'll miss this hill the most.