La Promenade Plantee

Tuesday, October 23. I'm trying to get caught up on my blog, but I'm afraid I'm giving short shrift to the last four or five days. Moreover, tomorrow I have French tutoring session with Camille for three hours and I have done RIEN, NADA, NOTHING!!!

But . . . the sun is shining so I can't stay inside the whole day. Sally forth to explore the r. du Faubourg St Antoine and the area south of it down to Avenue Daumesnil.

Faubourg St Antoine. This area was traditionally populated by furniture-making artisans, and you can still find them down little passageways. On the main street, however, are larger, mass-market furniture stores along with a fair number of clothing shops. Les Ateliers de Paris is currently showing an Exposition en Papier (yes, that would be paper). This is a small exhibition space with remnants of a mosaic floor. In keeping with the theme of the exposition, the white display tables are supported by legs made of cardboard tubes! There are things made of folded paper and papier mache, along with some ordinary items (clocks) decorated with paper. Much of it is very fantastical. Next door, the Chevignon clothing store has its mannequins standing in front of a display of used paint cans.

There are many little passageways leading off of the main drag that provide a sense of what this neighborhood must have been like "in the olden days":
Cour du Bel-Air
Passage du Chantier
Cour de L'Etoile-d'Or
Cour des Trois Freres
Cour de l"ours
Passage de la Main-d'Or

Quartier d'Aligre. This little quarter has a huge covered market with wonderful food stalls. Need to come back in the morning when the outdoor market is going on too.

Down r. du Prague to Avenue Daumesnil. Along the way, I pass a wonderful little shop, Chemins de Bretagne, with les Specialites Bretonnes: cookies and caramels and jam and fish soup and on and on. I buy some caramels made with sarrasin (buckwheat).

Viaduc des Arts et La Promenade Plantee. This is without a doubt one of the most successful "urban renewal" projects ever in terms of "adaptive reuse." A former railway line built atop a beautiful red brick arcade used to run from Place de la Bastille to the banlieus. The rail line was abandoned many years ago but the building of the Opera Bastille set off a transformation in the east side of Paris and this was one of the results. The arcades under the viaduct have been enclosed to provide space for artisans and other shops with huge rounded windows at street level. On top, where the railway used to run, there is now a 2-mile walkway, planted with flowering shrubs, small trees, roses. It is tranquil as well as beautiful, and much of it is still in bloom. Apparently, it is divided into two distinct sections: the first available only to walkers but the second also allows bikes and roller blades. Need to check this out! I have only been on the first part so can't report on the rest.

Walking back, I discover another vista: from the Colonne de Juillet at the Place de la Bastille directly down r. de Lyon to the huge clock tower at the Gare de Lyon.

Atelier de Proprete. At Place de la Bastille, I notice two stairwells enclosed by wrought iron fences, heading underground. The walls are decorated with little tiles and carry this message: Construit Par Les Etablissements Porcher Paris-Rouen 1909. Would like to find out exactly what these are used for.

Roger Parry Photographs. I didn't realize it but there is a small exhibition space at the Hotel de Sully which is an extension of the Jeu de Paume. Roger Parry (1905-1977) was a French photographer who also did a lot with book design, in particular for Andre Malraux. There is a wonderful photograph, shot from above, of a wet street, bare trees, a horse-drawn carriage sitting at the curb and a policeman walking down the pavement that I will remember forever. It's almost enough to make me buy the exhibit catalog as there are no postcards.

Stagger home. French grammar.