Going inside in Paris

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There are so many places to see in Paris, but the months of July and August are not the season for music venues, galleries, and crowded local bars, as many Parisians have left the city for the summer.

We did explore some and here are a few of our best finds, even though many were pretty empty compared to how they will be this coming autumn and winter.

The north


One marvelous, huge arts center we happened to pass by was the Le Centquatre in Rue Curial. It was almost empty when we visited, but the industrial-type architecture is impressive even without the throngs of visitors, which, we were told,  are filling the building during the non-summer months.



La REcyclerie in the former Gare Ornano at the Porte de Clignancourt is situated at the absolute perimeter of the touristic Paris, but it is well worth a visit - and not only for eco-warriors and the globally conscious.


Here everything is - yes - recycled and you can even have your meal sitting on the closed railway line, which has been turned into an urban garden with goats and hens.



In one of the corners of the giant flea market  Saint-Ouen, near Porte de Clignancourt, you find one of the kitschiest and utterly charming restaurants we know.

At the Chez Louisette, surrounded by bric-a-brac and garlands of colored light bulbs, Manuela belts out the songs of Edith Piaf, as - Michael believes he remembers - she did more than 45 years ago when he first visited the flea market with his parents and brother.

Actually, I think he has quite a crush on this vivacious more than 80-year-old chanteuse, who never regrets anything - many times every day. Seven days a week,


 
 




Behind the Bastille


Walking the quais of the Canal Saint-Martin is one of our favorite routes, and we really love visiting Point Ephémere. This raw and alternative graffiti-covered bar, restaurant, and concert venue is located in a former cement factory at the Quai de Valmy


Another favorite spot further down along the Quai de Jemmapes is Le Comptoir General.
 


Le Comptoir is a bar and strange cabinet of curiosities, where music, drinks, food, and interior all come from the former French African colonies.

 


Just beyond the canal, while checking out the hipster Generator hostel at Place de la Colonel Fabien, we happened to find a rooftop terrace bar, The Khayma, with the most gorgeous view of Montmartre.

Absolutely well worth a visit on a lovely evening


Another splendid roof, we found at Montmartre, on top of the Terrass hotel. This is one of the city's chicest and less well-known rooftop bars and the views of central Paris are just second-to-none.



The left bank

Michael had planned to visit the Parisian catacombs for the first time since his first visit to Paris 45 years ago, but the extremely long line of waiting tourists dissuaded him.

A trip into the underground he had to do and he talked me into visiting the Parisian sewers, where the waiting line, curiously enough, was non-existent!



Actually, the visit to the Egouts de Paris (the entrance is next to the Pont d'Alma) was great fun. No rats, no smell - but a lot of rushing water below our feet and some interesting insights into the underbelly of Paris, where the total length of the sewers is more than 2100 km.





From the outside, The Deyroll looks like a quite boring gardening shop, but the shop in the quaint, quintessentially Parisian street of Rue du Bac is far from boring.

If you venture up the oaken staircase to the first floor, you enter into an almost two-hundred-year-old curiosity shop which, we guess, has no equal in all of Europe.

Here you can buy butterfly collections, fossils, and stuffed animals. Even if you fancy buying a three-meter-high stuffed giraffe, you can get it here.


The right bank


Palais de Tokyo, in the 16th arrondissement just opposite the Eiffel Tower, is not one of the most visited Parisian museums, but we really would suggest a visit to this museum dedicated to modern and contemporary art.

The giant industrial-looking rooms are often filled with the most visually impressive installation art.





Where but in Paris should you find a museum of romanticism? The Musée de la Vie Romantique is placed in a lovely old secluded villa, just below Boulevard de Clichy.



Sitting in the garden, surrounded by old trees, sipping tea in a little painted greenhouse, you just might imagine Chopin and Georges Sand, who attended the famous salons held in the villa, might come around and join you for a biscuit.

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