A Stroll Through Paris
- Brooke
- Aug 20, 2020
- 11 min read
Updated: Aug 5, 2021
There are certain places on earth where the art of the stroll is not only celebrated, but a quintessential facet of life. And in Paris, the act is so built in to its lifestyle that the French even have a word for it: flâneur, (noun) a stroller, or "passionate wanderer emblematic of nineteenth century French literary culture." Though this pastime eventually fell out of favor due to its association with idleness, there's certainly a case to be made for the art of just taking a wander. And there is no better place on earth to flâner (verb) than in the city built for this past time - Paris.
My goal when traveling to Paris by myself in the summer of 2018 was not to be a flâneur, but a much more productive visitor. I had a list of must-do's that had so far escaped my grasp in my previous three trips to Paris. It's funny - no matter how many times I visit the city, I don't have a huge to-do list (well, the first time I visited I did), because I've realized that Paris will always be the city I'll return to the most. In fact, each and every time I've been to Europe, I've stopped in to Paris, even if, like this trip, it was just for a little over 24 hours.
Having left Ben behind the day before on his way back to the US, and having a few days to kill in Amsterdam by myself before my mother arrived for our Baltic Cruise, I decided to take a quick trip down to Paris to visit two items on my never-ending Paris agenda: Versailles and Monet's gardens in Giverny. Versailles had always seemed like a bit of a schlep from the city center when Ben and I had visited, and the Monet Gardens were always closed when we came in the fall. Therefore, this overnighter would kill two birds with one stone, and a happy camper I'd be to spend even just a few hours in my favorite city.
Alas, dear reader, absolutely no birds were killed with any stones (hooray for the birds, at least). My trip to Versailles was a complete and utter bust, and proof that you can't trust me to nail down every single last detail when it comes to traveling (and I have a travel blog, ironically enough). You can read all about the misadventures on my blog posting about my short but sweet trip to one of the world's most extravagant palaces, but for the sake of this story, just know that you should arrive at the palace as early as you can, and please, wear sunscreen.
The Monet Gardens were also a bust, but this one was a little bit less my fault. Faithful readers and friends know that I have a history of bad luck with French public transportation, from planes, trains and automobiles. If I'm in France, there is 100% chance that my transport options will be disrupted.
And that's exactly what happened with my plans to visit the Monet Gardens. I had even gone out of my way to pick days that the trains were supposed to be running, yet somehow on the day I needed to take the train from Paris's Gare Saint-Lazare, trains were no longer running out in that direction. I could have rented a car, but having been defeated the day before by Versailles I decided to use my time to enjoy actually being in Paris. After all, if you have to have your plans ruined, why not have it happen in one of the world's finest cities?
So that is how I ended up as a flâneur on that warm June day, dear readers, strolling through the arrondissements of Paris. I had no real place to be, no measurable goals to achieve, only a few simple guideposts to direct my travels. My only real parameter was making it back to Gare du Nord in time for my train ride back to Amsterdam, and subsequently the hotel to pick up my bags to take the subway to Gare du Nord. Otherwise, I was free to roam the city of lights. On my own. Indulging in the art of flânerie as only the city of Paris allows.
Flâner away, mon amies. Follow along on my journey below, or make up your own itinerary. There's really no wrong way to stroll your way through the rues of Paris.
Le Marais Walk
Departing my trusty hotel, Le Méridien Etoile, my stroll through Paris started after a quick ride on the 1 Métro line to the Saint-Paul station, where a carousel greets you upon reaching street level. My goal was to take a stroll through the Le Marais neighborhood, a part of Paris I had not ever explored before. I had come equipped with a walking tour saved on my phone, which I have sadly misplaced or I would happily share it here. However, if you follow my walking tour, you may be able to deduce which one I followed.
It took me a few moments to get my bearings. This is a strategy I suggest for any non-city dwelling person upon exiting a subway station - take a minute to move to the side of the street and look around. Get to know which direction is which, which streets are where, and what your general plan of attack is. I've had friends who didn't live in NYC visit us and ask us how we knew how to get around so many different neighborhoods. It all starts with this brief orientation - it'll save you a lot of backtracking.
Also, as I mentioned in my Versailles posting, this trip to Paris was my first real trip abroad by myself. I had spent half a day the day before in Amsterdam on my own, and following this brief jaunt to Paris, I would wind up spending another week of travel by myself, but at this moment in time, I was still pretty new to this whole thing. Don't be afraid to slow your pace down if you need to. Besides, taking this extra time allows you to take stock of the various architectural details that exemplify the Parisian skyline.
Once I figured out which direction was what, I started walking along the main street of Rue de Rivoli/Rue Saint-Antoine, as I looked for my turn up Rue de Turenne. There, I would walk by numerous shops with lots of cute clothes but my shopping goals always include stores with art, books, posters, and other related materials. For that, I would need to keep walking.
For some reason, my walking tour either did not include a stop at the Place de Vosges, the city's oldest planned square dating back to 1612, or I opted to skip it for some unknown reason. In hindsight, I should have added the park to my itinerary. I'll have to add a stop in on my upcoming trip to Paris (edit: I visited in the summer of 2019, and hope to post about it soon), as it seems like a pleasant enough place to check out (edit - it is!).
While I read that Le Marais is a somewhat upscale community (the clothing stores certainly seemed to hammer home this idea), it still feels a little funky, with street art in more obvious places, like above, and some decidedly less obvious places, as seen below.
There were several boutiques that piqued my interest, including a pop up store where I bought a giant map of the Champagne region that I framed and hung up in my bar once I got home. It was one of Ben's favorite pieces of "art" that I picked up in my travels, as our ventures out to Champagne have always been some of our fondest travel memories.
As I kept walking, I came upon the part of the walking tour where the general feel of the area changes a bit, as you enter into the old Jewish Quarter. The streets become narrower, a little less polished (but by no means "rough"), with just heaps more character than the other streets up until this point. Since Ben has decreed that I'm "half" Jewish (since he's my better half - get it?), I was looking forward to seeing how this Jewish neighborhood compared with the ones I was more familiar with in NYC. The style is quite different - still pretty Parisian - but also still slightly familiar.
If you make it to this neighborhood and turn down Rue de Rosiers, it's absolutely worth stopping into Sacha Finkelsztajn - La Boutique Jaune ("jaune" means yellow in French - once you see the store, you'll completely understand why this is important information), the cutest Jewish pastry shop this side of the Seine. I was overwhelmed by the sheer amount of delicious looking options. I walked out of there with a loaf of challah bread (I mean, obvs), as well as a slice of orange cheesecake (sernik orange) that was absolutely to die for. Now that I'm living a gluten free lifestyle (not by choice, sadly), I will greatly miss not only the obvious French pastries like pain au chocolate and baguettes, but the less obvious ones like that amazing little slice of orange heaven. A stroll through Le Marais is worth it just for a slice of this cheesecake - you can thank me later.
I look forward to coming back to this neighborhood with Ben, as he will definitely be interested in checking out the food scene here. I hear the falafels in this neighborhood are quite newsworthy, perhaps with a little healthy competition between some of the competing falafel shops. Because I was out and about so early in the morning (well, relative to Paris time), I was not in the mood for falafel when I was strolling through the neighborhood. Next time I'm there with Ben, though, I'll be sure to report back on our findings on La Marais's best little ball of fried chickpeas.
After walking down Rue des Ecouffes, I left the Jewish Quarter and found my way back to Rue de Rivoli near the Saint-Paul station once again. My stroll through Le Marais was over, but I had other neighborhoods and places I wanted to stroll through on my random solo day walking the streets of Paris. Le Marais was definitely worthy of a morning flâner, with lots of character, cute shops, and yummy culinary treats.
Next stop - Les Halles.
Châtelet/Les Halles Walk
I came to Châtelet/Les Halles on a mission - to find a poster store. On our first trip abroad together, Ben and I spent our honeymoon in the islands of French Polynesia. On the days we spent on the island of Mo‘orea, we found ourselves enjoying a delicious drink called Orangina at the various restaurants and cafés we ate in. This is a pretty common drink in French speaking countries, and you can find it in the US, though not as readily as you can in the Francophone world where it is on pretty much every restaurant menu, convenience store shelf, and any café worth it's weight in salt.
On our first trip to Paris, I purchased an Orangina poster, with its retro advertising artwork, that we very gingerly schlepped back with us to NYC. We then brought it even further to our home in Hawaii once we moved back there after grad school, and it now hangs proudly over our dining table, its bright blues and orange colors and cheery feeling giving off the perfect vibes for the space. I love it, not only for its style but also its connection to my first real trip abroad and my amazing honeymoon, and I want more of them.
Hence, Les Halles. I had heard of a store online that promised tons and tons of posters, from old advertisements (which was what I was seeking), to almost everything else (movies, musicians/bands, famous art works, motivational messages, you name it!). I thought for sure I'd find something Orangina related (spoiler alert: no dice).
Luckily for me, I found my poster store, La Banque de l'Image, but sadly I did not find what I was looking for. I spent a good amount of time ruminating over a Perrier poster that captured a similar vibe, but opted against it due to its size and price. Without the connection to my personal life like Orangina, it just felt too much like an impulse buy than something worth the extra effort of schlepping back to Hawaii.
One of the things you might notice in the pictures of the Châtelet/Les Halles area versus Le Marais is the busy-ness factor. Le Marais was a lot quieter, at least when I was there, while Les Halles, only two métro stops away at Châtelet felt quite different. I didn't have time to stop into the actual Forum Des Halles, as I still had other objects on my agenda I was trying to accomplish, but I did take a few minutes to think about what the original "belly" of Paris might have looked and felt like before its demolition and subsequent replacement, including the more recently added La Canopée, before heading back to Le Métro to my next and final stop - Jardin des Tuileries.
Jardin des Tuileries/Conchorde
For my final act of my day in Paris, I was hoping to get a quick tour of Musée de L'Orangerie. First of all, its location in a former orangerie, a room where oranges and other citruses were grown in the colder months of the year in locales beyond the tropics, was intriguing on its own, as I have become quite enamored with citrus growing in recent years (no orangerie necessary in Hawaii, thanks to year long perfect weather). Secondly, it seemed like a museum that I could enjoy without huge swatches of time, which I was lacking at this point in the day.
And true to form following my whopping success at Versailles and the Monet Gardens, my arrival at the museum was also a bust - the line was too long, and my inability to buy a ticket in advance cost me another opportunity to cross something off my never shrinking list of things to see and do in Paris.
However, I was not to be completely deterred, and decided to use the opportunity to wander around the actual Tuileries garden, a place I had only briefly visited on my first trip to Paris in 2012. I even got to admire the rows of citrus growing in their Versailles planter boxes lined up throughout the garden, a real delight for a citrus nerd like me. (Is that a thing? I'm officially making it a thing now).
The other thing that stood out in the garden area was the giant ferris wheel that was being taken apart. There was a whole mini controversy regarding the man who originally set up the "Grande Roue," who also had his Christmas Market pulled the same year as well. While I never got to enjoy the ferris wheel personally, I was sad to hear that the Christmas Market will be gone, as it was something that Ben and I found utterly charming and confounding (the area containing the animatronic dinosaurs, talking tree and pirates especially).
Next, I stumbled into the Place de la Conchorde, built in 1755 and originally named after King Louis XV, including a statue of him mounted atop a horse (which did not survive the French Revolution, unsurprisingly). During the Revolution it was renamed to Place de la Révolution, and though the only chaos seen now is perhaps a bit of traffic, back then it was the home of many executions courtesy of Madame la Guillotine. It was here that King Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette, Robespierre, and many others lost their lives. However, as a gesture of goodwill and reconciliation, the square was renamed Place de la Conchorde in 1795, though it has changed names a few times as France's history underwent a few periods of turmoil during the ensuing centuries.
Today, though, there is little evidence of the bloodshed and despair that this square was previously famous for, and instead you can admire the beautiful fountains and towering Luxur Obelisk, which is over 3,000 years old.
For my final act of the day (before returning to Gare du Nord, of course) was a quick stroll onto the Pont de la Conchorde (pont means "bridge" in French) to admire les bateaux plying the Seine and catch a few more glances at Le Tower Eiffel as well as the Notre Dame.
No, I would not say I had the most exciting day in Paris, or even a productive one by my own terms, but I certainly had an enjoyable one. Sometimes travel plans go awry, but if you're in a beautiful setting, and you can reorient your goals to a new form of success, you can still have a wonderful time.
Especially if you don't mind just going with the flow, and following your feet to new and interesting destinations.
Especially if you're in Paris.
Tips for Getting Around Paris
I rarely if ever use taxis in Paris, and rely heavily on walking and public transportation (namely, Le Métro). As I mentioned above, the city is perfect for a little flâner so why not take advantage of the walkable streets?
As you can see, the three places I explored were all relatively near each other (I wasn't crisscrossing the city), and I started with the furthest destination from my hotel first, making it easier for me to return to it later to grab my bag and head back to the train station.
This posting is just an example of what you could do should you find yourself in Paris with a change of plans (and if you're dealing with public transportation, that is something to take seriously). Pick any neighborhood or arrondissement, pick out a few highlights, and flâner away!
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