Yet another stop at the glass store.
The bazaar near Butte Chaumont
This guy just had to hold Tziporah, sing to her, laugh with her...he was charming.
I was trying to discreetly take a picture of the Hasidim in the background. It would be interesting to learn more about this area and the history of the Jewish community in Paris, since it was so completely wiped out in WWII.
Loved this little street.
Scott and Tizzy and I went to the cafe across from the Panis and Notre Dame for breakfast, then woke up Freestone and took the metro to Butte Chaumont. What an exciting neighborhood! There were students everywhere, lots of Bangladeshi, Pakistani, lots of
Hasidic Jews. We saw a restaurant called Cafe Tziporah! Can you
believe it? When we came up out of the Metro, we walked right into a street bazaar. We bought some baby clothes and things for super-cheap, but when we went back after the park, the bazzar was gone. Darn! The park was beautiful and reminded us of Central Park. We walked to the top of the butte for a great view of the city. Trajan had told us that Chinatown was in that area and Freestone wanted to find it, but we didn't. On the way back on the Metro, I really wanted to hop off and see what was at the Belleville stop. I had heard it was an up-and-coming neighborhood, and also, I used to hop off the Metro when I was 14, just to see what was above-ground somewhere I'd never been. It just seems adventurous. Scott said, "We don't just want to wander around somewhere we've never been!" I said, "Yes we do! That's exactly what we want to do!"...
Scott agreed and we came out of the Belleville Metro stop smack in
the middle of...Chinatown! It was indeed a vibrant neighborhood with
all the color and swagger of an immigrant enclave. We stopped at a
little hole-in-the-wall for some seriously delicious Vietnamese
sandwiches, then got some scrumptious French pastries for dessert. I
was so glad for Freestone's sake that we had found Chinatown, and quite
by accident. He was such a pleasant, good sport on the trip, going
wherever we took him, that it was fun to actually end up somewhere he
had wanted to go. If I ever go back to Paris, Belleville will be at the
top of my list, if only for those Vietnamese sandwiches!
We tried to make Freestone talk to people in French. He did great ordering food and conversing, but his voice was so quiet people had a hard time hearing him. He got several compliments on his French.
1 comment:
Gorgeous!
Post a Comment