Part 1 John's Paris Stay

Part1 - JOHN'S PARIS STAY

I am writing this entry at Paris airport ready to fly out of Paris. The last few days have been  pretty full on, so I haven't really thought about writing a blog. So instead of writing a daily blog and trying to catch up, it might be nice to change the format a bit, and share with you some of my thought and impressions that are only kept in my travel journal.

As I said in the last entry, I feel very much at home here in the Paris district of The "Marais," which means in English the "Swamps," or "Marshes."which  the district was way back in the old days. The Marais is really famous for two things. Firstly, the storming of the Bastille prison by the Paris poor, below is a photo of the monument which commemorates this and secondly, the outbreak of the French Revolution.

It is also known for the home of the writer Victor Hugo, both of which gave you the book and the musical "Les Miserable!"

Most of the time the area looks like what you would imagine an old Parisian place should look like. Lots of narrow streets, strange shaped houses, little shops and bars open air markets, and the metro (underground/tube) stations.

Sometimes though, it can give you a surprise with wide boulevards, and heavy traffic. 

The Marais is one of the most densely populated areas in Europe, and a real mix of population types. Over the years, the area has been subject to various bits of legislation, that have made it unique. One was a social policy that consciously blended social and socio economic groups together. 

Consequently, you might have a square about the size of a large Australian garden. On one side of the square will be what we would call Housing Commission flats, low rent for low income people. Just across the square, in the privately owned apartments the owners and renters would be paying something like Toorak prices for the privilege of living there. Another piece of legislation passed a few years ago was that shops in the district could trade on a Sunday, unlike some shops in central Paris which don't. So because the Marais is only a few stops away from the city centre on the metro it's easy to go shopping on a Sunday. But I get the feeling that it has been tourism that has really brought the place on. 

Tourists, (including myself) like to stay in a place that looks French (see all of the above) plus we like a bit of French chic about the place. Which of course means boutique shops, museums, galleries, and cafes. 

So instead of reading a particular daily diary of our activities. Perhaps in the following pages you might like to come for a stroll with Julie and I around the Marais and share with us some of the places we visited. Like all strolls there will be no pre planned order, and we'll look at them as we come to them.