Paris Walk: Belleville Balade
22/02/2007
One of the benefits of global warming and the death of Earth – which I am sure will be shortlived – is unseasonably warm weather. Seasonably warm weather may of course become unbearable (just look at the poor Aussies) but I can’t really complain about 65 degree days in the middle of February.
Taking advantage of le beaux temps last Saturday, Mathilde and I headed out for a balade dans Belleville. Belleville, and its sister Menilmontant, is one of my favorite quarters in Paris, all the more so after our walk. It is diverse and well textured – ethnically, architecturaly, and topographically. It is built upon 2?3? Of the larger rises in Paris, offers many expansive views of the metropolis, and has – along with nearby Pere LaChaise and that other Parisian hill, Montmartre – hosted many battles throughout the city’s history.
Belleville was founded in the early 9th century, and was for a long time a banlieue of vineyards and workers home. It once boasted many natural springs – as its built upon the TKTK aquifer – that were critical sources for TKTK. Today the only remnants of the sprins are in the names its streets – rue de la Mer, rue des Cascades – and a hanful of TKTK, the old TKTK. By TKTK it was the third-largest city in France, much as Brooklyn was before its annexation to New York relegated it to a boro and reduced its economic threat level. Like the Faubourg St-Antoine, its Bellevilles traditionally blue collar population has long been TKTK, one of the reason that, when it was annexed by Paris in 1860, it was administratively coupe en deux between the then-new 19th and 20th arrodissements. Since then, waves of immigrants have livened-up the working-class character of the district. TKTK and TKTK came during the TKTK, followed by TKTK in TKTK and TKTK and TKTK in the 20th century. Artists began moving there in TKTK, and today the better part presents a well integrated community of tktk tktk and tktk.
Mathilde and I started our day, appropriately, at the Belleville metro stop. The intersection where the rue fbg du Temple becomes rue de Belleville, and bd de la villette become bd de Belleville, also forms the four corners where the 10th, 11th, 19th, and 20th arrondissements meet. Here the mixed character of the neighborhood is immediately apparent – blocks of rue de Belleville have a Canal Street vibe, with Asian vegetable stands, steamed bun vendors, and crispy chickens in windows, while ducking down any side street will bring you by many berber salons de the, grungy artist ateliers, and acres of graff. On Tuesdays and Fridays a wildly diverse marche runs down the boulevard.
Mat and I started with a couple of banh mi (Vietnamese hero sandwiches) from a place we know, before heading up rue de Belleville. Taking a right on rue Julien Lacroix, we headed down towards the the parc de Belleville. On the way we passed a number of charming intersections, one of which had a renowned – albeit frightfully dingy looking – Thai restaurant (Krung Thep) on one corner, a Moroccan joint on another, and a old boulanger on the third. On the fourth corner was a charming building, hung with airing laundry and rugs on the upper floors, ballons and streamers on the lower. “It’s a nice building,” an old, snaggle-toothed woman told us as we walked by, “but you wouldn’t want to look inside.” A sign painted on a sheet hung across the shuttered store front at its corner. “TKTK” it said “TKTK”. “We had a party last night,” said the old woman, as she went into a side door, “we’re all getting kicked out.” Again, like Brooklyn, Belleville shows both sides of the gentrification coin.
Reaching the park, we found it full of the activity one would expect of a midsummer afternoon. The fountains and waterworks were yet dry, but everywhere children ran and played, kicked balls and roughhoused. Young parents of every color walked blissfully behind newly-filled prams, or chased toddling toddlers. Two young girls, one white and one black, ponged a shuttlecock between them, sweet as a PC PSA. Two other little girls, not more than five, both exquisitely dressed, prattled on like miniature templates of the long-legged parissiennes I imagine they will become. Everywhere, people lolled on lawns, lone gauls nodding of, young arab couples chatting and cracking pistachios, bobos tossing frisbee. A wonderful, envigorating scene all around. Nothing is more calming and fortifying in a city than watching (and by watching, participating in) outdoor leisure, and the capers of kids.
The park itself was built in tktk, a project of tktk, designed by tktk. It works very well, both as a public space for multiple uses, and aesthetically. It ascends the hill in tiers, with many cute paths and covered walkways. A series of pools and waterfalls cuts down the center, lined and overarched by a stand of bamboo which I would speculate is a gesture towards the local Asian population. The top of the park has some small but very well tended lawns, which are punctuated by artful flowerbeds and plantings, and lined by cropped, rounded hedges. The whole effect may be very modern, but it is also unmistakably French in its willful manipulation of earth and nature.
The view from the top is excellent. The whole basin of Paris, from La Defense looking west and south all the way down past the Pantheon and TK. I, for one, far prefer this view to that from Sacre-Coeur on Montmartre. La Tour Eiffel is more prominent and proud, an its far easier to descry the many monuments on the skyline: even the towers of St-Etienne-du-Mont and the telescope dome of the Observatory are readily apparent. The sweetest part of the view today, however, was watching a small hot air (though more likely helium) balloon ascend from Parc Andre-Citroen over the horizon. The French have a long, well-document fascination with flight in general, and ballooning in particular, and it warmed me to imagine how magic a balloon would have seemed from such a vantage in TKTK, or how critical and patriotic it would have seemed in TKTK, when Paris – besieged by TKTK – sent out near-daily Montgolfiers to keep in touch with the rest of the republic.
Exiting the parc onto rue TKTK, we found ourselves in front of a hip little cafe, le Mer a Boire. Though we didn’t stop for drinks, we took a look inside, which is done in a warm ochre-orange and decked with framed BD sketches and pre-press plates. Right next door is the Villa Faucheur, where the TKTKTK was TKTK, and one of whose arched portes leads to a precious little ivy hung and herb-grown building courtyard.
Descending rue TKTK we came to pl TKTK. A handsome, terra-cotta bricked Art Deco school takes one corner, with a beautiful but simple freestanding maison, crawling with vines, across from it. From here one can go down rue des Cascades to find one of the old TKTK at number 14, but Mat and I saved that for another day and headed up to rejoin rue de Belleville.
Following an unsuccessful attempt to secure me a slot at a local coiffure, Mat and I explored a few blocks around Jourdain, peeping the shops and restaurants from TKTK to TKTK. One street was filled with latin music, so that I half expected to findb,nb,jjj
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