La Belle France
Racing at the Tour Eiffel
This is the recent memory of an incident which took place on an earlier trip to Paris, a tiny moment of spontaneity and complete joy. Our son was not quite six. He was a wonderful urban traveler, who enjoyed drinking hot chocolate and playing Uno at sidewalk cafés, absorbing museums at the “extra-fast” setting, and simply running, whenever the opportunity presented itself.
Sometimes, this running just occurred on a conveniently safe bit of sidewalk (always preceded by the question: "Can I run?" Parks and squares were even better, of course. And particularly great for running was any place that could be seen as representing a race track.
He was also insistent that we ascend any towers that we came across, so of course, the Eiffel Tower was a must. We spent most of a morning going up and down this heavily-visited tourist attraction, and then made our way back through the Champs du Mars, looking forward to some crepes, or cheese, or some other delightful Parisian lunch food.
We spotted a small race course occupied by pedal carts, painted up to look like race cars. Our son, who was at that time absolutely obsessed with wheels, cars, and racing, watched wistfully. “I wish I could drive one of those,” he said, apparently believing it to be a private race of some kind that only the privileged few could enter. His face lit up when we told him that he too could drive a car.
Soon, a few euros had exchanged hands and he was the proud driver of a racing car decorated with orange flames and the miraculous word “turbo”. Before we knew it, he was a going concern, and unlike most of the other kids on that little course, he treated it like serious business. Entirely focussed on overtaking and passing the other small drivers, he pedaled that car until he was red in the face.
He was entitled to seven laps, but the proprietor clearly approved of his energy, because every time he slowed to pull off the track, the proprietor waved him on, saying, “Allez!” We paid for one more set of a laps for him, but we lost track after awhile, and I know that he drove for more than his allotted fourteen. Finally, he pulled in, completely exhausted and absolutely happy.
I always remember this experience as one of those happy accidents that can happen when traveling with children. I doubt that a day at EuroDisney would have made him any happier than twenty minutes in a pedal racing car, passing all the other drivers on the track.
Photos: running at the Luxembourg Gardens; running at Les Halles; running at Saint-Eustache; racing at la tour Eiffel
Ramblings in Belleville
Our March break trip to Paris saw many kinds of weather, entirely predictable for the time of year. But one day in particular felt more like May than March, and we spent it wandering through the Belleville neighbourhood. This area near to the eastern border of Paris is not generally well known to tourists, as it lacks an obvious tourist destination such as Montmartre in the neighbouring eighteenth arrondissement, or the Père Lachaise Cemetary in the twentieth. But we left our apartment by the Canal Saint Martin, anxious to enjoy the beautiful day, and crossed one of the many small bridges to the quiet streets beyond.
The quiet only lasted until we had passed through the area around the Hôpital Saint-Louis and reached the cobblestoned rue du Faubourg du Temple. This bustling street is a charming mashup of crèpes and kebabs, boulangeries and ethnic grocers, fashion bargains and dollar stores. Arabic and Chinese characters are mixed in with the French on awnings and signs. The narrow cobbled street ends when it reaches the tree-lined Boulevard Villette, but its continuation, rue de Belleville, has a similar feel. Here, Chinese characters dominate the signage, and shops with produce impressively stacked in perfect pyramids are mixed in with the cafés and clothings stores that line the street, which straddles the boundary between the nineteenth and twentieth arrondissements.
Eventually, we turned south into the twentieth and through the hilly Parc de Belleville to discover a beautiful view over Paris, with the Eiffel Tower in the distance. On the other side of the park is the Ménilmont neighbourhood, where we visited the nineteenth-century neo-romanesque church of Notre-Dame de la Croix. This lovely big church stands impressively at the top of a grand staircase, and its long, elegantly arched nave and beautiful organ are as lovely as many of the more famous churches in the centre of the city.
Back on the rue de Belleville, we came to an intersection surrounded by the typical six-storey apartment buildings seen all over Paris, cream-coloured stone with black wrought iron balconies. At one corner, standing tall and brilliant in the bright sunlight, stood the mid-nineteenth century neo-Gothic church of Saint-Jean-Baptiste de Belleville. From here, we made our way through the nineteenth arondissement, into the amazing little neighbourhood of Butte-Chaumont, a village of tiny streets and nineteenth century townhouses with little gardens. It was an anti-Paris.
And then we popped out on the other end at the Parc des Butte-Chaumont. Sprawling down the hill, beautifully landscaped in 19th-century English style, with a big lake at the bottom, and a hill with a miniature folly, like a ruined tower, perched on top. It was very peaceful. We wandered from the top of the hill to the bottom, looking at vistas and taking pictures. When we walked out and back toward the canal, it was like coming back into another world.
Photos: View from the Parc de Belleville; rue de Belleville; Notre-Dame de la Croix; Saint-Jean-Baptiste de Belleville; townhouses in the 19th arrondissement; Parc des Butte-Chaumont
Paris Sans Museums
On our recent visit to Paris, we did the unthinkable– we stayed for ten days without visiting any art museums. We didn’t set out on the trip with this as a goal, although we had planned to be selective in our choices. But for various reasons, the slender number of art museums that we had planned on seeing dwindled to none.
However, by no means was our visit devoid of culture. We did visit a couple of popular tourist sites, as well as many less famous ones, and felt that in some ways, we had made out well on the exchange. Our trip to Versailles was enjoyable despite the crowds, inasmuch as on three previous visits to Paris we had not yet been. And at Notre-Dame Cathedral, a favourite of mine of every visit, we lined up to climb the towers, something we had never done before; afterward, we all agreed that it was well worth doing.
But Paris is full of interesting old churches, many of them unseen by tourists, and we visited a number of these. Sainte-Chapelle is famous, and well known in all the guide books, but we found no real lineup there, and had an amazing experience. The gorgeous windows would have rewarded a much longer wait. I took picture after picture until I realized that I could do that forever and never really be done! They have been cleaning and restoring it, and you could really see the difference in the ones that have been done. It is lovely and bright, and incredibly detailed. It also had the greatest gift shop ever, full of medieval stuff.
Down the rue de Turenne from the Place de la République, we stopped at a lovely 19th-century church, Eglise Saint-Denis, built in a classical style, very clean and bright, and oh so peaceful. I went inside the Eglise Saint Médard at the bottom of rue Mouffetard, a great mishmash of centuries and psuedo-Gothic style.
Being musicians, we had planned on attending some concerts, but again, for various reasons, didn’t end up in any concert halls. But we walked through the church of Saint-Germain-des-Près, such a great old building, not pretentious but just big and old, with a lovely organ that was being practised upon when we went in. At Saint-Eustache, we were able to hear a recital of Mozart and Bach on the beautiful big organ.
Instead of dedicating the time needed to line up and ascend the Eiffel Tower, we enjoyed a lovely view from behind, where there is a little park and a pond. It was quite peaceful, and in some ways more interesting than the more famous view from the Champs de Mars. Instead of the tower, we went up onto the roof of the Galeries Lafayette department store, where you can see an amazing panorama of Paris, completely free and unbothered by more than a moderate number of people.
We didn’t walk in either the manicured paths of the Jardin de Luxembourg or the wilder spaces of the Bois de Vincennes. But we strolled through the ever-beautiful Place des Vosges in the Marais. I never tire of going there, it is such a little piece of design perfection, with the 17th-century buildings and their arcades, and the lovely balance of the park itself. We were amused by the building at one corner, which was under restoration, and had been covered with a canvas façade that perfectly replicated the rest of the row, except for the massive iPhone ad covering part of it! We also discovered the absolutely delightful Parc aux Buttes-Chaumont, a beautifully landscaped 19th-century park sprawled over a large hill, with a big lake at the bottom.
We did visit one museum, the natural history museum at the Jardin des Plantes. This proved to be like the Louvre of natural history museums, with several wings and more to see than we would want to do in one visit. We went to the hall of evolution, which was an astonishing display over several stories, all like mezzanines wrapped around a giant hall. It was a remarkably complete exhibit which collected apparently different things together to show their commonality.
So, in keeping with our plan to see more of the lesser-known Paris on this trip, our visit, while missing out on Monet, Picasso, or Rodin, was far from lacking in culture or beauty. Next time, we will work some of those lovely spots back into the itinerary, but on this occasion, they were, surprisingly, not really missed.
Photos: Parc aux Buttes-Chaumont; view from Notre-Dame toward Montmartre; window in Sainte-Chapelle; organ recital at Saint-Eustache; Eglise Saint-Denis; view past the Opéra from Galeries Lafayette; Place des Vosges; natural history museum; behind the Eiffel Tower
Not Your Travel Guide's Paris
Our recent trip to Paris was our fourth visit to the City of Light, and on previous trips, we had stayed in budget hotels or (on the last occasion) a left bank apartment near the Pantheon. This time, we wanted a more “authentic” experience, and we found it in the Tenth Arrondissement, next to the charming under-the-radar Canal Saint-Martin.
In this trendy, bustling neighbourhood, we certainly had our fill of quintessential Parisian experiences. We ate twice at Lulu’s, a Breton creperie with delicious galettes and wonderful cider that they served in little ceramic bowls instead of glasses. There was also a takeaway crepe shop on the canal, where our son regularly stopped for folded sucre-citron crepes. At one end of our street was the Place de la Republique, a lovely open square lined with cafés and restaurants (and even a café in the middle); we sat at Café Pierre on the corner, and drank chocolat chaud. At its other end, our street met the canal, and there was Chez Prune, a popular drinking and snacking spot, where the opportunity of snagging a sidewalk table was not one to be bypassed.
There were many patisseries in our neighbourhood. Probably our favourite was the trendy Du Pain et des Idees, which has a limited selection but really delicious breads, and mouth-wateringly buttery croissants, but the others were all great.
The place for cheese was La Crémerie on rue Lancry, where we almost overdosed on divine chèvre, and bought delightful Normandy cider that we drank every afternoon– low alcohol, bouncy but not overly fizzy, and with just the right apple flavour. The lovely proprietress was very friendly, and as we learned, a vegetarian like us, and interestingly, married to a butcher!
But the neighbourhood also had its less French aspects. There were bagels, falafel, and takeaway pizza to be had, all delicious. There were many North African restaurants throughout the arrondissement, and a great little Mexican cantina where we had better tacos and quesadillas than most of what we get at home. There were quotidien businesses selling everything from shoes to cell phones, and there were small grocery stores where we bought bottled water, yogurt, and fresh produce.
A large south Asian neighbourhood near the Gare du Nord afforded lots of options for vegetarian dining. One evening we visited Passage Brady, where a classic skylight-covered passage was filled with Indian and Pakistani shops and restaurants, and the hosts stood out front hawking their menus for all they were worth. We chose a little hole in the wall called Yasmin, where we sat at a table in the window and enjoyed a delicious Indian meal of all our favourites, with some interesting twists. We had coconut-flavoured naan, interestingly flattened pakoras, and unusually creamy sauces, all flavoured with star anise.
And there was the delight of strolling along the canal. In the daytime, we observed the locks opening and closing to allow the little cruise boats through, and watched the tourists watching us; in the evening, we enjoyed the lights reflected in the water and shared the scene only with the locals. This neighbourhood, hip and energetic, reminded us of our Main Street neighbourhood at home, and was a delightful base from which to explore the more traditional elements of a vacation in Paris.
Photos: Canal Saint-Martin; Place de la Republique; Chez Prune from across the canal; le petit déjeuner; murals on the Quai de Valmy; grocery store; Passage Brady; strolling along the canal