The long stairway to the nearest cat (can make the wretched sigh)
According to my friend Rebecca, there is a large colony of cats living on the hillside around Sacre Coeur, and she sees some of them on the street every morning when the neighborhood cat lady feeds them. I didn’t see any of the hill cats. Whenever I missed my feline overlords at home, I had to climb the long stairway to the cafe with the resident cat extortionist, Me.
The blasted stairs even have their own song, written by Jean Renoir for the film French Cancan.
I bribed Me by ordering fish for lunch.
Andre Kertesz photographed the stairs of Montmartre many times. This picture is from his 1945 book, Day of Paris.
This is that same spot today.
Daisy Bar is now No Problemo, the nearest refuge for Calvados and charcuterie on a rainy night.
On Thursday night as we trudged back to the apartment, it began to snow.
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December 7th, 2017 at 19:17
This reminds me of Bo?azici / Bosphorus University in Istanbul. Its campus is hilly and also has a budget to feed the resident cat population.
I was there with my friends last weekend and in the quiet of semester break the cat overlords had the place to themselves.
December 8th, 2017 at 00:30
oriames: I saw the lovely documentary Kedi on the plane, and I bow to the many citizens of Istanbul who take care of the street cats. I especially like the man who had a nervous breakdown and coaxed himself back to health by feeding the strays. And the polite cat who would announce himself to the restaurant by scratching on the window.