Secret Paris

Paris is an old city that follows an ancient street plan. Unlike New York City, it’s not plotted in a grid, so you’ll have lots of sharp turns, narrow alleys, and odd shaped buildings. While Paris does have wide boulevards and avenues, there are still many areas that follow the old map. Parts of the Rue Saint-Denis are higher than others, and according to this book, it’s because the street used to be the rampart of a fortress. The church of Saint Joseph Des Carmes contains the bones of Catholic Bishop who were murdered in the revolution. They were buried, but the Paris building boom of the 1800’s cut through the cemetery, so the bones were moved into a crypt. It’s creepy, but then again so is most of Paris, since everything is so cramped.

The Rue de Blanche gets its name from the plaster that used to be quarried nearby and blanch the street as it fell from the carts. The plaster from that quarry was heat-resistant, and that’s why Paris rarely suffered from huge fires. There’s a firehouse on the street, with a climbing grape vine on the property, and every year there’s a wine-making festival on the site, but a non-alcoholic wine, so you won’t see any statues of Bacchus. As for the plaster, that’s where the term “plaster of Paris” comes from.

Perhaps some of the charm of Paris has to do with the fact that the old streets still exist. The wide boulevards were plowed through the city during the time of Louis Napoleon, but he did manage to leave some old bits behind. The Paris of The Red Balloon is mostly gone now, because those old buildings were old and collapsing, but much of the city still stands as it did 100 years ago. One funny thing not mentioned in this book; when Barefoot In The Park was staged in Paris, the setting had to be changed from a 4^th floor to 9^th floor walkup. Old Parisian buildings were built before elevators, and for the Parisians, four flights of stairs was NOT an inconvenience!