Springtime in Paris: Le Marais
We were just a few hours away from having landed at Charles de Gaulle airport and we had already settled into our apartment, conquered the metro, and put together an amazing lunch at the Marché Saint Quentin. No one had even raised the subject of being tired and it was time to begin our exploration of Paris. I was well-prepared for this moment, having carefully mapped out our route to Le Marais and with all my points of interest labeled on Google Maps. I don’t usually plan our walks so intensively but Paris was a special case. I was determined to optimize the visit after the disappointment of 2008 and we only had four days to cover a great deal of territory.
I had concluded that the best way to proceed from the market was straight down Boulevard de Magenta, which had appeared quite vibrant on Street View. The boulevard is a classic Haussmannian thoroughfare, created in the early stages of the transformation in the mid 1850’s. We immediately noticed the quintessential Parisian cafes with classic design and copious outdoor seating, carefully arranged to facilitate people-watching. Each cafe had its own individual color scheme for the synthetic rattan chairs that matched the building frames and awnings.
The entrance to a small park called Square Alban Satragne caught our eye and we went inside for a closer look. It was a charming spot with a long pergola supported by brick pillars. People of all ages were enjoying the park, seated in chairs talking or working on laptops. There were some interesting statues inside and at the far end there was a large public library.
Just a few moments later we encountered the magnificent Saint-Laurent church, a stunning Gothic edifice that has been rebuilt and restored so many times that some sections are almost a thousand years older than others. The most recent addition is the nineteenth century façade, constructed in the style of pre-Renaissance Flamboyant. At the next intersection we caught sight of a tower a few blocks to the south and decided to leave the boulevard and head in that direction. The tower was the centerpiece of a breathtaking and enormous Beaux Arts building, the mairie of the tenth arrondissement. Each arrondissement has its own administrative building and somehow this one is not even considered to be one of the most impressive.
Close to the Mairie we passed by the entrance to another market called Marché Saint-Martin which was nowhere near as interesting as Saint-Quentin but still had some interesting gourmet stores such as a Japanese deli. Of course the obligatory cheese shop and produce stands were also present, but they didn’t seem to be doing much business.
We adjusted our course back towards Le Marais and passed more colorful blocks with countless bistros and cafes. One brasserie was closed but the metal shutters were covered with vibrant and artistic graffiti. I also loved the look of a cafe that formed the apex of a triangular block. This prominent position made the cafe the focal point of the intersection and gave its clients the ideal vantage point over all the surrounding action.
Place de la République forms the northern apex of the irregularly shaped neighborhood of Le Marais. The spacious plaza was built in 1811 and originally named Place du Château d'Eau before being renamed in honor of the Third Republic in 1879. A large scale renovation project that greatly enhanced the amount of pedestrianized space was completed in 2013. The centerpiece of the plaza is a bronze statue of Marianne, the personification of the French Republic, standing atop a massive limestone pedestal featuring three other statues personifying the republican values of liberty, equality, and fraternity. The space was filled with people who were either taking a break from their daily activities or actively in transit between the dizzying number of roads that emanated from the rectangular plaza. 
We continued south onto Rue du Temple which brought us towards the heart of Le Marais, a central neighborhood that corresponds roughly to the third and fourth arrondissements. The name of the district comes from the fact that it was originally a marsh outside the medieval walls of Paris. In the High Middle Ages the marsh was drained and the nobility began to build large mansions there to use as their primary residences. After the revolution Le Marais lost its aristocratic flair and became more commercial with a growing Jewish population. The area became more working class in the twentieth century and the mansions were allowed to fall into disrepair, but a major restoration project by the civic authorities converted these decaying buildings into beautiful museums. Le Marais is now once again known for being one of the most upscale neighborhoods in Paris with high rents and high prices for accommodation. The district has become renowned for art and fashion and has attracted a sizable gay and artistic community. Le Marais still retains its historic Jewish character but much of the actual Jewish population has dispersed throughout the city. The relative unimportance of Le Marais in the late nineteenth century largely saved it from reconstruction by Haussmann, so the neighborhood is now known as one of the most antiquated in Paris. These streets were significantly more crowded than the ones we had left behind in the tenth arrondissement and for the first time I had the sense that a lot of the people around us were fellow tourists. We passed by an art festival in an old market building but it was paid entry and our schedule was tight.
I had made heavy use of ChatGPT in creating our walking tour of Le Marais. I had made inquiries regarding historical locations, remarkable streets, and for Mei Ling and Cleo fashion boutiques. I've been using artificial intelligence to assist with travel research ever since it appeared on the scene but never as intensively as with my preparation for this trip. I was using every tool available to optimize our itineraries and have the best possible experience in Paris. Our first stop was in an intriguing home decor boutique called Empreintes that offered a variety of handmade ceramic and glass kitchenware and other objets d’art. We couldn't spend much time there as the kids were starting to fall asleep so we moved on to the Marché des Enfants Rouges which was established four centuries ago and is the oldest covered market in Paris. The unusual name refers to the market's one-time proximity to an orphanage where the children wore red uniforms. These days the market is mostly devoted to small restaurants although there are still produce stands, delis, and butchers. It was quite crowded and touristy but the food selections and restaurants appeared to be of high quality. We weren't particularly hungry and the most interesting restaurant was already closing, so we only got smoothies for the kids and resolved to return over the weekend. 
As we left the market we passed a cafe called Le Lutetia and I felt a little tingle of satisfaction, knowing that I wouldn't have understood the reference to the ancient Roman name for Paris if I hadn't done my research prior to the trip. One thing I had forgotten about Paris and France in general is that the French have a very sweet tooth and Le Marais in particular was filled with pastry shops and chocolate boutiques. The kids dragged me into a chocolatier called Méert and we didn't escape without a couple of very expensive bars. We continued walking through Le Marais and I was overwhelmed by the sight of one breathtakingly elegant building after another. 
Le Marais is also well known for fashion and I had deferred Mei Ling's birthday present until we arrived in Paris. I had worked an extra shift before we left for the express purpose of donating the proceeds to a birthday shopping spree. Mei Ling is quite specific about her tastes but eventually we found a store she liked and she tried on a few things before selecting a handbag that she used for the rest of our trip. The boys got a catnap on a couch in the store while she and Cleo shopped, but I stayed on my feet so that I wouldn't lose my will to continue. Le Marais had quite a number of green spaces, some of which seemed especially geared to young children. We passed one where dozens of children had been turned loose on a fenced-in rectangular patch of thick grass while their parents chatted on benches that lined the periphery. ChatGPT had suggested we peek into Square Georges-Cain, a small garden named for a historian of Paris who was once the curator of the adjacent Carnavalet Museum. Around the edges of the garden there are stone fragments of the Tuileries Palace and the original Hôtel de Ville, while in the center there is a bronze sculpture of a nude woman called Île-de-France. It is one of the works of early twentieth century sculptor Aristide Maillol whose pieces appear in many gardens around Paris.
Place des Vosges is one of the most beautiful squares in Paris and a focal point of Le Marais. It was constructed at the beginning of the seventeenth century and named Place Royale, long before the French Revolution was even the germ of an idea. In the seventeenth century aristocrats favored the square for duels until the practice became punishable by execution. After the revolution when all references to royalty became anathema the square was renamed for the department of Vosges that provided early support to the revolutionary army. Victor Hugo lived at Place des Vosges from 1832 to 1848 and his former residence is now a museum dedicated to his work. Hugo wrote parts of Les Misérables there and later lamented how Haussmann's modernization of Paris had erased medieval heritage. The large square is lined on every side by solid lines of red brick and beige stone buildings with mansard roofs, their appearance unchanged after four centuries although carefully maintained and renovated. Clusters of people lounged in the grassy areas and tiered fountains occupied the four corners of the square. In the center there was a bronze equestrian statue of King Louis XIII, placed there by Cardinal de Richelieu to remind aspiring duelers of the potential penalty for their actions.
Our next stop was the seventeenth century Saint-Paul Saint-Louis church, one of the first in Paris to be constructed in the Baroque style. We entered from the side within the narrow and atmospheric Passage Saint-Paul. The interior is designed in a typical Jesuit style inspired by the Church of the Gesù in Rome. The marble altar was rebuilt in the nineteenth century to include fragments from Napoleon's tomb at Les Invalides. 
We walked to the western end of Le Marais to explore a couple more medieval streets like Rue de la Verrerie and Rue des Barres. The latter was particularly colorful with shallow cobblestone steps leading downhill in the direction of the Seine. There was another beautiful church on Rue des Barres called Saint-Gervais which displayed a mixture of Gothic and Baroque styles, due to changing architectural preferences over the hundred and fifty years it took to build the structure. The restaurants here looked tempting with crowded outdoor tables but we decided to keep walking until we had completed my list of landmarks in the neighborhood. 
By the time we reached Rue du Trésor the sunlight was already fading. This was a narrow, dead-end pedestrian street I had identified myself from exploring Street View. I had marked it as a desirable location to have dinner because of the large number of restaurants along the short stretch of flat, polished cobblestones. It was even more atmospheric than I had anticipated and I was concerned we wouldn't be able to find a table because the street was obviously quite popular. It would have been better to have a reservation on a Friday evening but I hadn't wanted to lose our flexibility. A couple of places at the beginning of the street were obviously packed but Restaurant Le Trésor a little further in was surprisingly empty. The lack of clientele was a little concerning but since the reviews were good and we saw plenty of things on the menu that we liked we decided to take the table they offered us at the back of the restaurant. Le Trésor specialized in the cuisine of the Auvergne, a central region of France we had never visited and knew very little about. The dishes of the region emphasize pork, cheese, potatoes, and lentils but we mostly opted for lighter fare with the exception of the charcuterie board, which was excellent. We complemented that with escargots and marrow bones as well as shellfish from the Atlantic coast. As we worked our way through the dishes the restaurant began to fill until it was as crowded as the first ones we had encountered. I only heard French spoken at the tables around us, so I suspect the restaurant was a favorite of locals who eat a little later than the visitors. Our first dinner in Paris proved to be a resounding success.
Now that we were fully refueled I concluded we still had enough energy to make the thirty minute walk back to our Airbnb. First we walked along Rue des Rosiers, considered to be the heart of the historic Jewish quarter of Le Marais. Almost all the Jewish businesses and family homes that once lined this street have been pushed out in recent decades by gentrification, leaving just a few falafel shops. It was still a picturesque walk that eventually brought us back to Rue de Rivoli, where we had an excellent view of the illuminated Baroque façade of the Saint-Paul Saint-Louis church.
Further along Rue de Rivoli we stopped to admire the Hôtel de Mayenne, a stunning seventeenth century mansion with a similar appearance to the buildings that line the Place des Vosges. It's common for English speakers to misunderstand the French word hôtel, whose original meaning corresponds more closely to a noble estate than a lodging. Hôtel particuliers are urban aristocratic mansions which were numerous in Paris and have now mostly been converted into government buildings and museums. An hôtel de ville is a city hall, although in some towns it is called the mairie. So there's no point in trying to book a room at the Hôtel de Mayenne because the building currently functions as a private school. A few blocks later we came to the eastern end of Le Marais at Place de la Bastille. The renowned fortress that was stormed at the outset of the French Revolution was demolished soon afterward, its memory only noted by the hundred and fifty foot bronze July Column topped with a gilded statue of a nude and winged "Spirit of Freedom". 
Place de la Bastille was just a ten minute walk from our apartment. Now that we were back in the twelfth arrondissement the sense of historical majesty had largely passed. This was a more modest neighborhood of friendly low-key restaurants, casual bars, and local hangouts. It might not have been an impressive sector for tourist attractions but it was a wonderful place to call home for our four days in Paris.
This featured blog entry was written by zzlangerhans from the blog On the Way to Everywhere.
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