Place de Tertre, the Square on the Hillock

Today I discovered that Tertre means 'hillock' in French. That explains where the Place de Tertre, situated just to the West of the Sacré Cœur up on the hill, gets its' name.

I've been going up there quite often lately early in the morning and enjoying the calm before the crowds arrive. Apparently 8 million tourists visit the Sacré Cœur every year. If you divide that by 365 you get an astonishing 22 thousand a day! Obviously a false per-day figure but it gives a sense of the magnitude of Montmartre and the Sacré Cœur's popularity.

At 8.30 in the morning, however, the Place de Tertre is empty and calm with just the restaurants getting ready for the day.

Lots of empty seats. 

Artists setting up their stalls.

But not Pierre...yet.

The first caricaturists half heartedly  look for customers.

The sun is low in the sky.

The calm before the storm.