u/Commercial_Guess_387

Headed to Le Fournil Didot in the 14th arrondissement (103 rue Didot), which won 1st prize at the concours de la meilleure baguette tradition of Paris.

Golden, thin crust with an open, airy crumb, very good baguette ;)

The whole facade is covered in glazed stoneware by Alexandre Bigot instead of stone or exposed brick. Built right after Paris changed its building code in 1902, which let architects break away from the usual Haussmann style. Was originally artist studios, but not the cramped kind, these were designed as full luxury apartments for painters, sculptors, writers, even had an elevator serving duplex units on the courtyard side. Got 2nd prize in the city's façade competition in 1912.

After the Bastille was destroyed in 1789, the square remained largely undeveloped. Napoleon I wanted to modernize Paris and improve its water supply. Beginning in 1806, he ordered the construction of fifteen new fountains in the capital and expanded the city’s canal system, including the Ourcq and Saint-Martin canals.

In 1809, Napoleon decided to build a monumental fountain in the shape of an elephant on the Place de la Bastille.

The elephant was to be made from about 177 tons of bronze, including metal from cannons captured from the Spanish. It would have been about 15 meters high and 16 meters long, or 24 meters high with the tower on its back. Water would have come from its trunk. A staircase inside the statue would have allowed access to the tower.

The choice of the elephant also had a political and military significance. It could refer to the campaigns of Alexander the Great and Hannibal, as well as Napoleon’s ambitions in the East. Napoleon had considered using the elephant as a symbol of the Empire before choosing the eagle.

A life-size model made of wood and plaster was completed in 1814. The actual bronze monument was never built. After Napoleon’s defeat in 1815, the project was abandoned. The model remained there until it was destroyed in 1846.

The circular basin built for the fountain was later used as the base of the July Column, erected to commemorate those killed during the Revolution of 1830.

The Passage de l’Ancre is a private passage located in the 3rd arrondissement of Paris, between Rue Saint-Martin and Rue de Turbigo. One of the oldest passages in Paris, its origins date back to the 17th century.

A little over 50 metres long, this passage is very different from the traditional covered passages of Paris. It is not covered, and its cobblestone ground, colourful houses, and many plants give it a village-like atmosphere in the middle of the city. It can be accessed through two entrances: 223 Rue Saint-Martin or 30 Rue de Turbigo. The passage is mainly occupied by small offices, workshops, and businesses.

The name of the passage comes from an old inn sign representing an anchor. The inn, called “Au Grand Saint-Pierre”, was owned by Nicolas Sauvage, who installed the first public horse-drawn carriages (fiacres) there from 1637. These carriages were the ancestors of today’s taxis.

During the 1930s, the passage was home to many craftsmen, including a significant number of Jewish residents. During the Second World War, many people tried to hide in the passage. Following the Vel’ d’Hiv Roundup in July 1942, several Jewish inhabitants of the passage were arrested and deported. After being abandoned for many years, the passage reopened in 1998.

The Passage de l’Ancre was also known for Pep’s, a shop specialising in the sale and repair of umbrellas, parasols, and walking sticks. Located in the middle of the passage, this unusual shop became one of the attractions of the area before closing permanently.

Today, the Passage de l’Ancre is a small, quiet and hidden place in the heart of Paris. Difficult to see from the street because of its entrance through a carriage gate, it offers a green and colourful setting with old façades, plants, and small shops. It remains a little-known Parisian curiosity, close to the Marais district, Beaubourg, and the Musée des Arts et Métiers.

There's a building in Paris, at 80 avenue Daumesnil, that houses a police station, but has a completely unexpected facade. On the top two floors, there are 13 identical sculptures of nude men, in a very languid pose, copies of Michelangelo's "Dying Slave," whose original is in the Louvre.

The idea came from architect Manuel Nuñez Yanowski in the 1980s. Mitterrand was in favor of the project, but it was abandoned, then finally revived when the building was constructed in the early 90s. The statues are nude but without visible genitals, so as not to shock the authorities, the architect explains. One of the most unusual police stations in the capital.

The “Au Planteur” façade, located at 10 rue des Petits-Carreaux, remains at the center of controversy today. Listed as a historic monument since May 23, 1984, this ceramic painting, created in 1890, depicts a Black man serving a white man embodying the figure of the colonizer. It is one of the few surviving examples of French colonial imagery still visible in the capital.

Entitled “Au Planteur,” the sign was installed on the façade of a 19th-century building to advertise a shop specializing in “exotic products,” with coffee being its main commodity at the time.

I came across Authentic Kaliente Kalentica / Tajdine at 49 Boulevard de la Chapelle, and honestly, for €2.50, it’s pretty hard to complain.

The sandwich is basically calentica (karantika) inside a baguette, with quite a bit of cumin. I added harissa, which gives it a nice kick. The filling itself is pretty creamy, kind of like eating a sandwich filled with mashed potatoes. And they give you a lot of it, so in terms of how filling it is, you’ll definitely leave completely stuffed.

The weak point is definitely the baguette. The quality is pretty average, so I think getting it as a portion in a tray is probably the better option if you’re not particularly attached to having it as a sandwich.

Verdict: 6/10, but if you’re really hungry and only have €2.50 to spend, it definitely does the job.

For €2.50, especially if your goal is to eat a lot for very little money, I’d say it’s worth trying.

In the 17th century, Butte Bergeyre was a hill covered in windmills. Like its neighbor the Buttes Chaumont, it was mainly the site of intense gypsum quarrying until the 19th century.

On the other side of the hill, an amusement park called Les Folles Buttes opened in 1909. A tower with a spiral ramp, a ballroom, carousels, a haunted house, curiosity chalets, there was no shortage of attractions.

The top of the hill remained free of any housing, there was nothing but cows, until the Sporting Club de Vaugirard set up a rugby pitch there. The Stade Bergeyre, from which the hill would take its name, was inaugurated in August 1918, named in tribute to Robert Bergeyre, a rugby union player who died at twenty during the First World War, in the fighting of 22 August 1914. It hosted football, rugby, and athletics competitions, and was even one of the venues used for the 1924 Paris Olympics. But the ground, haunted by its past as a quarry, was too unstable and required overly costly upkeep. It was razed in 1926, at roughly the same time as Les Folles Buttes.

The plot, once again vacant, had potential that this time caught the eye of property developers, who, constrained by the soil, built small houses, while all around the hill large apartment buildings went up, less charming, but which, by isolating it, gave it its very particular charm.

On its upper section, the hill also holds a green space, the Jardin de la Butte-Bergeyre, which slopes down toward Rue des Chaufourniers. It includes a shared garden made up of several species of trees, plants, flowers, and aromatic herbs, as well as a small vineyard, the "Clos des Chaufourniers," planted with pinot noir and producing 100 liters of wine a year.

I am curious what people think about this cabaret… Would you send a friend visiting Paris there ?

Stumbled upon this beautiful pink façade while walking near Quai de Montebello.

Address: 5 Rue Lagrange, 5th arrondissement.

Hidden behind Boulevard Saint-Germain, Pâtisserie Viennoise has its birth date written in gold letters: 1928.

Locals have been passing the word around from one generation to another, attracted by the affordable prices and the homemade Viennese pastries.

When the current owners took over, they had to promise not to change anything in the decoration. The paint is still from that time, with old photos on the walls and a ceiling fan slowly turning above the conversations.

The Pâtisserie Viennoise offers around thirty Austro-Hungarian specialties, including Sachertorte, Linzertorte and strudel. Their Sachertorte, with its chocolate glaze, soft sponge cake and thin layer of apricot jam, is one of their most famous pastries.

Don't miss is their hot chocolate. Order the biggest size and don't turn down the cream, it's thick, freshly whipped and impossible to eat without a spoon.

Address; 8 rue de l'Ecole de Medecine, 6th arrondissement

I stopped by Le Parizot and honestly, it’s very good. I got the 3 ham sandwich with extra cornichon for €14.50. It’s not cheap, but the quality of the ingredients is definitely there.

The bread is excellent, the ham is great, and the extra cornichon confit (pickle relish) really adds something to the sandwich. If you want something simpler, the classic half jambon-beurre is €5, which is pretty reasonable, and the full one is €10 (but that’s a whole baguette).

That being said, the place is already very popular and there is easily a 30-minute queue most of the time. And let’s be honest, waiting 30 minutes for a sandwich starts to feel like a lot. The seller gave me a useful tip: come in the morning before 11:30 AM and you’ll avoid the queue.

So if you’re nearby, looking for a good sandwich, and it’s not 12:45 PM with the lunch crowd, it’s definitely worth trying.

If you have another address for a great jambon-beurre to try, please share your favorites.

At numbers 11 and 13 rue François Miron (provost of the merchants of Paris from 1604 to 1609), in the 4th arrondissement. According to the official explanations, they date from the 16th century, no doubt built under François I or perhaps even Louis XII.

One of the houses is called "à l’enseigne au mouton"(at the sign of the sheep), the other "à l’enseigne au faucheur" (at the sign of the reaper). These names served as house numbering.

They remind us of towns in Alsace, Champagne, Burgundy or Normandy, often very old, built according to a technique that prevailed from Roman times until the 19th century, and their state of preservation leaves us amazed.

Paris no longer has more than a few rare houses of this kind, Prefect Haussmann and the demolitions undertaken to reshape the capital caused them to disappear in favor of the buildings that make up our everyday surroundings.

In a corner of the Jardin des Plantes, you might stumble upon the Gallery of Mineralogy and Geology, and if you're passing by, it's really worth stepping inside.

Inside you'll find about twenty giant crystals, some weighing over 3 tons, which formed over millions of years in an environment that stayed stable the whole time. It's actually the largest museum collection of giant crystals in the world.

Then, in the display cases, you'll find a multitude of different stones, with spectacular shapes and colors, along with Martian meteorites. There's some really interesting info to help tell them apart. There's also jewelry set with magnificent stones, including the famous blue diamond of Louis XIV.

It's a truly unique place, quite fascinating, housed in a neoclassical building 187 meters long along the allée Haüy, named in tribute to one of the pioneers of crystallography.

Porte Saint-Denis (25 m)

This arch is the oldest of the four, It was built in 1672 to celebrate Louis XIV's military campaigns along the Rhine. The Latin inscription LUDOVICO MAGNO, pays tribute to his magnificence, while other inscriptions celebrate the king's recent victories in Holland and along the Rhine. Modeled on Rome's Arch of Titus, it marked the royal entrance to Paris from the north. Fun fact, it is decorated with relief sculptures depicting Louis XIV as Hercules, one of the more theatrical examples of royal propaganda.

Porte Saint-Martin (18 m)

Built just two years later, in 1674, it was also dedicated to Louis XIV to celebrate the victories won in Franche-Comté during the Franco-Dutch War. It stands a short walk from its neighbor on the same historic axis. The sculptural decoration commemorates some of the king's most significant military success. A Latin inscription engraved on the attic reads: "To Louis the Great, for twice capturing Besançon and Franche-Comté, and for defeating the German, Spanish, and Dutch armies, from the Provost of the Merchants and the Aldermen of Paris".

Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel (19 m)

Over a century later, this smaller, pink marble arch was built between 1806 and 1808 in the Cour Napoléon, between the Louvre and the Tuileries Garden, commissioned by Napoleon to celebrate his military victories. It was originally topped with the bronze horses looted from St Mark's Basilica in Venice. Fun fact, those horses were returned to Venice in 1815 after Napoleon's defeat, so the current statue on top is a French replica made to replace them.

Arc de Triomphe (50 m)

Commissioned the same year as its smaller sibling, in 1806, this arch wasn't finished until 1836, well after Napoleon's fall. Buit to celebrate the Roman Empire, with which Napoleon sought to associate his own rule, the Arc de Triomphe was designed in the style of the Arch of Janus. It sits at the center of Place Charles de Gaulle, where twelve avenues meet in a starburst pattern, hence the old name Place de l'Étoile. The names of hundreds of French generals and major battles are engraved on its walls, and you can climb 284 steps to the rooftop for one of the best skyline views in the city.

The theater (first floor)

The 1st floor of the Eiffel Tower is the largest level and hosts exhibitions, events, and installations. Originally, it had four restaurants, including the “Flamand,” which changed between a restaurant and a theater before becoming a theater until 1914. Its wooden design by architect Stephen Sauvestre was replaced after the 1937 World’s Fair with a more modern structure.

The radio station (first floor)

Radio played a key role in saving the Eiffel Tower. Gustave Eiffel used the Tower for wireless telegraphy experiments, including the first radio link with the Pantheon in 1898. In 1921, it became home to “Radio Tour Eiffel,” France’s first radio station, which broadcast weather, news, music, and concerts until 1940.

The post office (first floor)

The Eiffel Tower once had a post office on its 1st floor, 57 meters above the ground. Popular with stamp collectors, it offered special stamps and an Eiffel Tower postmark. Since the 1889 World’s Fair, the Tower has also been linked to postcards, with mailboxes on each floor allowing visitors to send cards marked with unique postmarks.

Le Figaro Newsroom (second floor)

During the 1889 World’s Fair, Le Figaro occupied the Eiffel Tower’s 2nd floor for six months, with its own editorial office and printing press. Visitors could watch its 24 journalists and printing staff at work through the bay windows, producing almost daily newspapers about the Fair and the Tower.

Gustave Eiffel’s penthouse apartment (top floor)

Gustave Eiffel created a private apartment at the Tower’s summit, on the upper platform of the top floor, away from public access. The 100 m² space served as an office, a scientific laboratory, and a reception area where he welcomed distinguished guests.

Square Georges-Cain was created in 1923 and is bordered to the north and east by the Musée Carnavalet. If you're strolling the Marais, this is a good place to stop and sit down for ten minutes. Plenty of shade, and usually pretty quiet.

At the center of the garden, in the middle of a flower bed, stands a bronze statue depicting a young nude woman, standing, holding a scarf behind her back. This 1925 work by Aristide Maillol is called Île de France.

All around the square, on the walls and tucked into corners, are scattered archaeological pieces from Paris's history. Among them are Renaissance-era vestiges from the old Hôtel de Ville, the pediment (and clock) from the central pavilion of the Palais des Tuileries, as well as Merovingian sarcophagi and a Neolithic polissoir, a relic of the polished stone tool industry.

Walk through too fast and you'll miss all of it, it's easy to see just a park bench and some greenery instead of centuries of Paris sitting quietly in the corners.