The last couple of days have been bright and sunny, leading us once more out of doors and putting the art exhibitions on our list on the back burner. Yesterday we had a sudden urge for a Vietnamese banh mi sandwich and headed up to Belleville to visit Saigon Sandwich, recommended by Clotilde and saved for the day the urge hit.
We walked from Place de la Republique to Boulevard de Belleville and once again had one of those "this is not your father's Paris" experiences. Most of the people we passed were Asian or African or Arab and the stores reflected it. The shop above caters to African and Caribbean customers with a specialty in candles, Bibles, icons and incense, as well as apparently everything you can think of anyone might need.
The architecture was a melange of styles, periods and conditions. It ranged from this low row of what may have been 19th century worker's housing
to what appears to be the height of 1930s chic
and included this almost country cottage at the back of a courtyard.
Just to remind you of what century you're really in, this emply lot has become a tagger's paradise.
And speaking of butchers, I wonder if this cow's head over an impressive double height entry gate might have marked the home of a successful 19th century meat merchant.
As we passed Avenue Parmentier I couldn't help taking a picture of this load of potatoes in the street. The avenue is named after the pharmacist Antoine-Augustin Parmentier, the man single-handedly responsible for convincing the French to eat potatoes. Without him, no French fries, a possibility that makes one shudder. As far as I'm concerned he deserves to have an avenue named after him (and a métro station as well). The French reward their heros.
We ordered one poulet sandwich and one jambonneau and took them back to the bank of the Canal St-Martin to eat. How were they? We're still dreaming of our local banh mi joint in El Cerrito.
1 comment:
Isn't Belleville fun?! Yeah, that's my neck of the woods. We're actually right at the juncture of where Belleville, the 10th and the 19th all converge, just down the hill off of the Blvd de la Villette. I like living in this area because it is very diverse and dynamic.
Oh man. Those sandwiches sound delicious. I read the post at C&Z, too and they sound gooood. Too much gluten in the bread for me, but I'm wondering if PJ might enjoy giving them a try!
I'm glad you had fun in the NE part of town! :)
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