Paris1972-Versailles2003

So I have written much on the arrondissement or districts of Paris, those little numbers that start with 1 and goes to 20 (with the peculariety that now district 1-4 are the Centre and reduce to 17 however for postal guidelines they still use the old format) as the popular 75008, or 75 for the Department/city of Paris and then 008 for the arrondissement or district, you can read all about on that post. However, many folks do not realise that Paris is further divided into quartiers or neighborhoods and these numbered 80 or four per district! And this is what you can tell Parisiens! Let me tell you a bit about them.

And to complete the sequence and knowledge of Paris ,especially from a local point of view. I give you the quartiers (quarters) of Paris the neighborhoods of Paris. As told in previous post, Paris back in 1860 under the reorganisation of Napoleon III and orders to Baron Haussmann ,the city was divided into 20 arrondissement or districts for administrated purposes each with a mayor reporting to a council of Paris and a top Mayor of the city. These arrondissement were in turn split into quartiers or neighborhoods totalling four per district for a grand total of 80. These are the inner Paris, where the Parisiens lived and play, and it will help you pinpoint that property rental or sightseeing closer to you. Hope it helps the visitors. Let’s go to the classroom ::)

In its heydays beginnings Paris was divided into four parts or quarters and from that they come up with the name quartiers in French.  At the beginning not to go too much into historical details but some is needed, Paris had four from before the Philippe Auguste walls that were Ile de la Cité, Saint-Jacques-de-la-Boucherie, la Verrerie, and the Gréve all on the right bank or rive droite. The left bank or rive gauche was in possession of the abbeys.  After the walls were erected the quartiers went to 8  with the additions of Saint Louis, Sainte Opportune, Saint Germain l’Auxerrois on the right bank and Saint André and Maubert on the left bank. After the walls of Charles V finished in 1383 , 8 new quartiers are added such as les Halles , Saint Antoine, Saint Denis, Saint Eustache, Saint Gervais ,Saint Honoré, Saint Martin, and Sainte Avoye.

Jump to 1789 at the French revolution, the city of Paris had 60 quartiers, which were reduced to 48 by 1795.  Finally due to Baron Haussmann work on behalf of emperor Napoleon III, the city reaches the 80 quartiers in 1860 with the annexation of some villages surrounding Paris such as Auteuil. These 80 quartiers are the administrive nerve of Paris each with its own police station. For adminstrative purposes only the mayor’s office can attribute more quarters depending on the population and the advise of the Council of quarters or Conseil des Quartiers to numbered as much as 121, this is recently new as late as 2002.

Now here are the administrable quartiers for each arrondissement or the neighborhoods for each district with postal codes or zip codes as you wish….highlight the Centre 1-4 today.

75001, St Germain l’Auxerrois, Les Halles,Palais Royal, Place Vendome

75002, Gaillon, Vivienne, Mail, Bonne Nouvelle

75003, Arts et Métiers, Enfants Rouges,Archives, Sainte Avoie

75004, Saint Merri, Saint Gervais, Arsenal, Notre Dame

75005, Saint Victor, Jardin des Plantes, Val de Grace, Sorbonne , 75006, Monnaie,Odéon, Notre Dame des Champs,Saint Germain des Prés, 75007, Saint Thomas d’Aquin, Invalides, Ecole Militaire, Gros Caillou, 75008, Champs Elysées, Faubourg du Roule, Madeleine, Europe, 75009, Saint Georges, Chaussée d’Antin, Faubourg Montmartre, Rochechouart, 75010, Saint Vincent de Paul, Porte Saint Denis, Porte Saint Martin, Hôpital Saint Louis, 75011, Folie Méricourt, Saint Ambroise, Roquette, Sainte Marguerite, 75012, Bel Air, Picpus, Bercy, Quinze-Vingts, 75013, Salpétriére, Gare, Maison Blanche, Croulebarbe, 75014, Montparnasse, Montsouris, Petit-Montrouge, Plaisance, 75015, Saint Lambert, Necker, Grenelle, Javel, 75016, Auteuil, Muette,Porte Dauphine, Chaillot ,75017, Ternes,Monceau,Batignolles,Epinettes, 75018, Grandes Carriéres, Clignancourt, Goutte d’Or, La Chapelle , 75019, La Villette, Pont de Flandre, Amérique,Combat, 75020, Belleville, Saint Fargeau, Pére-Lachaise, Charonne.

Note that the street numbering starts from the Seine river, so from the center to the outskirts, or from the east. On one side are even numbers, on the other side are odd numbers. And be aware above are the official quartiers of Paris; many publications tells you of them as tourist attraction zones but is not the same. Like the omnifamous Marais which goes into the 3éme and 4éme arrondissement but is not a quartier! Or the name catchy Quartier Latin 5éme arrondissement!

Further to your bragging rights ….Paris arrondissement or districts have a name known locally more so than the numbers here they are : 1st – Louvre 2nd – Bourse 3rd – Temple 4th – Hôtel de Ville 5th – Panthéon 6th – Luxembourg 7th – Palais Bourbon 8th – Élysée 9th – Opera 10th – Entrepôt 11th – Popincourt 12th – Reuilly 13th – Gobelins 14th – Observatory 15th – Vaugirard 16th – Passy 17th – Batignolles – Monceau 18th -Buttes Montmartre 19th -Buttes Chaumont 20th – Ménilmontant. Therefore, if someone says they are by the tour Eiffel in the 7éme arrondissement you can say you are in Palais Bourbon district!

The Paris tourist office on finding your way in Paris: https://en.parisinfo.com/practical-paris/paris-maps-plans

The city of Paris on the new Centre or downtown/city center in French: https://www.paris.fr/pages/tout-savoir-sur-paris-centre-8052

For the Olympic games of Paris 2024, there could be another quartier tour Eiffel! The city of Paris has a plan to redevelop a 54 hectare site between the Trocadéro and the École Militaire, and along the Seine between the Pont d’Iéna and the Pont de Bir-Hakeim to transform it into an accessible and friendly city district for Parisians and tourists.

Not in an adminstrative sense but the Paris tourist office has walks to go along sights in zones around the quartiers such as: https://en.parisinfo.com/discovering-paris/walks-in-paris/paris-and-its-neighbourhoods

Enjoy Paris ! and its quartiers or neighborhoods walk them all sublime and you know Paris is eternal we will always have Paris!

And remember happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all!!!

This is a very nice garden/park in Paris. I had my world hq office nearby and with the info of a little train and all, decided to take the family and it was a taker ever since until older ages of my boys. If kids under 15 this Jardin d’Acclimatation is a must to visit in Paris. Hope you enjoy the post, and thanks for reading me over these years!

Time to write about gardens but not just any garden , France has thousands, and Paris hundreds, some are historical wonders, and others follies to sink in, this one is for the dreamer the kid in all of us. I have taken my boys here when younger days of  visiting France, and then as teens while living here; it is wonderful and now better than ever.

The Jardin d’Acclimatation has reopen on June 1st better than ever! The ambiance is SteamPunk on the old Paris style. The luxury group  LVMH has invested 60M€ to create a park to rival the major better known in the Île de France region where Paris is located. They are hoping for 3 milllions visitors by  2025, and they started out with a bang surpassing the estimates for the first week attendance.

They have put together 40 attractions of which 17  are new and 4 roller coasters, as well as 500 animals from exotic birds, goats, rabbits, lambs etc, 16 restaurants,and  18 hectares of natural forest setting. There are petting zoo for teens, ,a nature reserve park with animals and a sport trail all to make it a must stop in Paris.

These 18 hectares or acres of natural reserve are blend in with the attractions to give it a green effect . In the small farm you can see animals ready for your children to meet up close. You can imagine a marriage between a Harry Potter universe and that of the Lords of the Rings or even Jules Verne or Victor Cabret. All in an architecture of the 19C with bronces, copper and lead metallic à la tour Eiffel are in place.  The emblematic Dragon of the park has been renovated with a new look and the roller coasters are in a vapor train style.  Some of the new rides are bobsleigh of 12 meters high in an airplane turbine type setting, as well as flying boats.

Opening hours need to check online for the latest news. The location is Jardin d’Acclimatation ,Avenue du Mahatma Gandhi Paris 16 , between the porte de Neuilly and the porte des Sablons in the bois de Boulogne, along the boulevard Maurice-Barrès (Neuilly-sur-Seine).  The park garden is accessable on the Metro line 1 out at les Sablons that is about 150 meters from the main gate via the rue d’Orléans. Or as we always do, go to line out at Porte Maillot and take the petit train (little train) that will take you to the main entrance of the garden park.  This petit train is a railroad line in narrow gauge of 50 cm and opened in 1878, to connect the Porte Maillot to the Jardin d’Acclimatation, on a distance of 800 meters. It is the first line in France on narrow gauge carrying passengers! The garden park is also reach by bus on lines  43, 73, 82, 93, PC1 ,174, and 244. There are Vélib bike station at the park entrance and by rue Mahama Ghandi.  There is underground parking at Porte Maillot.

A bit of history I like

The transformation of the Bois de Boulogne in 1852 calls for the creation of a garden park at the entrance to the Forest,and for this reason an association was created in 1854. The association had as an objective to the contribution and introduction of the acclimations of animal species for agriculture ends, commercial or entertainment. By 1858, the association obtained from the city of Paris a concession space of about 15 hectares bordering the Bois de Boulogne to create a garden park of useful animals in the country. At the same time, in 1859, Emperor Napoléon III gives the concession of another 4 hectares; the garden park is opened by emperor Napoléon III in 1860.

The garden park is closed to the public during the war of 1870, prohibited the entrance of the public and used to raise animals to feed the population in case of an attack.  During this time some animals are evacuated to other zoo parks outside of France but as the transports are paralysed and Paris is attack on all fronts.  The winter is hard and the rationing is not enough; some of the last animals are killed for feeding the population such as the elephants Castor and Pollux.  At the end of the siege there is only one animal left!

Here it was created Human expositions as wild humans for quite some time. In 1877, some Nubians are shown ,and so on for the next quarter century about 22 human expositions are done . The majority of these were of African origins but also Indians,  Laplanders, and Cossacks. The human expo are done at the same time as the animals on many cases from the same region.  These wild exhibitionis of the 19C creates huge arguments of the days as the humans were enclosed in cages as well as animals next to them.  The garden park becomes in this period a high place of Anthropology in Paris. For the next quarter century that follows the pace of these exhibitions slows down as they were about 15 between 1903 to 1931 the date of the last one. Later ones took a more colonial feel with the tribes shown between each others from all the France colonial such as Sénégal, South Africa,  New Caledonia, etc.

By  1929, the land of the garden park owned by the city of Paris is transfered to the city of Neuilly-sur-Seine, and then  to the 16éme arrondissement of Paris.  In the 1960’s , the garden is renovated and a national museum of arts and popular traditions set up here in 1969 in a new building.  There is a small petting zoo farm opening in 1971,a theater in 1973,  a lawn(grass) museum in 1975. The tent of Silvia Monfort  is set up two years later in 1978. The garden park goes oriental with a tea house, a black lacque bridge, and later a Korean garden.  The before mentioned museum is closed out in 2005, and the last scientific works of the grass museum are gone too.  In 2006, the group LVMH gets the authorisation to build the Fondation Louis-Vuitton, designed by Architect Frank Gehry, on the site of the old bowling of the garden park that was demolished in 2014. The concession of the garden park to LVMH is renovated for 25 years ending in 2041. As this is done, the group LVMH promise to invest and renovate the garden park  as mention in the first part of this post above.

Some webpages to help you plan your trip here are:

The official webpage of the Jardin d’Acclimatation: https://www.jardindacclimatation.fr/en

The Paris tourist office on the Jardin d’Acclimatation: https://en.parisinfo.com/paris-museum-monument/71282/Jardin-d-Acclimatation

The webpage of the management company the luxury group LVMH  on the jardin d’Acclimatation: https://www.lvmh.com/houses/other-activities/jardin-dacclimatation/

And the petit train of the Jardin d’Acclimatation is here: https://www.jardindacclimatation.fr/en/attractions/le-petit-train

There you go folks, a wonderful garden park of many family memories and open to all.  The Jardin d’Acclimatation needs to be visit,  it is great ,and now better than ever. If you have children or young teens this is a must indeed in your travels to Paris. Hope you have enjoy the post.

And remember, happy travels, good health ,and many cheers to all!!!

A while back I did a series on the churches of Paris, well received thank you. However, some were less than others and it is a pity. These monuments are the ones that keeps the wonderful architecture and history of a city today, and Paris is no difference. One of my most pleasurable moments is to visit them in my walks in my eternal Paris. Therefore, here is the revised updated links Church of Saint Nicolas des Champs!

It’s time to get to know the little known beauties of Paris. I like to give a small introduction to the Church of Saint Nicolas des Champs.  The Church of Saint-Nicolas-des-Champs, is located on Rue Saint-Martin in the 3éme arrondissement or district of Paris. It is of flamboyant Gothic style dating from the 12-15C. The closest metro is Réaumur-Sébastopol on lines 3 and 4 and Arts-et-Métiers line 3 and 11.

A document of 1079 shows that a parish was erected for the population of the vicinity of St. Martin des Champs.  This population took such a development that a parish Chapel dedicated to St. Nicholas was built outside the monastery before 1119. The present Church, begun around 1420, was built for the greater part in the 16C.  On the day of Pentecost 1623, St. Louise of Marillac lived in this Church an outpouring of the spirit. As a result of this strong spiritual experience, and with the spiritual guide of Saint Vincent de Paul, she decided to found the congregation of the Daughters of Charity.

The Church of Saint Nicolas des Champs is not well recognize and does not attract the eye of the passing crowds on rue Réaumur and rue Turbigo. Its size is however important with its 90 meters long, and 36 meters wide and its bell tower which rises to 32 meters. The portal of the building was completed in 1587 and is on the south side on rue Cunin-Guidaine.

The Church of Saint-Nicolas-des-Champs has been equipped with organs since 1418. The present organ dates from 1777 (Clicquot) and modified in 1930. In 1834, Louis Braille, inventor of the tactile writing system for the blind, was one of his incumbent organists. Today, it is François Eric and Vincent Genvrin who hold the tribune of the great organs. The Church maintains one of the only 17C monumental altarpieces still in place in a Parisian Church, painted by Simon Vouet, it rises 12 meters above the high altar and represents the assumption of the Virgin. Which, alone, is worth coming to see it.

Some webpages to help you plan your trip here are

The parish webpage of Saint Nicolas des Champs: https://asaintnicolas.com/

The Catholic Churches of Paris on Saint Nicolas des Champs: https://www.paris.catholique.fr/-saint-nicolas-des-champs-1063-.html

Hope you stop by when walking the wonderful streets of Paris, the best way to see the city once in it. And of course , stop by the Church of Saint Nicolas des Champs! Hope you enjoy the tour.

And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all!!!