Rue des Martyrs and the Haut Marais

Saturday October 7 was a mix of sun and cloud with the odd burst of rain (not in the forecast) and a high of 16C.  After Alain did some food shopping and we had a late breakfast, we took the Metro to the Montmartre end of Rue des Martyrs and walked down from the Abbesses Metro.

Last year Alain and I had read Elaine Sciolino's The Only Street in Paris- Life on the Rue des Martyrs  and had checked out some of the places she had written about.  We started at the bottom of the street and walked up.  Today, we started at the other end.

In order to get there, we had to transfer twice on the Metro.  The last line, M12, had wonderful signs over the tracks stating the direction the trains were going, either to Montparnasse or Montmartre.
Line 12- Direction Montparnasse 
Direction Montmartre
The elevator was not working at the Abbesses Metro stop and we had to hike up to the street.  There were wonderful drawings on the walls, but we really couldn't stop to take pictures on the way up, as it was a narrow stairway.  Stairmaster, for sure!
Abbesses Metro stop- one of the older stations on the line
We started our walk down Rue des Martyrs, first stopping to buy a sandwich (chicken or tuna on a baguette) at Pain Pain, a new bakery.  Lots of goodies and very good baguettes.
Pain Pain
Rue des Martyrs is a mix of the old and the new.  We feel that more of the old is disappearing and the new coming in, even since Alain and I were there last November.   On the plus side, stores are opening on the side streets, a few have only been there for two years.  Sciolino's book definitely created a buzz, and a number of stores still have it displayed even though it was published in 2015.

Still a number of old vintage and antique shops
The old Sauna Mykonos is still there
Some of the old gated streets with beautiful buildings 
Alain found a carousel to pose on.

Alain and friend
There are still some wonderful fruit, fish and meat vendors as well as good bakeries.  However, the numbers are dwindling.
Beautiful fruits and vegetables- French beans are still the best
We have also passed a large number of flower stores this visit to Paris-- the fall seems to be a wonderful time for flowering plants and the displays are beautiful.

Flower store on Rue des Martyrs
Street off Rues des Martyrs where Truffaut filmed The 400 Blows.
Chocolate is salad....
We stopped at Maison Brémond 1830 to get some olive oil and other treats.  The same woman was working there as last year and she greeted us warmly.  She gave us samples of biscuits and a bar of soap. Wonderful old fashioned service.
At 1830- lovely small courtyard in back of store
We then passed by one of my favourite chocolate stores in Paris- Aux Mere de Famille.  This location is in a wonderful old building.

Aux Mere de Famille
After we stopped for a coffee on Notre-Dame de Lorette (the street off Rue des Martyrs where Elaine Sciolino lives, we started our walk to the Marais- passing the Café du Croissant at 146 Rue Montmartre where Jean Jarures was assassinated in 1914.


There is not much to see on the upper part of Rue Montmartre- however, as we got to an intersection we spotted another children's store called "Womb" that we had to check out.  Grace is a new grandmother and Alain and I are now being exposed to Paris children's shops.  "Smallable"on Friday and "Womb" on Saturday seem to be some of the new concept stores springing up.  The place was packed on a Saturday.

Womb- World of My Baby * But Parents First
We passed by the top of one of our favourite food streets- Rue Montorgueil.  There was a huge sign saying "Non au fast food géant dans la rue Montorgueil!!!

No McDonalds on Rue Montorgeuil
We wandered into the Haut Marais, the upper section of the Marais, to check out some of our favourite stores.  Change is the operative word on these streets--- a few of our favourites gone- but new stores springing up.  Grace bought a beautiful sweater at Anaim.

Inside of Anaim
The window 
Our final destination was dinner at La Mary Celeste.  It was a treat from Grace for Alain's birthday last week.  The restaurant had been recommended by one of Grace's daughters and as we entered, Alain and I remembered we had a drink there a few years ago.  It is a small buzzy place featuring delicious small plates to share.

Of course, we ran into our former neighbours from our condo having dinner!!  Andrew and Ruth had just arrived from Toronto and were spending a week in Paris before heading to the south of France.  Small world indeed!!
Andrew and Ruth from Toronto

We shared a number of small plates- some in the pictures below and some we ate before pictures could be taken.
Cucumber and eggplant salad- delicious flavours
Mushrooms on toast
Veal Tartare- delicious
Alain with his almost finished beef with ricotta dish
Apple crumble for dessert
We had decided to forgo Nuit Blanche festivities as it can get quite crowed.  However, as we headed back to the apartment, we passed a piece on the Pont Saint- Louis by Lionel Sabatté called Une île sur un pont.
Part of a project Human Condition (2016)
Another great day exploring Paris.  More tomorrow.

Comments

  1. Unknown8 October 2017 at 21:06

    I finished The Only Street in Paris about 3 weeks ago so it was even more interesting to see that you visited Rue de Martyrs. It is certainly on our list for our next visit. As usual you have come up with interesting looking food.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Discovering Sintra

Image
Thursday October 19 was cloudy with a bit of sun and a high of 19C.  We got up early as we were taking the Sandeman's Tour of Sintra.  In addition to their free city tours, Sandeman's had a paid day tour to Sintra, the resort town in the foothills of the Sintra Mountains, about 25km from Lisbon.  A longtime royal sanctuary, Sintra has a micro climate that makes it cooler than Lisbon and often foggy.  It is known for its many 19th-century Romantic villas, castles and royal retreats and estates.  There are many forested areas and it is very lush.  It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We met Pascal, our guide at the same spot we had met for our Free Tour, a five minute walk from our apartment.   We had a large group of about 20 people.  We  walked to the Rossi Train Station, about a 10 minutes from the meeting spot and not far from where we are staying. En route to the station- beautiful flowering trees that we had noticed before The Ros...
Read more

Gauguin and Last Full Day in Paris

Image
We're getting repetitious but the weather has been fairly consistent for our visit.  Wednesday October 11 was the usual mix of cloud and sun and a high of 18C.  Great walking weather.   Alain now has the cold and it was his turn to rest at the apartment for the day.  Grace and I took the Metro to the Grand Palais to see the Gauguin L'alchimist e ( Gauguin: The Alchemist ) exhibit which was just opening. Outside the Grand Palais- line up at 1:00 p.m. was not too long Paul Gauguin (1848-1903) was one of the major French artists of the 19th century.  The exhibit aimed to explore Gauguin's experimental approach to his disciplines of painting (for which he is most well known), ceramics, woodwork, and engravings (the latter three, have been seen less frequently and often underappreciated). He was a self-taught artist,  born in Paris.  His family moved to Peru when he was a young child.  His father died on the journey to South America.  He lat...
Read more

David Hockney and André Derain at the Pompidou

Image
Thursday October 5 was mainly cloudy with a few outbursts of rain in the late afternoon.  High of 18C.  After breakfast, we walked down to the Centre Pompidou and spent most of the afternoon at two excellent exhibits.  The first was the David Hockney retrospective which opened just as the artist turned 80.  It was a very comprehensive exhibit featuring drawings, prints, video installations, photographs and painting.  It retraced his work from his early paintings in his Bradford, England schooldays to the monumental "joiners" he created at his Yorkshire studio.  What is striking is Hockney's interest in modern technologies for the production of his images.  Hockney also has had a life-long focus of bringing photography and painting together.   It was an excellent and thorough survey of his work. Portrait of My Father, 1955 The Cha Cha that was Danced in the Early Hours of the 24th, March 1961, 1961 "The Drinking scene", from a Rake's P...
Read more