I'm glad that all of you seemed to have liked it. Actually this version was slightly abridged, since I had things to say about rue du Panama and rue de Suez, the cultural life of rue Léon, and the quite beautiful gothic Eglise Saint Bernard, a hotbed of political activity.

My plans are to repost and perhaps expand, maybe in January, correct mistakes and add details, at which point this thread can be deleted.

When you do that, please would you post a link in THIS thread so I can find the new one? I don't read the Europe board as often as I used to and would hate to miss it!

I really enjoyed this, and I am looking forward to reading more when you expand it.

I want to know more. All of the guidebooks have the official tourist sites to visit and yet I notice that certain areas are completely different in each city.

This is the sort of post that finally informs us about the city instead of telling us that mink coats are popular in St Germaine and you can eat there for $100 and that the Eiffel Tower has four feet with elevators in most of them.

Thanks for the great directions on a good wander, Kerouac! I love going 'off-guidebook', and seeing the real soul of a city. I'll be there in April, and will plan to mosey on through this part of town! I'll look for your repost in January...

ttt

Great info. Bookmarking for my next trip

kerouac -
Thanks so much for this. I'll be in Paris for a week the end of January, on my way to Kenya, and planning to walk your neighborhood tour.

Wow Kerouac, this was great! Once I get well again and can actually walk out of my apartment I will check some of this out. You really captured a Paris that most people are too afraid or too busy to see. Isn't it amazing how many places are owned by Chinese people?

Also, when I was here on vacation a few years ago, my mom and I got on a métro car that smelled AWFUL. Turns out it was this African guy with a live chicken in a plastic garbage bag. He was kissing it and cooing to it and everything. Thanks for clearing up where he may have bought the chicken.

bookmarking.

kerouc: merci!

Bookmarking- this information is extraordinary and will no doubt diversify and enhance my trip to Paris, and I'm sure it is helping many other! Many thanks!

Glad to see this post pop back up- many thanks for the tour, kerouac. This sounds alot like an area in Toronto where I used to live, Hell's Angels included. It will be interesting to compare the two.

Apres Londee,

I agree that Kerouac's post is excellent. I live in Toronto and am very curious as to what area in Toronto this remnds you of?

>>>what area in Toronto this reminds you of?<<<

Coxwell and Gerrard, which eventually runs into the Chinatown at Dundas and Broadview. The Vegabonds have their headquarters on Gerrard east of Coxwell, and the Hell's Angels are a little further south in the area- although technically not in the neighourhood-on Eastern.

The Vegabonds always put out this Christmas decoration display that says "Merry Christmas from the Vegabonds". The Hell's Angels put in red and green front porch lights at Christmas.

The area as a whole is not my favourite, but I love Little India. The sari shops, the jewelry stores, the grocers, the music, the barbeques, the movie posters.

Fabulous! Thanks for posting this.

On a very very rainy day in early Feb, 2008 i took, upon Kerouac's writing about it, this walk, at least from Gare du Nord to La Chapelle and Marx Dormoy metro stop, where there was a McDonalds in which to dry out

then i took a street over the zillions of tracks coming out of the Gares Nord and Est - in my rail fan nerd style studying the maze of tracks and trains

then i reached the Rue Ordener (sp?) on the other side and there was a really nice long street market going on there.

I enjoyed the walk Kerouac describes or the part i took but i did not have his excellent description he did here so next time, in better weather, i'll print it out to take along.

The Dormoy metro area is really off the beaten track for tourists, believe me.

Thanks Kerouac

Ordener

merci bien, kerouac.


as fra diavolo put it, you are a flaneur in the best tradition. well done.

----
for those, who read german:
benjamin, walter: das passagen-werk.
but first, do the walk, kerouac described.

I keep expecting somebody to write "I followed your walking tour and it was the biggest waste of time I ever had in Paris! You are an idiot!" -- it will happen sooner or later.

I can watch people going in and out of McDonald's from my apartment window.

kerouac,

"I keep expecting somebody to write "I followed your walking tour and it was the biggest waste of time I ever had in Paris! You are an idiot!" -- it will happen sooner or later"

As people say in Saxony (between Chemnitz and Leipzig, where I live):

In jedem Zug sitzt ein Dummer.
There is a sucker sitting in every train.

I thought maybe i saw you - were you the guy in front of the church just north of MacDonalds with a cup and SVP written on a sign?

Don't know just had an inkling that could be you?

really i and many Fodors who have no doubt seen the main sights of Paris many times cherish more hidden away places, especially once we have intriguing background so nicely written out - a first time visitor to Paris would no doubt say it was a waste of time - not the dreamy view of Paris sketched in their minds' eyes - to veteran Paris travelers we enjoy seeing more real or ordinary neighborhoods and such ethnically diverse ones as this one.