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Published: September 12th 2010
this one is about touring the obscure! This is going to be partly at least about the exercise of going to the end of the train line, to somewhere where you would perhaps not otherwise go, and just see what you can see (aka Mr Mink doctrine of "accidental tourism"). In this case the the choice of the end of the line was not completely bizarre -- in fact it is simply a question of following my favourite metro line, line 4, from Porte d'Orleans which is where I am staying south of Montparnasse to the northern end of the line at Porte Clignancourt. This does of course have the advantage of not having to change lines anywhere. And believe me if there are various choices of "correspondance" (line change) some places are better than others -- almost all of the large ones involve quite a lot of walking. Anyway the main purpose of this was to visit the large flea market at the end of the line at St Ouen. So there was certainly no question as to when to get, although all of the characters and stations are relatively admirably signposted -- provided of course you know what direction
Marche Biron
more antiquesthe line you are on goes to!
Anyway got out there the end of the line and the markets are quite easy to locate. I was somewhat envious that there were posters for an end of Ramadan (day of Eid) concert that night at St Denis somewhere for Baaba Maal, a rather good Malian singer which I would definitely have gone to. It was also recently cheap, only about €20 -- but the course the venue was only generally described -- unclear of the exact address and what the facility was -- might have been open air? And the fact that it was on that night and I did not have a ticket etc etc and it was a bit of a backtrack to get to St Denis from where I was decided it was a little late to attempt that. However I am planning to go to the St Denis area Sunday afternoon mostly to see the cathedral there (another end of the line expedition). So the markets there at St Ouen were fairly normal - usual temporary stalls with lots of Africans about etc. There was actually quite a good T-shirt with text on it in French
which related to Africa/France -- cannot remember the exact text but it was like the African version of "we were born here, you flew here" I think! Anyway had a bit of a snack there - some chicken in a roll sort of kebab style -which did not make me sick a least.continued walking on and found the antique section of the market called Marche Biron and some of the period antiques you will see in the attached photographs. There was a place selling old oceanographic maps, including one of Auckland Harbour and a couple of other places in New Zealand (how about that for "ethnic" flavour!). There was some fantastic selection there for interior designers including even some interesting modern stuff, as well as the period. From there I simply walked further down Ave Michelet and looked at life how it is lived in the suburbs. Hence the picture of the halal butcher attached. This is definitely not the tourist mecca that St Germain is! Which is why I find it more interesting to see "normal" people going about their business rather than simply flocks of "tourists" - like me?!.
Having wandered around a bit further I hopped
Stevo McQueen - in St Ouen market
not sure why this was there - altho smokin' green Mustang from Bullitt? on the metro to go down 4 stops down the line south to Barbes-Rochechouart. As I have decided that I would spend the final five nights before leaving Paris in the Montmartre area I decided that I would simply go there and check out hotels myself in the old fashion style of just walking around. This was largely because I could have saved some money simply by coming to Rue Beaunier and finding a hotel myself. However first of all one has to know what is there. So hopped out of the metro and walked off the main street and immediately found two streets with about four 1 star hotels to choose from which were around €50 a night (I am currently paying €79). As this was Saturday evening a lot of them were already full but of course I do not need this until Monday afternoon. I spent some time at the Hotel Angleterre waiting for the boss to turn up as the guy there only had the room's list for Saturday and Sunday. He suggested that I come back on Sunday but that is totally not convenient. Although they had the net only in the downstairs lounge it
at least had a ripper strong signal - the 3rd floor at Hotel Beaunier is not necessarily the best.
Anyway from there decided to head off in search of somewhere to eat - which is hardly a problem in Montmartre as the place, particularly around Sacre Coueur, is just like King St Newtown - but hillier, and more cafes. Trick is of course to find somewhere nice - and more importantly with good food. I was vaguely tempted by a wine bar which also had a limited menu (at least there woudl be a good wine choice!) and looked at quite a few others - it being Paris I am not really up for trying Italian or anything other than French - and certainly not Indian! So I ended up at La Grolle de Montmartre, which claimed to do Savoyard food - the Eastern mountainous area. It was suitably atmospheric and menu seemed OK. Ordered a plate of Savoyard charcuterie - 3 different kinds of salami and some cured ham. The main however fell down - a chicken dish - but shall we say that at first I almost could tell that the chicken apart from the raosted potatoes!
St Ouen - La Arena restaurant
I liked the red and green.... - it was a breast piece but it was rather dry and similar in size and shape to the lengthways cut/halved potatoes. Just as well there was a sort of sour cream type dipping thing on the plate as well to moisten it. And the lettuce salad looked a bit the worse for wear as well. At least the half bottle of NV gamay (light red somewhat pinot like) from Savoie was drinkable and cheap at 12E. Had a dessert as well - delice Savoyard - semi-frozen forest berries but submerged in a parfait glass by a mountain of chantilly cream which had to be burrowed thru. So not the most successful effort at all. The table over was having the raclette cheese dish - melted in little pans on top of heater and then spread on bread etc. Had this at Gisele and Francois' in Switzerland last time. With so many cafes around there have to be some ordinary ones I guess. Probably the most "disappointing" meal so far.
Walked from there up the hill to Sacre Coeur which of course looks great at night. Some snaps there, then the line 4 Metro to the end of the
St Ouen Total servo
you may/may not get the abstraction! line et l'hotel.
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Huddo
non-member comment
Wandering loose.
Hi Mike, Another great blog. You have really got the knack of finding things, and places on your travels in Paree. Citroen 2cv, and yes that was Steve's green muzee. So many of those great photo's look like they would make it on any movie set anywhere. Love Huddo and girls.