How is it already July 10th?

I’ve been here for nearly a month, traveled to Amsterdam for 3 days, saw Taylor Swift, and moved into my second apartment in Paris.

I blinked, and it all flew by in an instant.

Today is… checks watch… Wednesday. I’m in the apartment, not venturing out this evening. Enjoying a Bordeaux Rosé, and some camembert with my stale baguette. Sound good? It’s heaven to me.

I met Hélène in Montmartre today because I went there this morning for a photo session on street photography with a lovely young woman named Clara. Get this – I signed up for a group lesson, but when I got there, I was the only one who had signed up, and she didn’t cancel! How lucky was that! We had a marvelous time and spoke Franglais the entire time. (That’s a mixture of French and English.)

We walked all over Montmartre, but the number didn’t compare to the steps I put down in Amsterdam. However, stairs? I did 22 floors of stairs today. That’s Montmartre.

And on that note, I was forewarned about the Métro stop being the deepest in all of Paris. I didn’t want to chicken out and take the elevator – especially once I heard the stairways were all painted.

There was a warning about the stairs…

I think I counted 7 different murals on the stairwells, so you barely noticed the 144 steps, really.

I met my guide, Clara, at the top – and we clicked – ha! – immediately and set out to shoot, chatting about everything along the way. I also learned things about my iPhone camera I didn’t know, and few other tricks. I cannot wait to post my photos on Instagram: @lisahinParis

We started at the Wall of Love, and ended at the famous bar known as Cabaret Au Lapin Agile – with tons of stops in-between. I had a blast re-charging my creative spirit. And because we both have worked with film and real cameras, we spoke the same language, so the dialogue was easy whether it was personal or technical.

I was starving at the end of our session. Clara headed home, and I headed back up the hill to find a restaurant and wait for Hélène. I chose the iconic Consulat. If you Google it, you’ll see photos. I had the seat right out front, and I ordered lunch and an Orangina.

Hélène arrived, and we had another fabulous chat as I finished my lunch. Then she smoked, and I posed with cigarettes, and we decided to stroll about as we usually do. We wandered into a museum neither of us had seen before: Musée de Montmartre, Jardins Renoir.

• August Renoir y loua un atelier en 1876 (deux pièces sous le toit et une ancienne écurie au rez-de-chaussée pour y ranger sa toile et son chevalet) et y réalisa pendant son séjour des toiles majeures telles que le Bal du moulin de la Galette, La Balançoire^[1] et Jardin de la rue Cortot à Montmartre.

• Auguste Renoir, Bal du moulin de la Galette (1876), Paris, musée d’Orsay.
• Auguste Renoir, La Balançoire (1876), Paris, musée d’Orsay.
• Auguste Renoir, Jardin de la rue Cortot à Montmartre(1876), Pittsburgh, Carnegie Museum of Art.

So lovely! So charming! Relaxing! Civilized. And right outside was the tourism and bustling village of Montmartre. We toured the garden, took scads of photos, then enjoyed 3 or 4 floors of history and art. Afterwards, we sat in the beautiful courtyard and enjoyed a tea and split a blueberry muffin.