I first fell in love with Montmartre on the big screen, thanks to its starring role in Am\u00e9lie. And like my heroine\u2019s own connection to her neighborhood, it\u2019s the first place I started to feel at home in Paris.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

When I visited a shared apartment in Montmartre which came with all the basics as well as a view of the Sacr\u00e9-C\u0153ur from my bedroom, I knew it was too good to pass up. Decent apartments don\u2019t come around very often in this city. Even fewer come with a view of an iconic monument to remind you that you\u2019re living your Parisian dream.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Finding a home in Paris<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

And so started my life in Paris. I’d already lived here for months, though. The first place I called home was the bourgeois and unexciting 16th arrondissement (which I don\u2019t recommend) before moving on to Le Marais (which I do, if you can find a decent apartment). But it was in Montmartre where I started to feel like I actually lived here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Name-dropping Am\u00e9lie sounds like a clich\u00e9, but Montmartre really feels like its own little village. Sure, there are more tourists here than you ever see in the film (director Jean-Pierre Jeunet must have deleted them in post-production). And I wasn\u2019t matchmaking locals or chatting up any of my neighbors. But I did find my regular haunts where I could also feel like I belonged\u2014not like someone passing through for the weekend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As all Parisians know, the first thing to do when you explore your new quartier <\/em>is to find a good bakery. Bread is life here, and one of my favorite habits was picking up a baguette from Pain Pain.<\/a> I’d often find myself nibbling on the end, as all true Parisians do, as I walked home. It was a simple French pleasure which I loved to indulge in: a fresh-baked baguette with plenty of salted butter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pain Pain is also where my friends and I would pick up supplies for a picnic on sunny days on the grass of the Sacr\u00e9-C\u0153ur. But to avoid the guilt of too many trips to my newfound local bakery, I also had to find a new running route. The hills of Montmartre and the steps up to the Sacr\u00e9-C\u0153ur made for a pretty torturous 30 minutes, but it was worth it for all those delicious buttery carbs. And that’s not to mention the early morning view once I had reached the top\u2014one of the best in Paris, and luckily for me, right on my doorstep.<\/p>\n\n\n\n