Les Grands Boulevards
 

The "Grands Boulevards" get short shrift here since most visitors on this site want to concentrate on the main sights, or other places like Saint Germain des Prés, rue Cler, the Champs Elysées, etc., whether or not they are their own favorite haunts or some guidebook has insisted that they should be.

But how many people know that the Grands Boulevards were the place to go and be seen for more than 200 years? In fact, they only fell out of fashion around the 1950's or 60's when those damned beatniks and other misfits moved nightlife elsewhere.

Nevertheless, the area remains a favorite of visitors from other parts of France as well as many Europeans, which is why it has far more hotels and restaurants than any other part of Paris. It also remains the principal theatre district for plays.

For those who would like to see some things about it, I have made a complete photo report starting from Place de la Madeleine all the way to Place de la Bastille, which is the entire official length of the term "Grands Boulevards." I'm not saying that it is worth your time to go the entire length like I did, but at least you can see things along the way like the Maille mustard shop, the Opera, the 79€ brunch of the Café de la Paix, the Hard Rock Café, the Cirque d'Hiver and the Harley-Davidson shop. In short, something for everybody! :-)

Here it is: http://tinyurl.com/6df66y2

I agree about the Grands Boulevards! I stumbled upon them a year or two ago when I was in Paris for business, and I think they're a really underrated part of the city. Thanks for posting about them!

thanks, kerouac.

a nice idea for our next visit to Paris.

Thanks for the nice tour. I have not found a reason to head over to Place de la Madeleine, I figured I saw it from the taxi once on the way from the airport, and that was enough for me. But now that there is a museum there, maybe I'll hit that spot.

Interesting information about the Olympia and its block being entirely rebuilt.

I walked much of this on second trip to Paris, in August 1968! it was a great view of different economic classes--from Place Vendome to more "working class" at the far end. Got the most incredible pate de campagne from a market near Bastille.
THANK YOU for these wonderful photos!! Good thing i was just in Paris, or would be in tears by now!!!

HEDIARD!

SWOON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I just love Hediard, especially their house Champagne.


P_P

I think Opera Garnier is a justifiable favourite. Great photo; it's gleaming in the sunlight.

We'll be there soon!

The picture with the man on a bike at a cross walk, that looks
like the location of Caillbotte's painting, Rainy day in Paris.

Caillebotte's painting

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_Street;_Rainy_Day

I've been on various parts of Les Grands Boulevards, but really appreciated this tour in one swoop, kerouac. It made me realize that I've not been near La Madeleine in 10 years (or more) since I sure don't remember those flowers!

A 200 Euro umbrella indeed! Not for me.

Interesting about Place de la République becoming more pedestrian-friendly - or driver-hostile, depending on one's point of view. I just read an article about how this sort of thing is happening all over Europe, in general, to try to discourage driving.

Oops, meant to add a thank you for posting another great report!

Another reason to return!

I think over the last two or three days I have biked just about every major boulevard on the right bank and the great thing about them from a biking perspective is many of them have bus lanes that allow biking so you can enjoy the view while riding without being overly concerned with traffic.

I think the grands boulevards don't get much attention from tourists and tourist publications simply because they are not a specific place. Tourists like to go to specific locations and see specific landmarks. They seem much more reluctant to consider walking around a neighborhood or area, which apparently seems too vague to them. Paris in general is a great city for walking around, but tourists don't want to walk around, they want to go directly to Landmark 1, then move directly on to Landmark 2, and so on.

True, that's what I did in my recent visit so some of the photos look very familar and even similar to those in my Blog below. Around Madeleine, Opera Garnier, Hard Rock, etc. But of course, I did not see as much; that's the difference between a local and a tourist. It would also be be too taxing on the legs to do it in one go.

Ronald
http://paris-france-holiday.blogspot.com/

Thank you for this great photo essay (with thoughtful commentary, as always, Kerouac).

I feel a Paris visit comin' on....

Thanks very much for a lovely tour, K.

((I))

We'll definitely put this on our list for our next Paris visit.

They always say that a picture is worth a thousand words. Thank you for taking us along.

Great as usual. You aren't going to run out of places to go and photograph, are you?

Love your essay very much. It makes not visiting Paris this year easier to bear.

Thanks to everyone for your support. You all do such a great job of covering the classic sites that everybody must see that I am glad to be able fill a little niche that not many other people are covering. (However, this report showed more monuments than I usually show!) :-)

I so enjoyed the trip...we stayed at Le Grand two years ago and had a great time. I love all the terrific foodie shops around Place de la Madeleine. And, I also think Opera Garnier is the most gorgeous building in Paris!

thanks, kerouac!

I'm wondering about the Franprix location. I don't recall seeing it when we stayed in the area a few years ago. We were in an apartment behind the REx. I liked the apartment but we having to make a pretty long trek to the grocery store.

They have put the turbo boost on Franprix openings lately -- they are showing up everywhere. Next to my office, a major café-restaurant recently closed and suddenly became a Franprix, but with a couple of major differences. First, the aisles are parallel to the street rather than perpendicular, and the very first aisle is ready-to-eat food items for office workers. On top of that, they actually left some bistro tables and chairs out front for people to sit down and eat their purchases. And even more exceptional, since I have never seen them on sale at a Franprix before, there is a huge wall of pantyhose for sale. Even though I'm a guy, I know how often women (think they) have to run out and buy some pantyhose during the working day -- very clever of Franprix to cover that need, because the Monoprix on the Champs Elysées is several blocks farther away (of course, we all know that Monoprix and Franprix are owned by the same company anyway).

We just arrived in Paris this morning and my dad had to get a shirt from the Hard Rock so I now know where this is! We've got a week here and I can't wait to explore.

Metro Grands Boulevards! :-)

The Grands Boulevards are the heart of Paris. How can anybody miss this?

Once you have viewed Kerouac's photos, you might want to walk down one of the boulevards:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6bDAWqf2RY

This video does <b>not</b> duplicate Kerouac's photos, so I don't think there's any conflict between them. Be sure you view the photo gallery <i>first</i>. The video is just an (uninterrupted) walk from the Bonne Nouvelle Métro station to the Opéra Garnier, at dusk. If you pay close attention, you'll spot a handful of the landmarks that Kerouac's gallery covers (such as the Rex cinema). The actual boulevards covered are Bonne Nouvelle, Poissonnière, and Italiens.

Anthony, that is a really great video for showing exactly what it's like to walk along the boulevards. Of course, 22 minutes will try most people's patience. For the first 5 minutes, I kind of felt that the woman with the white shoes was being stalked.

It's a bit tedious, but the continuous shot increases the "you are there" impression, whereas making cuts would have destroyed that atmosphere. Of course, it's not continuously thrilling in real life, either, but most of the grands boulevards are still great fun to walk, especially compared with just about every other city on the planet (although other densely populated places, like Manhattan, do have their own charms).

She does look like she's being stalked, but would anyone really want to stalk a woman wearing shoes like that?