A Paris Less Well Known
By Gabi. Filed in France |
This time our arrival from Germany into Paris landed us in a new section that we have never discovered before. Many of the trains arriving from outside of France arrive at Gare de l’Est, which is in the 10th arrondissement, a non-touristy section of Paris. After checking in at the hotel, we were on our last exploration of this year long journey. On previous trips to Paris we had already taken in many of the tourist sights, as the Eiffel Tower, Notre-Dame, the Louvre, Montmartre with Sacre-Coeur and of course a ride on the Seine River. This time we wanted to not be tourists, but rather pretend we were Parisians.
On our trip around the world this had often been our motto, since one can only see so many tourist sites in a row and still appreciate what one is seeing. We headed over to the Canal St-Martin, a canal that was built by hand in 1852 to provide the city with water. We took a stroll along the banks of the canal and were caught up in its traditional charm of a less hectic life. A fisherman was hoping to catch that night’s dinner or maybe he was just enjoying the tranquility of the water. A young couple was embraced, alternately staring lovingly at each other and the romantic canal. A group of young students having a picnic with a bottle of wine sat on the pinnacle center of one of the pedestrian bridges, surely making them feel like they were floating above the water. We decided to join this pace of French life and sat down in a tiny street cafe along St. Martin’s banks to watch the Parisians, often with long loaves of bread under their arms, go by. The “world” in this district was very multi-cultural. We were told that it is now the heart of a new bohemian Paris, with artisans shops, small cafes and restaurants. As we continued our walk to dinner, we could choose among various world cuisines to fill our bellies, buy articles of traditional clothing from around the world, and enlighten our minds by hearing diverse tongues spoken. What a finish to a world journey……..the world right there in the 10th arrondissement of Paris, hidden down the street from the famous Place de la Republique.