Ugh, I meant to post this on Tuesday but I just got so sick that I couldn’t. Turns out I probably caught a stomach virus or something in Paris. Or food poisoning. Idk. (And I was already a little sick, actually…)
All I managed was to type a rough version of this post and to transfer the rest of Saturday’s pictures on my computer. Then I just dropped and spend the rest of the day in bed. And yesterday too.
… Ahem, sorry about that. On with the stuff!
In this instalment:
- Rue de la Verrerie nro 16
- Apollo’s Underwear
- La Force prison
From (former) Rue de l’Homme Armé the next logical place to go was of course Rue de la Verrerie which is right behind the corner (well, the second corner?) This street is so lovely, especially right here. You can smell history. I took a picture of the whole block. (Also the immediate neighbourhood of this block, especially to the east. Go there if you have a chance. It’s so wonderfully medieval. And you can still see where the open sewers used to be! (what? It’s cool!))
And here’s the mysterious Vintage Bar at number 16:
And another picture of the block from east (or more or less east):
As I mentioned, we went back to Le Marais on Sunday night, looking for a place to eat (we ended up in a lovely little Corsican restaurant on Rue du Roi de Sicile). I didn’t take pictures of the (former) Rue de l’Homme Armé but I DID take a picture of the Vintage Bar at night. To my disappointment it didn’t seem to be open. Or at least not open to public. There was some weird light inside or at least I think so?
I have no idea whether it’s a gay bar or not but I do have to point out that basically at least half of the bars on Rue de la Verrerie are gay bars. We walked the whole length of the street on Sunday. Honestly it felt like they were all gay bars but I realise that my perception might have been compromised. x) For many reasons.
Ahem, well, not that it’s relevant information.
EDIT: Turns out it wasn’t a bar at all but an accessory shop! Also now it’s gone; there’s apparently a pâtisserie where it used to be? More about that in the last post.
Back to Saturday. We followed the street to where it turned into Rue du Roi de Sicile (where we’d return to the Corsican restaurant as already mentioned) and stopped at a delightful little café right there (literally called “Little Café”). While we were drinking (hot milk with honey and cinnamon omg why haven’t I ever heard of this before it’s perfect for a cold (because I had one =_=)) I noticed a shop on the side street (Rue du Bourg Tibourg) that amused me enough to go take a picture afterwards:
Apollo’s Underwear, a men’s wear shop. May or may not be Grantaire’s favourite clothing store.
Oh, in Google Streetview they have a mannekin wearing a red hoodie. Fanon modern!Enjolras, anyone? (Too bad we were there on a Saturday…)
Okay, okay. On we went all the way to Rue Malher. This is where the prison La Force used to be. Or actually I think Rue Malher might actually go right through where the prison was…? Anyway, north to where Rue Malher joins Rue Pavée there’s a little bit of the prison wall left.
And onwards is the Historical Library of Paris.
This is the prison where Thénardier & co. were and from which they escaped with help from Montparnasse and Gavroche. I have a feeling I read somewhere that they escaped from the side of Rue de Sévigné (former Rue Culture-Sainte-Catherine) but re-reading the chapter it seems more like that their cells were on that side but they escaped on the south side. It mentions Rue des Ballets which was a precursor to Rue Malher, leading from La Force to Rue Saint-Antoine. I don’t have anymore pictures though. We didn’t even go to the south side.
And btw, it’s cool to realise how close (well relatively) Gavroche’s Elephant on Place de la Bastille was to the prison. No wonder it didn’t take Montparnasse long to fetch him.
Also it’s weird how close this is to the church where Marius and Cosette got married (and Victor Hugo’s daughter). We didn’t visit the church, unfortunately, but we did see it from Rue Malher.
And hell, here’s a picture of Rue de Sévigné anyway (taken after the museum visit):
So yeah, Carnavalet Museum was next. But I think I’ll leave that for next time. Not that it’s a long story but these posts seem to get a bit long…
The map for this part:
Next time:
- Carnavalet Museum
- An omelette called Marius
- Maison de Victor Hugo
- Place de la Bastille
liberté • égalité • amitié 