Ok, Paris experts, I need your help to solve this mystery. Three years ago on a dark and stormy Paris night, my two children and I started to make our way back from Sacre Couer. Somehow we became lost. We ended up in a Metro station that had a circular stairway (can't remember if it was an exit or entrance)with walls painted in the style of all of the Impressionists who had lived/worked in the area.<BR><BR>When my husband went back to Paris with us, we were never able to find that Metro again. And I've not heard of this in any guidebook (yes, there's all those Art Nouveau and Art Deco entrances, but not this one).<BR><BR>Honestly, if I hadn't taken a picture of the kids inside the stairwell, I'd believe I had imagined the whole thing.<BR><BR>Anyone?

Hi Amy. The Metro station you're thinking of, which has the circular stairway with all the paintings would be the Abesses station, at the foot of Montmartre, at Place des Abbesses. It's one of my favorites. <BR><BR>This station, by the way, is one of the few that still has a Hector Guimard art nouveau canopy over the entrance. It's also -- as the article below notes -- the deepest station on the metro system, 130 feet below the sidewalk outside. <BR><BR>http://www.jsonline.com/dd/destnat/o...is22101900.asp

Thank you, Capo. The guidebooks talk about the entrance, but I've never seen reference to the stairway.<BR><BR>What was a particularly delightful memory to me was that the kids' school has a neat art appreciation program, and they named the artists as we did the stairs.<BR><BR>Now I know where to go back to, and I'm quite grateful for the website, too.

You're welcome, Amy. On my first visit to Paris in 1987 (coincidentally, with a woman named Amy), we took the Metro to that station to visit Sacre Coeur and I vividly remember the paintings on that stairway...and also how far up we had to climb! <BR><BR>Very cool that your kids could name the artists due to their school's art appreciation program. How did they feel about Paris in general?

How kind of you to ask.<BR><BR>On the second trip to Paris, one on which my husband could accompany me, we stopped at a patisserie/cafe right after dropping our luggage off at the hotel. My husband's jaw dropped when my seven-year-old took off her winter hat, peeled off the gloves, and said, "Ah, home at last."<BR><BR>And that sums up how both of them feel. The culture just seems to suit them.

Thanks, Amy. I think my jaw would've dropped upon hearing a seven-year old say that too. I wonder if there's a gene for Francophilia that you guys passed on to your kids?

Hmmm...I would suspect that a 7 yo definition of "home" is more likely to be "a place where one can eat pastries" rather than "a foreign country"...

How perceptive! I would say, clairobscur, that a significant part of their cultural affinity with France is their relationship with cheese and croissants, and that seven-year-old in particular has the deepest appreciation in our family for a good tarte tatin.<BR><BR>There's more to it, of course, and I'm glad they're still in love with Paris. They check the E-savers for me!

The Abesses! Before I even read Capo's response, I knew it! I think part of it was exposed when I got off the metro, because normally I would take the escalator, but I took forever walking up the stairs. Not because I am out-of-shape, but because it is so incredible! I was myself that day and it was the only day I didn't have a camera with me. <BR><BR>I absolutely recommend a special trip just to see the art here!<BR><BR>Jennifer

fyi the Abesses station and sacre coeur were also featured in an excellent movie amelie

I knew this one because a woman came into the Rodin Museum and asked in a very southern accent..."Do you know where the gate to hell is...the metro said you have it here."...she said- she saw it in the Abesses station ..later that day we stopped there and sure enough --there were all the art pieces,,she described...