After all and at last, the leaves start to appear...

Referring to my previous, latest, post about the Belleville area, I felt that with the sudden arrival of spring, I must go back. So, here are a few more photos. How things have changed in a few days! 

...and also some more inventive, decorative details…

… a little more of street art and tagging…

… a view of Rue Laurence Savart taken from the top by Willy Ronis in 1948 and from the lower end by me in 2013…

… not forgetting a few cats, of which one exceptionally seemed happy to pose. 

Still no leaves on the trees, but…

Paranthesis: No leaves on the trees... Actually, this is not true any more. I prepared this post a couple of days ago. Suddenly, yesterday, the spring arrived!

 End of parenthesis.

Last Sunday I had the pleasure to walk around for a long moment together with some fellow “greeters”. We are volunteers who regularly take smaller groups of Paris visitors beyond the usual tourist spots. Feel welcome to make an appointment for your next Paris trip. You can do it by going here or by clicking on “Parisien d’un jour” in the sidebar. … and tell your friends!

Sometimes we also visit places and make walks just between us, between “greeters”.  So last Sunday, on the proposal by one of us, Isabelle, we made a walk along Rue des Pyrenées, with some deviations, on the top of the Belleville / Menilmontant areas.  I have already posted about this part of Paris, but I thought that the area is worthy of some more pictures.

So, the spring is definitely late and last week there were still no leaves on the trees - the “April in Paris” is until now not quite what it should be. Anyhow, there is now at last some kind of a spring feeling, especially in nice company, as during this walk together.

  

We are quite on top of Paris and the view over the city is really nice.

There are a number of nicely decorated buildings.

On the façade of the Saint-Jean-Baptiste-de-Belleville church, you can curiously enough read “Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité”, originally a rather revolutionary message. I have not been able to find out how this inscription has ended up here.

This was much more of a workers’ area with a lot of small industries. There are still a number of small idyllic alleys, small individual houses with little gardens, old buildings more or less transformed or under transformation…

… mixed with much more modern ones.

The area is known for the high presence of urban art (see previous posts) (Nemo, Jérome Mesnager, Jef Aerosol, Mosko, janaundjs, Fred le Chevalier, Paul Santoleri, Cyclope…). I noted that the Belleville Park had got some - at least for me - new very nice sophisticated decoration… and there is of course also a lot of tagging.

I even saw some live animals, including some small chicken in a flower shop window. 

Salsa

I already made a few posts on the Parc de Belleville, a rather recent park, hardly visited by tourists, but offering a very good view of Paris. When I passed the other day (May 22), there was a great dance event going on, salsa. Of course you have a moment of hesitation; should you start moving around also? I decided to just take some photos.

I wish you a nice weekend!

Belleville, Menilmontant ... something more

I have already made some posts about rue Belleville, rue Menilmontant and the adjacent parts of Paris which were incorporated in 1860, traditionally and area of workers and lower middle-class - often active in the different social movements during the latter part of the 19th and earlier parts of the 20th centuries.

Last Saturday I was invited to a varnishing (obviously wrong word: vernissage in French means - also - e.g. the opening of an exhibition) at the “Bellevilloise” (rue Boyer) by an artist friend (KEJ – see previous posts). The “Bellevilloise” was created as the first cooperate association in Paris in 1877. It counted 9000 members in the beginning of the 20th century and offered shops, restaurants, libraries, a chance for the members to meet and to get educated... After a few decades of decline, today the place is living again as a very active cultural centre.

Another example of early social initiatives in this area is the group of “buildings for workers” (rue d’Annam - see also top picture) which you can find close to the “Bellevilloise”. This complex was ready in 1906 and, as you can see on the inscription under the entrance arch, with the intention to offer “cheap accommodations with all kind of hygienic guarantees”. This is just an example of several similar complexes which were built in what were those days the outskirts of Paris.

On the way home, I made a stop at Parc de Belleville which offers one of the best views of Paris, a place from where you can capture the Pantheon, the Notre Dame and the Tour Montparnasse or the Eiffel Tower and the Grand Palais on the same photo.

Rue du Faubourg du Temple

I have already made posts about Belleville, an area in the eastern part of Paris. Mostly you refer to Rue de Belleville and the adjacent streets in the 19th and 20th arrondissements. Originally, Belleville was however a commune (integrated in Paris in 1860) which also covered part of the present 10th and 11th arrondissements. The street I will talk about today, Rue du Faubourg du Temple is the continuation of rue de Belleville in the direction of Place de la République (see previous posts) and represents the border between the 10th and 11th arrondissments. The feeling along the street is very much the “Belleville” of today; cheap shops, bars and restaurants and a lot of Chinese and Arab influence ... and here more tags than graffiti or "urban art".
Once again, the charm is often to be found when you more or less successfully push some gates to hidden courtyards and alleys.

One remarkable building is the “Palais du Commerce”. It was built in the 20’s. Today, you will on the ground floor find some not extremely fashionable shops, but walking up the stairs there are some quite nice establishments, studios and offices. Your eyes are however especially attracted by the stained glass windows.

Some quite well-known theatres and clubs can be found along the street, including “La Java”, inside the “Palais du Commerce”, where as well Maurice Chevalier as Edith Piaf (with Belleville origins) made their first performances.

When crossing Boulevard Jules Ferry (covering the Canal St. Martin – see previous post), there are some trees and the statue of “La Grisette”, a typical Parisian profile of the 19th century; selling food or flowers in the surrounding streets or working in one the then existing factories along the canal and probably having a few male friends. (Adam, "Invisible Paris", made a very complete post about her.)