Paris: ethnic stroll by night

[Deleted]

I was wondering this evening what was still open in my neighborhood when most of the other shops had closed. Normally when I go out in the evening, I just hop into the metro station at the foot of my building or take a bike down a residential street, so I don't even know when things close.

Anyway, here is what was happening between 9 and 10 pm.

First of all, the building right next door to mine. I have never set foot in the place, but it is beginning to attract me after about three years.



After another half block or so, there is this place.







This place was getting some stuff delivered.



And this place was right next door to the preceding one.



As soon as I passed under the elevated metro line, I was officially in the Indian neighborhood. This Indian supermarket used to be a bank.





There were dozens of busy restaurants of course.











Some of the food stores had a lot of specials. You will note that the French language is not much used in this part of town.







There were still some tailors hard at work, perhaps making 24-hour suits.



Most of the stores selling general goods were closed, but there were a few that were still open.





Anyway, then I just hopped on a bike and went home, but my camera is still warm from its outing. I will do a daytime visit soon, because there is plenty of interesting stuff to see, and this is only a tiny fraction.

However, some people may wonder if I actually do live in Paris.

[Deleted]

How fortunate to have all that nearby. I love ethnic markets,could browse for a real long time. I drove my friend crazy when in Istanbul at the Spice Bazaar,all those exotic spices and cooking utensils,teas. We have only a handful of ethnic food shops here. I don't think N.Y.C. has all that many.How are the prices?

[bixaorellana]

Dang! How do you learn to shop in those places -- by asking questions of the shopkeepers and any housewives in the store? I could spend hours in those places.

Why did that one store have all the signs in English?

Great pictures, as always -- thanks!

[hwinpp]

Good stuff there, K2. I miss those kinds of shops.

[lagatta]

I think the shop with everything in English serves mostly people from South Asia (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka etc) where English is the second - and common - language due to British colonisation. That South Asian presence there is new; last time I was in the area there were a couple of small restaurants and shops from that part of the world but no big markets.

In Québec, of course, it would be illegal to post only in English (they can also post in English or any other language, but posting must be in French). That was the only shop that looked "non-French" to me; the first couple look very Parisian.

Worth exploring, and a lot of them have cheap stuff.

[Deleted]

It is illegal in France also to not have the signs in French, but the law has rarely been applied in recent years.

Daytime post for this neighborhood coming up soon...

[Jazz]

Great photos! I love any area that is alive and bustling into the night. My neighborhood is richly ethnic, with many, many cafes and restaurants, but few of the small markets are open into the night. When I was last in Paris, I explored and loved the area around Tati, Blvd. Rochechouart, the Goutte d'Or, the tiny streets with all the fabric shops (oh my god!) and the 18th city hall environs but did not quite get to your neighborhood.

[Deleted]

There was an Indian festival/procession on Sunday going from this neighborhood to Les Halles, where everybody was invited to a "giant vegetarian buffet." I missed it because I only saw the posters when I was going home after returning the rental car, but I did see that the saris that the women were wearing were the "gala celebration" sparkly ones. The posters had the logo of the Indian tourist office, which makes me think this is going to be a competitor for the Ganesha procession, which is mostly run by Sri Lankans.

It's the perfect time of year for such a thing, and the fact that the procession went to the center of the city indicates that they want to attract interest from outside their community.

[bjd]

There are 2 Sabbah stores just close to our Paris apartment. It's where I stock up on spices and nuts and halvah.