#31 - Paris Uncovered: secret Paris

In this episode we’re going to be uncovering Paris to explore some of the most amazing hidden gems, the secret places you might miss if you don’t know they are there. 

It's not just the landmarks, like the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre museum, that make us fall in love with Paris. It’s also the little moments: finding a jazz band playing in a cosy café or in a cobblestone alley, the smell of fresh pastries from a boulangerie – there are more than 1700 in Paris, so you’ve got a lot of choice - or a sunset view from the bridges over the Seine. 

Paris really is a city where every street corner has a story. We go beyond the guidebooks to bring you secret Paris – where every street corner has a story to share.

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Podcast 31 - Paris Uncovered, secrets & hidden gems

Janine: Bonjour and welcome to The Good Life France Podcast. I’m your host Janine Marsh and I live in the far north of France, in a tiny village of 152 people and 1000 cows though I was, as you may be able to tell from my accent – born in London!  I came here on a day trip in 2004 with my dad and my husband and bought some wine plus a run run-down old hovel – it’s a long story (you can hear more about it in episode one of this podcast). My life here is not like it was in London when I worked in a bank as a project manager. Now I am maid to dozens of animals, I travel all around France all year and I write books about France, and I’m the editor of a website and magazine about France. When I’m not writing, or travelling or looking after animals, I love to share what I discover with you on this podcast alongside my podcast partner Olivier Jauffrit.

Olivier: Bonjour tour le monde! Thank you for tuning into our podcast from wherever you are in the world! I’m Olivier, Oli for short, and I’m a Frenchie though I lived in the UK for many years which is where I got my great British accent from! Now I live in sunny Lyon, the opposite end of France from Janine, a city that is famous for its gastronomy, in fact it’s nicknamed the gastronomic capital of France.  But enough of us – what is today’s topic Janine? I can’t wait to hear! 

Janine: Today’s topic is Paris Uncovered! The City of Light. The City of Love. City of Chocolate shops. Home to the Eiffel Tower. The world’s most popular city. In this episode we’re going to be uncovering some of the most amazing hidden gems, the places you might miss if you don’t know they are there. And we’ll talk about some of the city’s amazing history, and the people who have lived there…

Oli: That is a great topic – we love the Eiffel Tower, in fact we devoted a whole episode to the Iron Lady – but there is so much more to discover in Paris… let’s find out more! 

Janine: I first visited France when I was a teenager on a school exchange trip and I fell in love with French cake shops, drinking hot chocolate out of a bowl, very crispy toasted bread out of a packet (hmmm bit of a foodie theme going on there), plus the Eiffel Tower, the Palace of Versailles, and much much more. But no. 1 on my list of true loves aged 14 - was Paris. 

Oli: I love Paris too. We French are always saying, Paris isn’t France, and it can sound a bit negative, but really, we are very proud of our capital city, we think it is the most beautiful city in the world. When we say Paris is not France, it is because it is its own little world - just as London is to Great Britain and New York is to America. 

Janine: Now – it’s not just you and me that love Paris Oli. In fact, it is the world’s most popular city. And I know what you are going to say…

Oli: The world and beyond. Yes – it’s true, if there is extra-terrestrial life out there, of course they are going to want to visit Paris too!

Janine: That aside – in 2022, there were 44 million visitors to Paris. The Louvre Museum and the Eiffel Tower were the two most visited Parisian attractions, and the Versailles palace was the most visited destination in the region. But in this episode, we’re going to dive into the heart of Paris, beyond the postcards and the clichés. 

Oli: We are going to explore the hidden gems of Paris – those little nooks and crannies that make us fall in love with this city over and over again. So, grab a croissant, settle in, and let's take a whimsical stroll through the streets of Paris!

Janine: Some say that Paris is a cliche, but like all great cliches, it lives up to the hype. The city is brimming with historic monuments whose tales fill us with wonder even after centuries. The ancient Louvre once a royal palace, now the world’s most popular museum, the glittering Opera Garnier, like a miniature Palace of Versailles with gilded corridors and a magnificent staircase, plus a hidden pool where the Phantom of the Opera is said to live. The Arc de Triomphe, the great Gothic Cathedral of Notre Dame and of course the Eiffel Tower. There’s just so much to love. But in this episode, we’re going to focus on the less well-known treasures. And it’s actually very hard to know where to start because Paris is awash with hidden gems and secrets. 

Oli: Okay, I’ll go first. Let’s head to the Marais district. Marais is a French word meaning marsh – and this historic district was in fact marshland until the 12th century. Then, the Knights Templar, who had run out of Crusades to fight, cleared the land. Four hundred years on, the aristocracy began building their mansions here to be close to the Louvre, the preferred palace of royalty. Sure, this area is famous for its stunning architecture, but have you ever stumbled upon the Marché des Enfants Rouges? This covered market dates back to 1615! It’s the oldest food market in Paris. 

Janine: The name ‘Enfants Rouges’ means refers to the children who wore red clothes at the orphanage next to the market hundreds of years ago. Now it’s a bustling, vibrant place to go shop, enjoy street food, put together a picnic to eat in a square

Oli: It’s very close to the Pompidou centre, and if your like markets and fabulous food, you’ll love the Marché des Enfants Rouges

Janine:  Now, my next suggestion may not sound like the most fun way to spend a few hours getting to know Paris – but I highly recommend the Père Lachaise Cemetery. It’s fascinating and gives an insight to the city and its past residents. It’s in the east of Paris and it’s the last resting place of more than a million people and makes for a very interesting cultural and heritage visit, there are even guided tours available! There are some seriously famous people buried here – Maria Callas, Sarah Bernhardt, Edith Piaf, Frederic Chopin and Jim Morrison, whose tomb is one of the most visited.  Marcel Proust lies here – and people leave little madeleine cakes by his grave, they were his favourite. Oscar Wilde’s tomb now has a clear plastic cover on because so many visitors kissed the stone that it started to disintegrate. 

Parisians often go here for a Sunday stroll with the family, it feels like a park, in fact there are more than 5000 trees here, it’s a labyrinth of tree-lined alleys, full of beautiful sculptures. If you want to go there, the nearest metro is Gambetta. By the way, here’s a fun fact about Paris transport. You have the metro which is generally underground, and you have the RER which is underground but mostly overground. RER stands for Reseau Express Regional – Regional Express network and it runs in Paris and to the suburbs. But when the idea for the RER first came up it was going to be called Metro Express Régional Défense-Etoile which would have been shortened to merde (which I am sure you all know what that means, polite word is poo if you don’t). But it was changed at the very last moment!

Oli: If you head to the heart of Paris by the Eiffel Tower and cross to the little Île aux Cygnes, which means the island of the swans, it was artificially created in the middle of the river Seine in 1827, and if you go there you may think that you have been magically teleported to New York because here in Paris you will come face to face with the Statue of Liberty! But non, it’s because Paris has its own, slightly more petite, Lady Liberty - it’s like finding a little piece of America, but with more baguettes and less baseball. 

The statue of liberty was a gift from France to America in 1886. Its interior was designed by Gustave Eiffel, and it was created by sculptor Bartholdi from Colmar, Alsace. 

Janine: The statue of Liberty’s face is said to be based on Bartholdi’s mums face. And there are in fact hundreds of replicas of the Statue of Liberty all around the world, but none are as big as the New York Liberty. The statue on the Paris island faces west towards her sister in New York.

For our next Paris uncovered gem - how about a quirky bookstore. A stone’s thrown from The great Gothic cathedral of Notre Dame is Shakespeare and Company. It’s like Narnia for book lovers. You might go in for a quick browse and come out hours later, wondering what year it is. One of my proudest moments was seeing my books on the shelves in this lovely book shop. And If you’re a book shop fan, maybe head to Belle Hortense – it has pretty much only French books, but it’s the only book shop in Paris, maybe in all of France, that opens until 2 in the morning and has a wine cellar. It’s near the Hotel de Ville – the city’s town hall. 

Oli: Going green now – La Promenade Plantée also called the Coulée verte René-Dumont is an elevated park built on an old railway line. You can walk along it and get a really unique perspective of the city. The railway line was built in the mid 1800s and ran above the streets of Paris. It was abandoned in 1969 as bigger trains were introduced and someone had the genius idea to turn these aerial tracks into a park – in fact the Highline Park in Manhattan New York was inspired by the Paris project! The aerial walkways are quite wide, filled with trees and plants, ponds and benches and outdoor gyms. The track winds for 4.5km from Opera Bastille to Bois de Vincennes. 

Janine: Next on my list of favourites is also a green paradise - the Square du Vert-Galant. It’s a charming little park located at the western tip of the Île de la Cité, offering stunning views of the Seine. The square owes its name to King Henri IV born in 1553 and grandfather of Louis XIV. He was nicknamed the 'Vert-Galant' because of his numerous mistresses even as he got older. Apparently, people used to say of him ‘he’s always green despite his "great" age though when he died in 1610, he was only 57 years old – not really a great age but I suppose for those days it was. 

The square is about 8m, 25 feet below the ground floor of the Pont Neuf nearby – it’s the natural level of the land, so it floods easily. And it’s overlooked by a statue of Henri IV, sitting on a horse. The square is filled with lots of trees and plants and wild birds – ducks and moorhens for instance and Parisians love to come here for a romantic stroll and the fabulous views over the Seine with the Louvre in the background. 

Oli: Have you ever heard of Nicolas Flamel’s house? It slightly more famous now due to Harry Potter because Nicolas Flamel made an appearance in “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” – he made the Philiosopher’s stone, an object capable of turning metal into gold and granting immortality with its Elixir of Life. The house is a restaurant now and even has a ‘Harry Potter menu’. This building, dating back to 1407, at 51 rue de Montmorency, is the oldest stone house in the city. Nicholas Flamel - the real man lived here. It’s thought he was born in 1330 and he worked as a book seller and it’s believed he was obsessed with an ancient book about alchemy, written in Hebrew. A legend developed that he translated the ancient manuscript and discovered the secret of immortality and the philosopher’s stone! He lived to be 88 years old – pretty old for those days which probably influenced that story. As an additional piece of trivia, a street named for him, rue Nicolas Flamel near the Louvre, intersects with the rue Perenelle, named for his wife, who he married in 1368 – and who is also in the Harry Potter film! And talking of roads – here’s another fun fact about Paris – there are no traffic stop signs in the city. There used to be a one in the 16th arrondissement, the French word for Paris districts. But it was removed in 2016, making Paris a rare case of a capital city without a single stop sign.

And a bit more trivia - highways leaving Paris are numbered clockwise from 1 to 16 – for example the A1 goes to Lille in the north, the A6 to Lyon in the south, all the way round until you get to the A16 to Calais in a different part of the north!   

Janine: I love how Paris has such a long rich history and that you can find traces of it absolutely everywhere. When I get time I love to go to Paris and just walk, in September for my birthday I went to Paris for two days and  I walked miles and miles just, wandering,  to flaner the French call it – to wander without a real purpose just for the pleasure of walking and exploring, and as always when I go to Paris, I just kept seeing amazing things … there are plaques on the wall everywhere you go, I spotted a plaque which said it was a market for  perimeter of Paris – which of course it wasn’t, but in 1726, in an attempt to limit development in the city, King Louis XV established 294 plaques, saying, essentially that yes, Paris Ends Here. And if you look at the Hotel de Sens, spelled Sens, in the Marais district, actually it’s the oldest mansion in the area and just one of three remaining medieval residences in Paris – is another piece of history. Hotel in this instance, doesn’t mean a hotel like you stay in as a guest, it means a residence of importance. And in this case, the Hotel de Sens was once a palace for the Archbishops of Sens, a town in Burgundy. And in the wall is a reminder of three days of revolution in July 1830, as, when a cannonball lodged there in the wall, it was decided to leave it in place, and erect a plaque with the date it struck. It’s so odd in such a picturesque medieval building! But it’s well worth a visit, it has a pretty little garden too which you can access for free. 

Oli: When the great Cathedral of Notre-Dame reopens at the end of 2024, take time to notice the incredible detailed ironwork on the side doors! There is a legend that when they were created in the 13th century by a locksmith called Biscornet, he was so overwhelmed by the task of designing and making the ornamentation for the doors that he had to sell his soul to the Devil to get help. 

Against all the odds, he managed to finish his amazing work in a very short time. The doors were called "The Devil's doors" and it was said that they were impossible to repair. In the 19th century, they did in fact need to be repaired and a very famous master blacksmith called Pierre Boulanger was chosen to do the work. It took him considerably longer - 12 years to repair and reproduce the work of Biscornet. Once his work was done Boulanger signed his name on some of the panels on the back of the door to prove that the masterpiece was made by a human and not the Devil!

Janine: And another Notre-Dame secret – did you know that you can go underneath the Cathedral and there, in Europe’s biggest archaeological crypt, you will discover the old Roman city of Lutetia as Paris was then called – it means “near a swamp”.  Hardly anyone ever goes there, but in the corner of the square of Notre Dame there is a staircase that looks like it leads to a car park with a pillar which is engraved with the word “Crypte du Parvis.” Head down those stairs and be prepared to be amazed. Discovered in 1964 when someone decided it was a good idea to build a car park under the cathedral... hmmm… there are whole roads of ancient Paris, a unique timeline of the city from remains of the city’s very first port to Roman baths to 19th century streets! 

Oli: And talking of streets – how about the shortest road in Paris? Rue Degrés (2nd arrondissement): 5.75 m, not much to see, but how quaint is that?! And the The oldest clock in Paris is on the corner of the Boulevard du Palais, Quai de l’Horloge near the Conciergerie building. The clock was commissioned by Charles V in 1370 and installed in 1371. And it still works! It was the first public clock in France. It’s set in a tower that was once a watchtower and part of a royal palace. 

Janine: Paris is visually rich but it’s also full or amazing sounds. I love Paris cafés – you get layers of sound when you go to a popular café, people laughing, conversation, servers calling out – une café allongee and depending where you are, the sounds of the locality, the bells of Notre Dame or another church, the hum of traffic and tour buses, the noise of a market or the metro passing beneath your feet, cars driving on cobbles… 

So, why do we all love Paris? It's not just the landmarks, but the little moments: finding a jazz band playing in a cosy café or in a cobblestone alley, the smell of fresh pastries from a boulangerie – there are more than 1700 in Paris, so you’ve got a lot of choice, or a sunset view from the bridges over the Seine. Paris really is a city where every street corner has a story. 

Oli: Well, mes amis, that’s all for today’s episode of "Paris Uncovered." I hope you’ve enjoyed our jaunt through the city’s lesser-known treasures. Next time you’re in Paris, take a look beyond the guidebook – there’s a hidden gem waiting at every turn. 

Janine: Actually Oli, I think that this episode has inspired me to write a guidebook about the secrets of Paris – you heard it here first! 

But now it’s time for a reader’s question

Oli: In every episode of this podcast, we answer one of your questions – and we don’t mind what you ask us! Let’s find out what today’s question is. 

Janine: Today’s question is from Laura Beeny of Manchester, UK. I think that we may have to have a prize for the best question asked because we’ve had some right old stonkers this year – can you write a cheque on toilet paper, is it the law to keep frogs in your pond quiet and … And today’s question is certainly a contender and it’s a great one for this episode! Laura asks “is it true that some people visit Paris, and they are so disappointed that they get sick? I read it in a newspaper but that sounds crazy!”

So, Oli – is it true that there are some visitors to the city of light who get sick at the sight of it as it’s not what they expected?!

Oli: Well yes actually it is true! There are a few, just a few people who suffer nausea, vomiting and hallucinations when they visit Paris because they are so upset that what they find is not what they imagined! It’s known as Paris Syndrome. And actually, it can happen in any city – there is also New York Syndrome and London Syndrome! And it’s part of a wider psychological condition known as “travellers’ syndrome” which can affect visitors to any country. 

But it’s very rare of course.

Janine: Yes, it’s true. A very few tourists have romantic expectations of Paris, and when they see it’s a real city, with traffic, and shops and modern buildings in amongst the ancient architecture, they get so badly disappointed, it makes them feel ill – an extreme form of culture shock. Experts say that some people feel culture shock more strongly than others. And in this case, those very few and we’re talking a handful here, visitors who think that they are going to find Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris, or Amelie’s Paris, or even Hemingway’s Paris – the Paris of books and films, and then they see that it’s not like that everywhere – in places yes but not the whole of Paris. And they’re so shocked it can make them feel ill. I have to say Paris has the opposite effect on me and on most people. 

The Paris that I love is not the Paris of influencers, all pink blossom and supermodels prancing down the Champs-Elysees and through the glorious public gardens, though that it something you will often see. Real Paris will steal your heart with its secrets, surprising museums, hidden ateliers, old world style shops. The secret places that are the soul of the city like the places we’ve been talking about. And there are so many more – I really am going to write that book you know! 

Oli: I’m looking forward to reading it already! 

Thanks so much for that question, Laura. If you also have a question for us – feel free to send it to janine@thegoodlifefrance.com or via our podcast newsletter. And, if there’s a topic you want to know more about – let us know! 
 
 

Thank you, a huge merci beaucoup, to everyone for listening to our podcast from all around the world! And an enormous thank you for sharing the podcast with your friends and family, we’re truly grateful when you do that. 

You’ve been listening to Janine Marsh and me Olivier Jauffrit. 

Janine: And you can find me  and heaps of information about France – where to visit, culture, history, recipes – everything France - at thegoodlifefrance.com where you can subscribe to the podcast, my weekly newsletter about France and our totally brilliant, totally free magazine which you can read at magazine.thegoodlifefrance.com 

But for now, it’s au revoir from me and I wish you a happy new year 

Olivier: And goodbye from me.

Janine: Speak to you soon!