A little tour of Paris' Haut Marais - Temple neighborhood

I went to Paris earlier this month and stayed in the awesome, central, walkable, funky, trendy, fun Haut (upper) Marais in the 3rd arrondissement. I rented an apartment right near the Temple Metro.

FYI, it is not pronounced TEM-pul, as an American would say (and as this American said many times until someone took pity and corrected me). It is more like Tahmp or Tuhmp with the "p" all but silent. Kinda like Champs as in Champs-Élysées. Before I learned the right way to say it, people had no idea what I was saying when I asked for directions. 

Even a bus driver. 

Who was parked on the corner of Rue du Temple. 

Seriously.  

Temple Metro Station, a stone's throw from the apartment I rented.

View from my Airbnb apt. to the courtyard

So, first of all, the neighborhood has a decidedly local feel and is not very touristy. 

Oh, there are a few people walking around with giant cameras and fanny packs, but you'll see many more distinctly Parisian folks, like these two. 

I voted for them in the "cutest couple ever" contest. 

By the way ... That coat! It is my new goal in life to find and acquire that red coat. 

You can tell a local because you'll see him walking down the street with a baguette tucked under his arm as if totally unaware how utterly adorable his everyday life is.

You can also tell the locals by the fact that they ride their bike in heels.

And their motor-bikes, too.

And manage to look supremely casual and utterly fabulous at the same time. 

Haut Marais is that perfect mix of safe and cool. 

Semi-gritty?

 Leaning toward not-very-gritty at all, I guess. 

Lots of street art in Marais--I will do another post on street art and graffiti later.

But these few were in a small alley, Passage Sainte Elisabeth, just up the block from where I stayed, on the route to my favorite cafe. 

I wasn't able to find much about "Ride in Peace" (RIP) except his Facebook page, which has a lot of pics but no background. 

The obvious interpretation is that bikes and cars should share the road in peace.

And, you know, the car drivers should not kill the bicyclists. 

Nice photos and brief essay (in French) here and here. 

Google translate seems to struggle with French to English, but on the upside, the results are often poetic: 

This kind of gargoyle ironworker and ferraillante makes us cautious. 

This may be the cars to which they should twist the neck and body 

to hang high on the walls 

instead of letting them move in the streets.

These awesome installations are all over the city. Dude is busy. 

Sometimes easy to miss as they do indeed hang high on the walls. 

Another one from the same alley by BeauSoir.

This appeared overnight while I was there; was kinda cool to see it "born."

It's signed Pax Leopard, self-described as a collective of visual artists, street artists and musicians. Some good pics on Instagram, including a photo of this very one, dated June 17, that says it is his or her "first big one." (Their site has no info; only a video that induces epileptic fits, apparently.)

The Temple neighborhood has wonderful little food markets, bakeries, etc., including the covered food market Le Marche des Enfants Rouges (why the children are red, I have no idea), cafes, etc.  

La Favorite de Sam ended up being my go-to for morning cafe creme and a snack. (The others in the neighborhood make it too milky.) And they were kind about my crappy French. 

Also had a lovely poulet fermier (farmer's chicken) for dinner there one night. 

 I ate very light meals while I was there (the above picture the exception that proves the rule) pretty much just one main meal a day. It's interesting how simply I eat when I don't have access to massive supermarkets and cupboards full of junk. 

I mostly stuck to the four food groups: fruit, bread, cheese, chocolate. 

Square Du Temple, a park across the street from my Airbnb rental, is a small oasis: 

I'm not super into architecture, but I can tell a pretty building when I see one! 

Carreau du Temple, which used to be a covered market but is now a cultural center/mixed use building. If there is shopping there, as it says online and in the guide books, I never found it. The cast iron, brick and glass structure is the former site of the enclosure of the Knights Templar & the prison where the Royal family were held during the French Revolution.
Yes, I Googled. I'm a Googler. 

I went on this trip alone so very few pics of me. For some reason, I forgot about the concept of "selfies," perhaps because I am so very old. 

So on the last day, in the half hour before I had to leave for the airport, I ran around the apartment, the building and the neighborhood taking some pics of myself and my bed-head hair with my tablet. 

Hardly anyone stared at me. 

At least not that I cared about.

Rue du Temple

Rue Perrée

Carreau du Temple (are you pronouncing it right?)

Square Du Temple (how about now?)

Pretty courtyard entrance to the apartment building.

I got stuck in the elevator once, BTW. That was fun. (No seriously, it kinda was.) 

Looking (AKA leaning dangerously) out the window of the apartment.

And one more for the road. The apartment was terrific, for real and for certain, 

but Amélie does NOT live here!

Just sayin'.