October 3 - Punks in Paris

We are staying at the Hotel Des Halles in Paris.  As the name suggests it is in the Halles district of Paris.  We thought this would be a safe neighbourhood but experience has shown us otherwise. 

It started this morning when I left the hotel to find a depanneur to buy some croissants for breakfast.  Going down one street I encountered an argument between what was obliviously a  hooker and what I can only surmise to be her pimp.  It was certain that this encounter was going to escalate into a violent encounter, which turned out to be true because as I rounded the corner to another street I could hear the hooker screaming out in pain. She was trying to gain the attention of the authorities, who I must admit were not present.

At another corner I was greeted by the spectacle of a male prostitute trying to pick up his John.  They went off to a dark corner of the street and I sure as heck was not going to follow anywhere near them.  The male hooker had more makeup on than Lady GaGa.

Across the street is a strip club and I'm sure the side door is the entrance to a brothel.

Then this evening, I was the victim of an attempted robbery.  I was at an ATM and had just entered my PIN when some young punk waved a flyer in front my face and pressed the cancelled button on the ATM to try and get my card.  While this was going on his friend was trying to distract me.  I knew exactly what was going on and started screaming at the top of my lungs to for the punks to get the “f....k” away from me or I was going to hurt them.  My violent reaction scared the youngest jackass away, but the other stayed and tried to challenge me.  When I cocked my fist and stepped towards to him, he then decided to high tail it out of there.  What bothers me the most is the fact I know I would have hit this kid with intention of doing maximum damage and it would not have bothered me.

While this was going on Marg was getting her hair done at a Parisian hair salon.  So I had to wait an hour to escort her back to the hotel, because I no longer feel that Les Helles is a safe neighbourhood.

At about three o'clock this morning a massive argument erupted on the street outside of our hotel with idiots screaming at the top of their lungs at each other.  From the tone of their voices, I suspect it too was going to escalate into violence. 

During the day we took another couple of tours on the Hop-On / Hop Off buses.  The first trip was on the route called the Grand Tour.  It stopped at all the major attractions in Paris, which we have visited on previous visits.  It was interesting because normally we've take the Metro to the sites and this allowed us to see the streets leading to the sites.  The tour stopped at such famous sites such as the Louvre, the Opera House, Notre Dame cathedral, Place de la Concorde, the Champs-Elysees, Arc de Triomphe  and the Eiffel Tower.

Arc de Triomphe

Louvre

Eiffel Tower

The second tour went to Montmartre and the Grand Boulevards.  This included such interesting sites such as the Moulin Rouge, Sacre-Coeur church, the cemetery where Jim Morrison of the Doors is buried   and the red light district of Paris. We also passed through several streets where Parisians do their day to day shopping. There are no shopping malls in this area.  Its too bad that Canadian main streets are not this busy.  Maybe we should rethink the urban mall policy.

John and Ellen were at the dinner show at the Moulin Rouge on Thursday night.  They gave it a positive review.

Crowds at Notre Dame

At all these attractions the number of people is enormous.   The sidewalks are packed full and the streets are blocked with both pedestrian and vehicle traffic.  At places such as Notre Dame, I suspect there may be more than several thousand people waiting to get into the church. Our friend Ellen Kelly told us last night, that they were told the waiting line for the Eiffel Tower was several hours.

Along the tour route we saw where the UN conference on climate change is going to place at the end of November. Hopefully by then, Canada will have a government that understands that realistic climate change policies should trump the chase for the almighty dollar.

Also there was a large pavilion to promote the Paris bid for 2024 Summer Olympics.

After we finished our bus tours, we walked along the Quai de le Corsi, which runs alongside the Seine River.  There were many flower markets along this road.  We saw the most wonderful orchids, but we know we can’t bring them home because they would not survive the trip on the plane.

While Marg was getting her hair done, I did a bit of exploring in the Halles district.  I remember seeing one episode of the travel series "Last Stop Paris", where Les Helles was discussed.  It seems that this used to be a major farmers market.  It was then converted into a shopping area, with a big North American styled mall.  Most Parisians hated this mall and after visiting it I can see why.  It is underground and there is no natural light in the entire place.  It reminds me of Toronto from the Eaton Centre to Union Station.  Everything is underground and it is a lifeless void with no atmosphere. 

La Canopée at Les Halles

The French government is redesigning the area. There will be a larger pedestrian district, a new building inspired by nature called La Canopée with a high arching cover, a more functional regional train station, an enlarged, refurbished shopping centre and more cultural facilities..Flowing out from the canopee will be a major garden that leads to the Nelson Mandela park.

For dinner we walked down rue des Lombards.  This street has many bars, cafes and restaurants.  We ate at the Chant desVoyelles.  The food was very average as was the wine we selected.  We had a Bordeaux that was fine but it had a musty aroma to it.  It turns out this is a gay bar/restaurant, which makes it two that we've been to during our stay in Paris.  So that is what is meant by “Gay Paris”.

From our window tonight we can hear a concert of a percussion band that has what sounds like a large crowd in a very excited state.  We have no idea where the concert is, because the sound echos between the buildings and leaves you with no sense of direction.  It turns out that tonight is Nuit Blanche, which is all night party and celebration in France.