Walking In The Lower Marais

We'd seen much of the Marais over the years--there's much to see, and we had an apartment there in 2022--and also much of both the 3rd and 4th Arrondissements that include bits of the Marais. For our walk on Tuesday, April 28th, we wanted to do just those bits in the 3rd that are closest to the river, and, in view of a big dinner planned that evening, not to tax ourselves too greatly.

We started with the big Baroque church on Rivoli, St. Paul's,
Paris' first Baroque church; note the uniform capitals: not
really French Baroque

Knave view

Only front rows get the kneelers

Big organ; does size matter?

Mary crowns Baby J King of the Junior Bowling League

Thrashing the Protestants; what Baroque is about

'92 (and '93) was not a good year for clerics; nor for
royalty, nor for anyone Robespierre didn't like

Prior to heading off for the Third Crusade, King Philip
Augustus ordered a wall to be built around the city--the
Wall of Philip II Augustus--traces of which can be seen
in the 1st, 4th, 5th, and 6th Arrondissements; but the 
largest remnant is here near Rue Charlemagne...60 some
meters of wall along with bits of two of the many towers
that were built; it was Paris' first city wall

The wall was built between 1190 and 1213

The Wikipedia has a fine article on the wall

Moving right along, bird villages in the courtyards of
the St. Paul village

Interesting architecture

Massillon School annex, 1935

Creche kids

Now walking along the Port of the Arsenal, the beginnings
of the Canal St. Martin; the Place de la Bastille in the distance

Houseboat, probably, but looks like a Class C RV plopped down
on a boat...

Now we have crossed the Place de la Bastille and are looking up
at the pretty building with the humongous plaque

Sic transit, Gloria; about all the attention the storming of the Bastille
gets nowadays; they don't even call it Bastille Day; really

Looking back at the 1830 monument; different revolution

Canine supply, Fido fare, love the multi-lingual word play (appart
is a contraction of appartement)

Into the Vosges, the oldest planned square in Paris, extremely fashionable
in the 17th and 18th centuries; Victor Hugo lived here in the 19th

Also fashionable in the 21st

On the Rue des Rosiers, more Sic transit, Gloria...a former
Hamam, now a COS, a fashion brand... 

In the Joseph Migneret Garden, with a plaque naming the scores of
persons he saved from the Germans in WWII

Lastly, remnant of another one of the towers of the
Philip Augustus wall; dumpster storage

  

Montmartre, 2026, 2

Continuing our visit to Montmartre...

The Museum of Montmartre, where Renoir once lived

And others; we elected to pass

And thus missed the famous swing in the backyard

Famous composer

In these precincts one is never very far from a
tourist train

Steps not taken

Montmartre Chateau Eau (water tower)

The summit, finally, the church and its tower

And a rest in the garden

Actually, for aesthetic, architectural, cultural, and other
reasons, I sort of despise this church

Hangin' out

Forecourt of the church and yet another tourist train

Hazy view of the city

Full frontal

Selling love locks for those who forgot to bring their
own...other than the Eiffel Tower, Montmartre is the center
for blanket salesmen, presumably undocumented 
immigrants, who display their wares thus, but can pick them all up
and scram when the police approach

Just after I snapped the above, there was a flutterment,
all of them grabbed their stuff and fled, full throttle, and,
a minute or so later, the police arrived

Meanwhile young tourists helped themselves to the locks left behind

Parthian shot

More local color

In the square where the artistes hang out--mostly those these days who
will do a sketch of you for 10€

Same place, 1979, Vicki with a painter who had sold us a water color
we still have...somewhere

More local color

Said to be the last vineyard in Paris

Old cabaret famous for presenting traditional French singing

Back down off the hill now, slumming at a patisserie
that actually advertises its 4th and 6th place finishes...

Waiting for the bus, noting the real flying buttresses (an entire
building has been removed)