Rue Saint-Denis: Our Block

From where we are, just down from the Porte Saint-Denis, inside the once Medieval wall, the Rue Saint-Denis runs all the way down to the river Seine, and, I assume, back the other way up to the old abbey of Saint Denis, ground-zero for all things Gothic. We've been there, and we'll get there again. Anyhow, I thought I'd post some pix of the street we're living on now, just this one block or so.

Saint Denis, you'll recall, is the one who got his head chopped off,
then picked it up and walked it to the site he wanted his abbey to
be located on; same story in Florence, too, and God knows where else

Arch at Porte Saint-Denis, Louis XIV, a block or so away

Jules Michelet, author of the first history of France,
19th century, 19 volumes, lived just down the street;
never let the facts get in the way of his Republican
sympathies (not those Republicans!); to his credit,
did advocate that history focus on the Little People,
not just kings and generals 

Brasserie at the end of the block

The one at the other end, Le Select, is less photogenic

Our building; entry on the right; on the left is the popular 
Les Boudeuses, a feminine concept store I am afraid to go into

Elevation; nothing spectacular; nor even of interest;
but it's home

Down the street and around the corner is the 
closest Metro station, Reamur-Sebastopol; one
of the few remaining original Hector Guimard
art nouveau Metro entries (he designed them all,
way back when); to my extreme delight

Mostly, however, the block is shop after shop of womens' apparel,
mostly wholesale, some retail, as well as garment fabricants and
suppliers to the trade...

As I said, mostly wholesale...

This is the part of Paris where every block has a
Passage, or two; that is, a covered arcade, mostly
shops and offices; Rue Saint-Denis here has the
Passage Caire (as in Cairo); mostly more wholesale
women's apparel, fabricants, suppliers, etc., and a
restaurant or two

But it's the history that is of interest: Passage
Caire dates to and is named for Napoleon's (brief)
incursion into Egypt (1799)

Note the Egyptian sculpture and the faux hieroglyphs way up
high

Our Monoprix (supermarket) at Reamur and
Sebastopol