05-11-2016, 10:48 AM
(Sticking back to the cultural exchange thing).
I won't speak of France...
It would be a long and probably boring subject.
I'd rather speak of my neighborhood in Paris.
I live in a place called "La Goutte d'Or" (the golden drop), the littel africa.
It's the area delimited by subway stations "Chateau Rouge", "Barbes" (on line 4) and "Marcadet Poissonniers", "Marx Dormoy" (on line 12) - notice a real parisian speaks in subway stations.
Maybe some of you got down at Chateau Rouge looking for the "Sacre Coeur", and maybe I helped you find your way ;-) (cross barbes, going up to rue de clignancourt, then right on rue Andre del Sarte, then follow...)
"La goutte d'or" is surely not the fanciest part of Paris, but it's one of the liveliest... and i'm pretty sure it'll become as trendy as Abbesses (on the other side of the "Butte Montmartre", the hill on which Sacre Coeur is, near Pigalle, our "red quarter") in a few years.
178 nationalities jumbled together.
The whole african community coming to shop african products, students, young tourists (there is a youth hostel not far), young parents and old chaps, gays, left wing activists, many artists, african designers and models, even porn actors.
Probably the only place in the world where you can find in the same street a mosque, a (very good) wine seller and a hen house that sells live chicken :-)
When you get out of Chateau Rouge, and if it is a saturday, you'll be overwhelmed by the crowd buying fake Vuitton bags or sunglasses, "carolight" (a lightening skin product), peanuts/corn/safou or ginger juices to the hawkers in the makeshift market of rue Poulet.
Other places of note: the Islamic Cultures Institute (with sauna !), Garage Mu (if you like partying in a garage), Ground Control (former train depot being converted in a bar/restaurants/gardens area - the hot place to be this summer in Paris).
The 104 (former funeral parlors of Paris), is not so far to the east. Here you can see art shows, young people performing (dance, theater, circus, ...), have a quick lunch, sit on a transat to read a book you took in the "libraby in a van", relax doing qui gong, mingle in any event some of the start ups there set up...
If you want to eat, go to the Affre street, near Eglise Saint Bernard, to "Le tout monde" (fusion food, with good, fresh products) or "Bella donna" (best pizza I know in Paris).
So, next time you get lost at Chateau Rouge while looking for Sacre Coeur, don't be frightened by the rumble on this side of boulevard Barbes. Embrace it. Take a walk.
And if you're really lost, probably this big guy who speaks good english with an awful french accent will help you ;-)
I won't speak of France...
It would be a long and probably boring subject.
I'd rather speak of my neighborhood in Paris.
I live in a place called "La Goutte d'Or" (the golden drop), the littel africa.
It's the area delimited by subway stations "Chateau Rouge", "Barbes" (on line 4) and "Marcadet Poissonniers", "Marx Dormoy" (on line 12) - notice a real parisian speaks in subway stations.
Maybe some of you got down at Chateau Rouge looking for the "Sacre Coeur", and maybe I helped you find your way ;-) (cross barbes, going up to rue de clignancourt, then right on rue Andre del Sarte, then follow...)
"La goutte d'or" is surely not the fanciest part of Paris, but it's one of the liveliest... and i'm pretty sure it'll become as trendy as Abbesses (on the other side of the "Butte Montmartre", the hill on which Sacre Coeur is, near Pigalle, our "red quarter") in a few years.
178 nationalities jumbled together.
The whole african community coming to shop african products, students, young tourists (there is a youth hostel not far), young parents and old chaps, gays, left wing activists, many artists, african designers and models, even porn actors.
Probably the only place in the world where you can find in the same street a mosque, a (very good) wine seller and a hen house that sells live chicken :-)
When you get out of Chateau Rouge, and if it is a saturday, you'll be overwhelmed by the crowd buying fake Vuitton bags or sunglasses, "carolight" (a lightening skin product), peanuts/corn/safou or ginger juices to the hawkers in the makeshift market of rue Poulet.
Other places of note: the Islamic Cultures Institute (with sauna !), Garage Mu (if you like partying in a garage), Ground Control (former train depot being converted in a bar/restaurants/gardens area - the hot place to be this summer in Paris).
The 104 (former funeral parlors of Paris), is not so far to the east. Here you can see art shows, young people performing (dance, theater, circus, ...), have a quick lunch, sit on a transat to read a book you took in the "libraby in a van", relax doing qui gong, mingle in any event some of the start ups there set up...
If you want to eat, go to the Affre street, near Eglise Saint Bernard, to "Le tout monde" (fusion food, with good, fresh products) or "Bella donna" (best pizza I know in Paris).
So, next time you get lost at Chateau Rouge while looking for Sacre Coeur, don't be frightened by the rumble on this side of boulevard Barbes. Embrace it. Take a walk.
And if you're really lost, probably this big guy who speaks good english with an awful french accent will help you ;-)
Making a girl smile can be much more rewarding than bedding her...