1. This street might be familiar to Woody Allen fans; it appeared in Midnight in Paris. At one end of this street is the Saint-Etienne church – one of Paris’ oldest – where Owen Wilson’s Gil was sitting when the car came to pick him up to whisk him back to 1920s Lost Generation Paris.
2. Paris is home to several hills, the highest of which is Montmartre or the Mont des Martyrs (Mount of the Martyrs). There are a few streets like this in Montmartre, where you need to climb steps to get to your front door. It’s always been a dream of mine to live in Montmartre: while I think it’d completely negate the need for a gym membership, I do sometimes worry what it would mean for coming home with heavy groceries.
3. Paris is a very old city, historically, but as it stands, most of Paris is actually only about 150 years old. In the mid-19th century, Napoleon III undertook an enormous project to renovate the city center, both to stop the French from being able to revolt quite so easily (the medieval city streets were very narrow: perfect for barricading) but also to make sure that there were clean waterways through the city for drinking water. As a result, much of the pre-19th century city was destroyed, with the exception of the parts outside 19th century Paris, namely the 18th, 19th, and 20th arrondissements. In these areas, you can see the way the streets used to look: paving stones and a divot in the middle to lead the rainwater away.
4. This photo is a throwback to the rue Chapon around the Chinese New Year. France isn’t quite as big on holidays as we are in the United States, but they do a pretty good job decorating the streets: lanterns at Chinese New Year and twinkle lights at Christmas.
5. This is one of my favorite Parisian streets, not just because it offers a picturesque view of the Latin Quarter, but because it’s where my favorite Canadian pub is!