Table of Contents for this Episode
Category: Paris
[00:00:00]
Annie: This is Join Us in France, episode 624, six cent vingt quatre. Bonjour, I’m Annie Sargent, and Join Us in France is the podcast where we take a conversational journey through the beauty, culture, and flavors of France.
Today on the podcast: East Paris Walk
Annie: Today, I bring you a conversation with Yann Darmon, a French teacher who lived in the Vingtième arrondissement, that’s the 20th arrondissement in Paris.
He takes us from Père Lachaise through Ménilmontant and Belleville to the Buttes-Chaumont, a rooftop bar, street art, and a bal-musette, a bal-musette singalong, Paris’s second Chinatown, and the views that locals keep to themselves. We also [00:01:00] cover safety after dark and Terroo, his free locals meet travelers site.
Podcast supporters
Annie: Before we start, this show runs on listener support. If you want to work with me directly, I do itinerary consults, I’ve written eight tours of Paris on the VoiceMap app, and I can take you on day trips or even longer, car or van trips from Toulouse where I live. Everything is at joinusinfrance.com/boutique.
If you shop on Amazon anyway, starting at joinusinfrance.com/amazon costs you nothing, but it really helps the show. And you do get travel insurance before traveling to France, right? I hope you do. Start your travel insurance shopping at joinusinfrance.com/insurance if you’d like to help the show at no extra cost to you.
Magazine segment
Annie: For the magazine part of the podcast, after my chat with Yann today, I’ll discuss how [00:02:00] Louis Vuitton pays for a street makeover in Paris and the backstory of Europe’s busiest train station, La Gare du Nord.
Meet Yann Darmon
Annie: Bonjour Yann Darmon, and welcome to Join Us in France.
Yann: Bonjour Annie. Thank you very much for having me.
Annie: So we were connected by somebody who has done some podcasts, and a podcast episode with me, and is one of your students, and he said, "You know, you should really talk to this guy. He’s interesting. He grew up in Paris, and he knows a lot of stuff," and so here you are.
Yann: And here I am, indeed, yes. I had the same version from them. They’re like, "Oh, you should talk to Annie. What she does is really great, and I think you should connect," and, yeah, indeed, it worked.
From Antony to Teaching Online
Annie: So tell us a little bit about you and what you do and where you grew up, and all of that.
Yann: Okay. So I, Yann, grew [00:03:00] up in the suburbs of Paris, born and raised in a little city, I would call it a city, called Antony in the south of Paris, close to the Orly Airport. That’s the biggest landmark I would say, close to Antony. Yeah, it’s a suburbs in the south. And I quickly went to university in Paris. I went to the Sorbonne University, got a master’s degree, and so quickly my life went from Antony to Paris, which was, I think, the best thing. So I had a master’s and worked a little bit in the corporate industry in Paris, and then started giving French classes actually to people all around the world.
Annie: So you do that online, right?
Yann: Correct, correct. I do this online to adults all around the world, and I love it. It’s more of a passion than real work, because I think that there’s a lot to transmit and to show, whether it’s on the language, the culture and so much to do and to talk about.
Annie: Sure. Yes, [00:04:00] yes, yes.
Why Explore East Paris
Annie: So today we want to talk a little bit about some neighborhoods of Paris that locals go to because they are interesting, but a lot of visitors tend to skip them. For instance, Ménilmontant, Belleville, Les Buttes-Chaumont, Gambetta, around the Gambetta metro area. You developed a tour that you like to tell people about?
Yann: Yeah.
Gambetta to Père Lachaise Views
Yann: So, as I said, I grew up in Antony, but after I graduated, I moved to the 20th arrondissement, which is, as you just said, Gambetta, close to Ménilmontant, which is the east side of Paris, which I truly adore. I would say it’s an off the beaten path kind of neighborhood, even though, of course, you could always find a few lost tourists or people that are actually looking for these kind of things. People know these kind of neighborhoods. The famous thing they know is the Père Lachaise Cemetery, which is a famous cemetery in Paris, where a lot of famous French people, but also Jim [00:05:00] Morrison is buried. So that’s the beginning of the east side of Paris, and yeah, I grew up in Antony, but I lived for over four or five years in Gambetta.
And it’s true that there’s this itinerary even I myself love to just walk around and just keep going and going. And yeah,I would say you could start in Gambetta. You could start it actually in the Père Lachaise. There’s the subway station Gambetta on the Line Three. It brings you to the Père Lachaise, to one corner of the Père Lachaise, which you can visit, which gives you a beautiful view.
Annie: Kind of the top of Père Lachaise, yep.
Yann: Exactly, because the east side of Paris is alsoon a hill. So you’re on a hill of Paris, so you can easily see a really nice view. So you’re looking to the west because you’re in the east. So far away you could see the Eiffel Tower, but everything in between is also beautiful to see. So even from the Père Lachaise, you could see, at the top of the Père Lachaise, the beautiful view of Paris, and then you can quickly go to Gambetta [00:06:00] and link into Ménilmontant.
La Bellevilloise Rooftop
Yann: There’s a beautiful… So they just reopened, it’s called La Bellevilloise. I don’t know if anybody’s familiar with this. It’s an old co-op cultural center, which is now more of a venue, and they do great concerts, and they now have a rooftop bar.
Annie: Ooh.
Yann: And so it’s in Ménilmontant. So from the Gambetta, you walk, I would say maybe like 10, 12 minutes maximum.
Annie: And you’re heading north.
Yann: Yeah. So you’re heading north. Exactly. Then you can go to La Bellevilloise, if you want to look at their program list, they have concerts every day. Actually, maybe not every day, but almost. And so that’s a great place to have a drink. You could see the Paris skyline, I like to call it. Yeah, and there’s not many tourists. It’s one of these rooftops. I think Paris is now kind of getting into this rooftop culture. You have kind of a lot, but not a lot of them are off the beaten path, and this neighborhood doesn’t [00:07:00] have that many, I think.
Annie: So to me, when you say La Bellevilloise, I think of the Conserverie, you know?
Yann: And so that’s one of them. Bellevilloise.
Bellevilloise because It comes from Belleville. The neighborhood. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Annie: So it’s on Rue Boyer. Okay. I get it. I get it.
Yann: Exactly. So it’s a historical venue. It’s been open for a long time, and it used to be, I think, a workers’ co-op. I mean, the east side of Paris is more on the left wing. It’s more of a former worker neighborhood. And it actually used to not even belong to Paris if we go at the end of the 1800s. It got attached to Paris along the way, but we’re not going to go into the whole history.
Belleville Culture and Diversity
Yann: What we have to keep in mind, I think, is that Belleville, Ménilmontant are very diverse neighborhoods, so you have a lot of people from North Africa, a lot of people from Asia. We can come back to this after with Belleville, which is one of the two Chinatowns in Paris, but it’s very diverse. You’re going to have a lot of restaurants, foods [00:08:00] that are from all over the world, and it’s amazing. Whether it’s African, Kurds, or Asian. There’s so many.
So that’s something to keep in mind when you walk around these neighborhoods. Because I think it’s important, like Paris and France is built on a big multiculture. There’s a lot of different cultures in Paris, not everywhere, and the east of Paris is one of those.
Annie: Yeah. The places where most people visit in Paris, the central arrondissement, are quite vanilla.
And by vanilla, I mean whitey white.
Yann: Yeah. Yeah.
Annie: For the most part. Whereas when you go to the 19th, 20th, it gets more colorful, and that’s actually one of the assets of the area.
Titi Parisien and Piaf Roots
Annie: And like you said, I mean, Ménilmontant is where your typical Paris accent… There’s an accent for when they speak French that we can still hear on the streets in those areas that you don’t hear that much anymore. I was trying to explain it to my husband, and he was [00:09:00] like, "Well, who do we know?" And so I found stuff on YouTube where there are people who talk like that, but there’s not that much of it left.
Yann: No, it’s true.
Annie: Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
Yann: Le titi Parisien.
Annie: Yeah.
Yann: Exactly. Exactly.
Annie: Yeah, yeah.
Yann: Le titi Parisien. And it’s funny because actually Édith Piaf grew up in Belleville.
Annie: Right.
Yann: And I think she was born there, and there’s even, like, a little plaque.
Annie: A plaque, yes.
Yann: A plaque that, I think it’s in the Rue de Belleville.
Annie: She had an apartment in that area that they’re trying to turn into a museum, but it’s only open by appointment. So it’s not one that gets talked about a lot. As far as I know, that’s the only way to visit it. You make an appointment, and they can show it to you. But yeah, she was from that area.
Yann: Okay.
Annie: And she’s definitely, you know, your regular French girl who had a lot of talent, obviously, but also a very difficult life.
Yann: Yeah, definitely.
Annie: Yeah.
Yann: Definitely. And there’s a very famous, I mean, local famous restaurant, it’s more of a cafe bar, called Aux Folies de [00:10:00] Belleville, which is at the Metro Belleville. It used to be a venue, and before that it used to be a cinema, and Édith Piaf played there a lot, I know, along with Maurice Chevalier, who also grew up in Ménilmontant.
So nobody really knows about these neighborhoods, but there are people who did grow up, famous people.
Annie: Yeah.
Yann: So I think even Eddy Mitchell grew up in Place des Fêtes. No, but it’s true. There’s a lot of famous things.
Annie: Yeah, yeah. SoEddy Mitchell was a kind of a wannabe American rocker, but he was French.
Yann: Mm-hmm.
I don’t know if he’s too famous in the US. Is he?
Annie: No, I don’t think he is. No. But he took, like, the persona of this typical rocker. My brother and I love to sing his songs.
Yann: There you go.
Annie: You know, like Johnny Hallyday was another one like that.
Yann: Correct. Yeah.
Annie: And he’s super popular in France still.
Yann: Yeah. Yeah, he always will be.
Annie: Yeah, yeah. But, not known outside of France really.
Yann: It’s true. It’s true.
Annie: So you would start with Gambetta.
Yann: [00:11:00] Yeah.
Annie: Then you go to La Belle Îloise.
Yann: Bellevilloise.
Annie: Bellevilloise, sorry.
Yann: Yeah.
Annie: And then Ménilmontant probably.
Village Streets and Street Art
Yann: So La Bellevilloise is the top of Ménilmontant, and then when you walk towards Belleville, you cross these little streets. Ménilmontant I think was rated in the top 10 neighborhoods in the world by the Time Out magazine. True information from a few years ago, I think one or two years ago.
And it’s famous because in between Ménilmontant and Belleville, you take the small streets, and it really feels like a village. You have houses, which is pretty uncommon in Paris. When I say houses, I mean, like, actual two, three-story houses. And there’s a feel, it’s very calm. It’s very peaceful. It’s very local. You can find a lot of street art. Ménilmontant and Belleville are famous for that.
And you have, for example, Rue des Cascades, the streets of waterfalls in France, but a famous street, like it’s a big street art [00:12:00] street. There’s a lot of murals. It’s really beautiful. And it’s just super calm, and you can just walk around, and you feel like you’re not in Paris anymore. You feel more like you’re in a village, which is great, and brings you then to the Parc de Belleville.
Parc de Belleville Belvedere
Yann: And the Parc de Belleville, which is a big park at the top of Belleville, which this is the belvedere, like, a place where there’s just a viewpoint, I guess you could say.
Annie: Right, right. A belvedere is a viewpoint. Yeah, yeah.
Yann: It’s a viewpoint.
Annie: Yep.
Yann: And so you could see there’s a beautiful view of Paris.
Annie: Mm-hmm.
Yann: Of the Eiffel Tower, which you could see almost from top to bottom. Because it’s also important to know that it’s one of the highest points. Montmartre is the highest point. I think it’s, like, 130 meters up, and Ménilmontant is 128 meters. So it’s like, we’re on the top of Paris, so you can see a lot, which is really beautiful.
Annie: Yeah. it’s a really nice thing, and you have this alley, kind of straight [00:13:00] line guiding your eye towards the Eiffel Tower. It’s very nice.
Yann: Exactly.
Annie: Yeah.
Yann: Yeah. It’s very nice, and a lot of local people hang out there on weekends, on Sundays, like, during the summer.
Annie: kind of like, think Trocadéro, but for locals.
Yann: Yeah. It’s a Trocadéro with no tourists. It’s a young crowd. Young-ish.
Annie: It’s all right. I have white hair. They never kick me out.
Yann: Aha. There you go. But you’re still, you’re in the young section. Don’t worry. So yeah. And there’s a lot of music. In the summer they have a lot of techno parties and stuff like this, so it’s great.
Bal Musette at Le Vieux Belleville
Yann: There’s also one of my go-to places there’s a restaurant musette.
Annie: Oh.
Yann: I don’t know if you’ve ever talked about this in your previous episodes.
Annie: The musette music?
Yann: Yeah, the musette music, the restaurant musette.
Annie: Every time you listen to the podcast, the very first bit of music it’s called "Style Musette." That’s the name of the song, and it’s a musette on the accordion.
Yann: Amazing. [00:14:00] Amazing.
Annie: Yeah.
Yann: Then that’s it. And so basically… I mean, again, we’re not going to go in the whole history part, but I think it’s a great part of the French culture, the bal-musette, from I think the late 19th century, 20th century.
Annie: Yeah. You know, you can laugh about the accordion. My husband’s family, they’re all musicians, and they’re all classically trained and all that. And they kind of make fun of the sound of the accordion, but you can do so much with an accordion. You can play everything with an accordion. I wish I had learned the accordion when I was a kid. My brother learned the piano, and I could have gotten to the accordion, and I resisted, and I shouldn’t have resisted. Two things I should have learned Spanish, and I should have learned the accordion.
Yann: Well, it’s never too late. It’s never too late.
Annie: That’s true. I’m learning Spanish right now. Who knows? I could do the accordion too.
Yann: There you go. There you go. Yes. You’re right, it’s a beautiful instrument, and when it goes with French music, like French traditions, like Édith Piaf, for example, on the accordion, and like all these, old, [00:15:00] French classics from Yves Montand, Édith Piaf. And so this restaurant is a restaurant musette. It’s called Le Vieux Belleville.
And they don’t have this every day, you have to go on the website to see when they do. But basically you eat and they have sing-alongs, they give you the lyrics, and you have an accordion, and you have people dancing and it’s amazing. And I think it’s on Sundays and, yeah, you would love it. I think that you truly would.
Annie: I would love it.
Yann: And I love to bring people there. It’s a true French experience, you know, like with the guys with the thick mustache and the beret and likethere’s something very traditional but still very fun to it.
Annie: Yeah. Yeah, that’s wonderful.
Yann: Yeah, definitely.
Crêpes and Local Food Finds
Yann: So yeah, and we can then continue the walk. I want to say another great place to eat. There’s a great crêpe.
Annie: Yeah, go ahead. Go ahead.
Yann: There’s a place called Rond, which do very good crêpes, like Brittany-style crêpes.
Annie: And [00:16:00] I should say, you’re not on camera, but Yann is a Breton name and he’s wearing a Breton shirt today.
Yann: I am. I am, it’s true. I did not even do that on purpose.
Annie: He’s got his stripes on today.
Yann: I have my stripes on, it’s true.
Annie: Yeah.
Yann: I didn’t even do that on purpose. That’s funny.
Annie: Yeah.
Yann: But yeah, I truly love this place. They have great cider. They make, like the traditional crêpe, the savory crêpes, which is the buckwheat flour.
Annie: Yeah, yeah. The galette, the galette.
Yann: The galette, of course, the galette. And it’s a very reasonable restaurant. It’s not expensive and you can just have great cider and just a good atmosphere. In the summer you have a terrace and you’re very close to the Parc de Belleville. It’s on the same street.
Annie: Very nice. So I should say that, you know, people think that they have to go all the way to a specific crêperie, perhaps in Montparnasse area or whatever. You don’t have to. There’s crêperie all over Paris. Just, just have a sit down and enjoy a couple.
Yann: Exactly. Exactly. Yes, that’s true. I think that you can find every good French [00:17:00] food in every neighborhood in Paris, especially the east side of Paris, when, as I said, it’s so diverse and everything. There’s all kind of ranges you can have like the crêpe and there’s another place called Que du Bon, which is a very calm very French bistro in Belleville. There’s so much to see and so much to eat. I mean, I have an addiction to French foods, and not just French food, but just food. So I love to go and find the best underrated restaurants and places to eat.
Annie: Fantastic.
Yann: Yeah.
Annie: And so I assume from there you’re going to be heading north again to the Buttes Chaumont perhaps?
Yann: Yes, exactly.
Belleville Chinatown and Safety
Yann: Well, what I forgot to mention… What we could talk about is Belleville, which in Paris, it’s famous for being the second Chinatown. And it’s an interesting Chinatown. So there’s two Chinatowns in Paris mainly. One of it is around Place d’Italie in the 13th arrondissement, which is in [00:18:00] the part of Paris. And that historically was the first one.
The first Chinatown, and again, we’re not going to go into all the whole history, but it came from the ’70s, ’80s when there was a big wave of refugees from Indochina. After the Vietnam War there was a big migration of people from Cambodia, China, Vietnam to France after the end of the war.
And what had happened was before that happened, they were building in Paris these big towers called Olympiad, which are like skyscrapers kind of. Like, for Paris it’s high. And then there was an economic crisis in ’73, the petrol economic crisis.
Annie: Yeah.
Yann: So nobody wanted to stay in these places. So what they did is that all the people from Asia, East Asia, Southeast Asia, came to the 13th and moved to these big buildings. And little by little [00:19:00] it became Chinatown. So they opened restaurants, they opened shops. One of the biggest import exports in Europe is actually there. The Tang Frères. I don’t know if you’ve heard of that.
Annie: Of course I’ve heard of Tang Frères.
Yann: Okay. Yeah.
Annie: You have two importers of Asian food in France. It’s Tang Frères and Paris Store.
Yann: Paris Store. Exactement.
Annie: And you have to say the S.
Yann: Yes. Paris Store.
Annie: Yeah.
Yann: Exactement. So that’s where the big Tang Frères is in the 13th, but anyway. So that’s kind of the story behind the 13th arrondissement. And then you have the Belleville neighborhoods. So this came a little later in the ’80s, ’90s. What you have to remember is that Belleville is very popular in the sense of a diverse neighborhood. There was already a big African community, North African, Middle Eastern. There was a big Jewish community also.
And then in the ’80s, ’90s, [00:20:00] unlike the first wave, which was more like a refugee population, this was more of a economic opportunity seekers. So a lot of Chinese people decided to move to these neighborhoods, which were pretty cheap. Still are, compared to other places, of course. It was cheaper than other places of Paris, so they kind of blended in. Today, it’s a Chinatown, but not only a Chinatown. I mean, there’s African communities, there’s Middle Eastern, there’s a lot of different ones. Different communities.
So it’s a very interesting neighborhood. They have a market twice a week I think. I don’t remember what days they are, but it’s a very local market on the street. It’s good.
Annie: Yeah, so I have to ask, is it safe at night?
Yann: So it’s interesting because it’s one of the only neighborhoods inside Paris (one of them, because there’s one or two more) that still has prostitution openly, so on the streets. And I would say that it is a safe place to walk during the day. [00:21:00] And during the night, as Paris is gentrifying… Another topic, but the people moving there have more and more money and so there’s kind of a mix of different people. And historically it’s not the safest place.
Today, it’s much safer. My sister used to live there. And at night you just have to be a little careful. As a woman, a little more. But there’s a lot of people at night, all hours of the night, because there’s a lot of bars, a lot of clubs. So it’s mixed, I would say.
Annie: Are there younger women walking by themselves with no escort?
Yann: Yes.
Annie: Okay. Okay.
Yann: Yes. You can, yes. You just have to be a little careful.
Annie: Well, of course, if you see a fight, don’t go to it, okay?
Yann: Exactly.
Annie: Walk away.
Yann: Exactly. Exactly.
Annie: Yeah.
Yann: Yes. The basic reflex. Yes, of course, you have to keep that in mind.
Annie: If you see a zombie, it could be someone who’s on drugs. Walk away.
Yann: Exactly.
Annie: You know?
Yann: Exactly. Exactly. But [00:22:00] just like any big city in the world, you know.
Annie: It’s a big city.
Yann: Exactly. Paris is not different from all these cities.
Annie: And you know there’s a few other areas, like you mentioned, around the Moulin Rouge. You know, you have all the sex shops, you have all this stuff, but it’s usually safe.
Yann: Exactly.
Annie: Like, you know, I wouldn’t take my kids window shopping there because you might have some explaining to do. But, you know, if you walk by, it’s fine.
Yann: Exactly. I think that it’s definitely okay to walk there. During the day it’s of course no problem. At night you just have to be a little more cautious and careful, but definitely worth walking too.
Annie: Interesting.
Neighborhood Vibes Guide
Annie: Those are the sorts of places that are interesting, especially to younger people, because they want more lively, more happening, more fun bars with funky people. You know, you’ll find all of that there.
Yann: Exactly.
Annie: If you want a sedate, you know, calm, not a hair out of place then you go to the 5th or the 6th.
Yann: Exactly. Exactly.
Annie: You know, got to know your [00:23:00] neighborhoods.
Yann: To each neighborhood it’s a vibe and atmosphere, so it’s that’s why, and that’s the fun part to it, I think.
Annie: Yeah.
Melting Pot Streets
Yann: But it’s still a very beautiful and it’s a very historical and it’s important to know when we’re going to this kind of neighborhoods why it’s like this, how it got like this, the history behind it. So yeah, and today it’s still a mix. Like you can find African shops, Armenian shops, Jewish kosher shops, Vietnamese, Chinese. It’s really a melting pot of all the different things.
Annie: You should create a voice map tour of that area, and I would totally promote it on the podcast.
Yann: I could. I could.
Annie: You sound like you know the area well.
Yann: It’s a great idea.
Annie: You know, you can sell those things for 20 bucks a pop and, yeah, it’s pocket change, but it’s interesting, you know?
Yann: It would work. It would work.
Annie: Yeah.
Yann: Butyeah, of course, it would be a lot to do and to say.
Paris Je T’aime Itineraries
Yann: Actually, what I like to recommend, which is not for me, is you know the Mairie de Paris has a website called Paris Je T’aime, and gives [00:24:00] itineraries to every neighborhood in Paris, even the off the beaten path ones.
I couldn’t send it to you, but there’s one for Menilmontant, Belleville, Buttes-Chaumont, so it gives you a real strict itinerary, like make a left on this street, then go appreciate the beautiful murals.
Annie: Oh, that’s cool. I’ve looked at Paris Je T’aime, but I’ve never found their kind of walking tours. That would be interesting.
Yann: So it’s pretty nice.
Annie: Yeah. Send me a link. I’ll put it on the show notes.
Yann: Yeah, yeah, I’ll definitely send you a link, but you could just type on Google: name of the neighborhood, Paris Je T’aime, and then you will find it.
Annie: Cool.
Yann: But I’ll definitely send it to you.
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Buttes Chaumont Escape
Yann: And so you keep walking, and you arrive in the Buttes-Chaumont, which is my personal favorite park in Paris. It’s a very calm, nice. It’s pretty big.
It’s man-made. It was made, I think, in the 19th century, if I’m not mistaken. It wasn’t a park in the beginning. They created a [00:25:00] park. You have a nice lake, you have a beautiful viewpoint. Same thing, you’re on the hills of Paris, so it’s just a very nice place to have a picnic, have a drink, like do the French apéro.
Annie: Right, and they created some follies, which are, you know, like a grotto or a thing that you can walk up. There’s a Rosa Bonheur cafe in the Buttes-Chaumont.
Yann: Correct.
Annie: I have a thing for Rosa Bonheur, so I would like to check it out just because it’s called Rosa Bonheur.
Yann: There you go. Rosa Bonheur, you have a few in Paris. They have, I think, three in Paris. One is on the Quai de Seine, close to the Invalides, on a boat, and this one is another one. But it’s beautiful. Yeah, yeah.
Annie: Cool. Yeah. So up there, you know, you just explore. They have little kids’ shows. They have… I don’t know what all is there, but of course, it depends on the day. If you go on a Monday morning in the winter, it’s not going to be as interesting as if you go on a Saturday afternoon on a warm day, obviously. You know? It’s [00:26:00] a park. It’s a park, so.
Yann: A lot of people go running in the mornings, even in the winter, so you might find a few runners in the morning. But for me, the best part is during the summer, where you have a lot of local people just enjoying and listening to music, talking, laughing, and playing and whatever.
Annie: Yeah.
Yann: So it’s families and there’s a lot of different kinds of types of people.
Annie: Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
Yann: And it’s really beautiful.
Canal Walk and Culture
Yann: And when you’re there, you’re not very far from the Canal Saint-Martin, which is also one that people tend to like. I mean, you’re not very far. It would be a hoof, but you could take a bus. Yeah, you could walk. It’s a 20-minute walk. Depends on how much you’re a walker.
Annie: Oh, that’s not too bad. Yeah.
Yann: It’s definitely doable by walk.
Annie: Yeah. Are there, like, museums or things to do that way? Like, I don’t think it’s a place where you have a lot of big cultural venues. I mean, you might have a lot of performance spaces, like a lot of small theaters. [00:27:00] When I go to Paris with my sister, they like to go to shows, so like a one-man show or one-woman show. Or small productions, theater productions. They’re often in that area.
Yann: Yes, definitely.
Annie: Kind of small theaters. But of course, all of those things, I would think would be mostly in French. I don’t know if they’d have stuff in English. Maybe some would do. Yeah?
Yann: You do. So there’s a lot, as you just said, it’s true. There’s a lot of venues. There’s a lot of cultural centers. I know a place which is more near Menilmontant. It’s called Théâtre de l’Ermitage, I think. They have, like, Brazilian concerts, like samba every Sunday. They have a theater. They have a lot of different performances. So I would say you’re right. It’s not as much museums, but more like cultural centers theaters and plays.
Annie: Yeah.
Yann: Yeah. There’s places more on the cultural side without being a museum. And at the top of my head,I [00:28:00] can’t think of any famous museums.
Annie: I’ll have to look. I’ll have to look.
Yann: Yeah. Yeah.
Annie: There might be some minor ones. Oh, what is it called? The one where they project art on the wall. That’s near Père Lachaise, and I can’t remember the name of it right now. Anyway, I’ll, I’ll look for stuff like that put it on the website. On the episode page, I’ll put whatever I find. It’s not famous for museums and things like that. It’s more famous for performances and great restaurants.
Yann: Just walking around.
Annie: Great bars, just walking around. Some shopping as well.
Yann: A lot of thrift shops.
A lot of little local shops, a lot of that you can find the old French Parisians just enjoying and sitting in front of their shop and just waiting and smoking a cigarette or whatever.
Annie: Whatever, yeah.
Yann: You can find that.
Annie: Yeah.
Yann: Yeah, for sure.
Student Life in Paris
Annie: Let me ask you this. What was it like being a student in Paris? I mean, I was a student in France, but not in Paris, so I’d be curious to know, what was your student experience like? Because [00:29:00] there’s people listening who might consider coming to Paris to study this or that.
Yann: Yeah. So I think it depends on what kind of school you go to, because you have different kinds of schools in France. You have the business schools, you have the engineering schools, both of those are usually private. And then you have the universities, like La Sorbonne or all the different universities that are more public. So depending on the school you go to, you will have a different student life.
Usually private schools, they’re going to have associations or organizations, like student organizations to, like, promote and parties and stuff like this. It really depends, but for me, I mean, my school had a lot of parties, so you can definitely go out as much as you want. You have a lot of student organizations. The BDE, what we call in France the Bureau des Étudiants, which you have in every school, which is a bunch of students that run [00:30:00] a school organization, and that is funded by the school a little bit. For me, I wasn’t in the big, big party scene. I was living in Antony at the time, so there was a big commute.
Annie: Yeah, it’s about half an hour. It’s like RER B, isn’t it?
Yann: Yeah, it’s more like an hour. For me it was more like an hour, the RER in France is not the most reliable trains in Paris.
Annie: But now you have line 14, right?
Yann: Yeah. No, it doesn’t go to Antony. It doesn’t go all the way. Yeah, unfortunately. But they’re trying. There’s a big project in Paris that’s trying to create subways even in the suburbs. So it’s taking time, but it’s coming little by little.
But yeah, so for me, a part of it was a lot of commute and just going, enjoying in the cafes after the classes and studying in cafes around the Fifth Arrondissement where my school was. But yeah, I would say…
Annie: Yeah, it was okay. I mean, it’s still school. You’ve got to study.
Yann: It’s still school. You have to study, indeed. Yes, exactly. And in university they don’t push you to study. It’s more like if you don’t want to study, nobody’s going to [00:31:00] tell you to do it. You’re just going to have to, you know, pass the exam.
Annie: Honestly, in France, if you don’t want to find out where the classroom is and when you’re supposed to be there, nobody’s going to, like, chase after you. You know?
Yann: Nobody’s going to tell you.
Annie: Yeah. You’ve got to go look for the information. You have to be a self-starter because they have too many students, and they’d rather have the clueless ones never figure it out.
Yann: Exactly. Exactly. No, but it’s true, and that’s how they do the filter of like, the different kind of students because it’s true. Especially universities, and when I say university, I mean like, the faculté, the fac, which is more public.
Soyeah, they’re not going to push you to go to class. They’re not going to push you to do your homework.
Annie: Yeah.
Yann: But at the end of the semester, if you fail, you fail.
Annie: Yeah.
Yann: That’s how it is.
Annie: I remember my daughter, I used to tell her, "Okay, you’ve got to ask, you’ve got to go find out where the rooms are and when the exams are," you know? And stuff.
Yann: Yeah.
Annie: You’ve got to find out, otherwise you’re left behind. Anyway.
Yann: It’s true.
Annie: It’s good for [00:32:00] self-starters I guess.
Yann: Exactly. Exactly. But there’s a big dropout rate I know in France in university between year one and year two. Some, like economic, management, these kind of industries, they have, like, 80% sometimes of the students that just fail because, I mean, these students get out of high school and they expect people to help them and push them and whatever. And, nobody’s there, and they drop out a lot.
Annie: Yep, yeah, yeah.
Building Terroo Community
Annie: Okay, let’s talk a little bit about your classes, and you launched a website that looks very interesting. So let’s talk about your website first, because it’s pretty new.
Yann: Sure. Yeah, it is. It is indeed. So this is a side project. It’s this fun project I’m working on with a few other people. For me, traveling goes through connecting with local people. So for example, if you’re coming to Paris, I mean, people would go to the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, the Champs-Élysées, Belleville now, of course.
Annie: Of course.
Yann: But tend to [00:33:00] forget to actually meet Parisians and discover Paris like a real Parisian. I created this kind of community platform to connect locals and travelers. And the goal is completely for free, just meet local people who want to show you their life, whether it’s their favorite restaurant, their favorite neighborhoods, just working out together, going for a run, exchanging the languages if you want to learn. It’s pure authentic encounters. To meet and discover a city differently. So this is kind of what I’m trying to create and I’m creating.
Annie: No money is exchanged, right?
Yann: Correct.
Annie: You just meet people who are willing to meet visitors.
Yann: Exactly. Exactly. For me, I hope and I want to believe that these kind of encounters still exist, you know? Because now we tend to see, with Airbnb Experience or with all these really expensive platforms, you can visit Paris with a Parisian for 200 euros for one day, [00:34:00] and for me that’s… It’s different.
My goal is really to create something completely free. People that are not guides, they’re just locals. It’s not a guide, it’s just a person like you and me who wants to show their neighborhood. I would show them Belleville, I would show the people Menilmontant, and just talking and exchanging stories and just creating a connection, like an authentic connection. I mean, maybe you can become friends for life, maybe you’ll only see the person one time. It doesn’t really matter.
I think that we tend to forget true human connection. We’re always on our phones and Instagram and swiping and whatnot, and I think that putting human in the center of, for this case, traveling or just whatever it is, is super important. So that’s what I’m trying to do, and it’s completely free. That’s why I say it’s a side project.
Annie: And it’s called Terroo.
Terroo Meaning Explained
Yann: So it comes from the word terroir in French, and I wanted to call it terroir first, but some [00:35:00] people told me that it sounds too much like terror in English.
Annie: Oh.
Yann: When you read it, it doesn’t really work in the international community.
Annie: And also it has a connotation of wine.
Yann: Yeah, but that’s what I liked about it. I don’t know if you ever explained this on another episode, but the word terroir, comes from the character that the soil gives in this case it comes from the wine, to the grape.
But I think that it works also for humans, right? The soil which we grew up makes us who we are. It’s the character that it gives. I like to transpose, to put this from the wine to humans, and that we all have a terroir. We all have this character that makes us who we are because we grew up in wherever we grew up.
And that’s why I called it Terroo, because it comes from the earth. Terre in French is the earth. I wanted to keep a link to that. So yeah, it’s a project which I’m working on and trying to develop to anybody who wants to either be a local in their own city or a traveler that wants to travel to a different city.
Annie: Right. So it [00:36:00] could be anywhere in the world. If you live somewhere that you would like people to discover, you could perhaps, you know, offer your services.
Yann: Exactly.
Annie: And it’s funny because in France we do have people like this. I mean, I like to go visit a lot of villages and places like that, and just about every village I go to, you will find a local, usually it’s an older guy, who wants to just stand there and start chatting and then start telling you about the place.
Yann: Exactly.
Annie: And they’re not expecting anything. They just want to have a chat.
Yann: Exactly.
Annie: Right. And I’ve done this with many people. We didn’t even exchange names or anything. I mean, it happened to me in Poitiers recently, and the guy even walked me quite a distance because he wanted me to make sure that I saw this one store, which was closed when we got there.
But he was just a friendly guy, you know? And so I think there’s a lot of value to that, as someone who chats easily with people, especially when I’m out [00:37:00] there exploring an area. I speak French, so I can just chat with people and see what they tell me. But I think you could perhaps organize a thing like that through a website like Terroo. I like it.
Experiences and Language Swaps
Annie: And you have a few things in Paris already.
Yann: We do. Yeah. There’s a few experiences in Paris, whether it’s going for a picnic on the Seine, whether it’s discovering an art gallery with a guide. And from the people I’ve been meeting in Paris that are interested in this idea, this is something that, as you said, people want to share stories. People want to share their lives, and I think we all benefit from, just like sharing and listening and telling each other stories, and it’s a fact. Like, people like talking to each other usually.
Annie: Yeah.
Yann: Not all the time, not everybody, but, it’s something that’s fun, and showing someone where you grew up or showing someone a part of your life, someone that’s from a different culture, a different country, is, I think, a strength and an asset that needs to be shared and talked about.
Annie: I see [00:38:00] that you have, like, a language exchange in Paris, so you just go to a cafe together and you do part of the conversation in English and another part in French perhaps or something?
Yann: Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. You would go to a cafe and order, like, a cafe noisette and just, exchange languages, whether it’s French, English, Spanish or whatever.
Annie: Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
Yann: If you want to learn Spanish, you can, probably find someone and exchange languages. So yeah, this is the goal, really, to connect. There’s a language exchange event that is soon going to be on there. So there’s a lot of different categories, even going out at night for a drink, going to have a cafe, walking a neighborhood, working out. There’s a lot of different things. So yeah.
Annie: There’s one that does interview with travelers. He’s a podcaster.
Yann: Yep, exactly, in Kuala Lumpur, in Malaysia, yeah.
Annie: Yeah. One that’s "morning coastal dog walk". I mean, nice.
Yann: Exactly.
Annie: In Sydney, Australia. I like it.
Yann: Exactly. Exactly. The goal is it’s not just to [00:39:00] develop Paris. I mean, I’m in Paris now, so I want to really try to find the real locals for Paris, but anybody who wants to create an experience can.
Annie: Yeah, there’s one in Père Lachaise. There’s picnic on the river. " Come watch my paint dry".
Yann: Exactly. That’s a French artist that has a little art gallery in the south of Paris, in Porte de Châtillon. On the description, he says, "You’ll probably get bored because it’s just my art, but come and I’ll show you around." It’s just sharing moments and no real point of, like, going to this big landmark or whatever. It’s just pure connection.
Annie: Nice. Nice. Wonderful. Wonderful.
Lessons Contact and Farewell
Annie: And if people want to hire you as a language teacher, do they email you? Do you have a website?
Yann: Yeah. They can email me, and I have an online calendar. I don’t have a direct website, but a lot of it is word to mouth now.
Yeah, I’m always open to taking new students, which for me, I think it’s not really teaching the [00:40:00] language. It’s a deep dive into French culture because language is just a, one part of the culture.
Annie: Yeah.
Yann: It’s a very important one.
Annie: And how do people reach you?
Yann: Through email or through WhatsApp.
Annie: What’s your email address?
Yann: So it’s yanndarmon10@gmail.com.
Annie: Excellent.
Yann: So yeah. Yeah, there you go.
Annie: Thank you.
Yann: Yeah.
Annie: I love this conversation because this is not a part of Paris I… I mean, I’m familiar with it. I have been to a lot of these places, but I haven’t spent a lot of time there. This is the sort of Paris that you need to spend a little bit of time to get to know it.
Yann: Exactly.
Annie: Because there’s beauty all over Paris.
Yann: Truly. Truly. And you should come to Paris so that I can show it to you.
Annie: All right.
Yann: Definitely.
Annie: Yann, thank you so much for spending this hour with me. It’s been a delight to get to know you a little bit better. And yeah, if you would like some French classes, the link will be in the website as [00:41:00] well. And I hope people join your Terroo experiences as well because that’s a really good idea. It’s been monetized a lot by Airbnb Experiences, which is kind of too bad.
Yann: It is. It is. And even Couchsurfing. I don’t know if you know Couchsurfing, which is a platform that used to be free community, now has become paid, and my goal was to recreate these values that Couchsurfing used to have into this because you’re right. Now everything is money.
Annie: And there was something called Tours by Locals or something like that, or By Locals.
Yann: I’m not familiar with these.
Annie: Yeah. Sometimes people have mentioned that, that you can just go to By Locals.
Yann: Yeah, there’s free walking tours with GuruWalk, but they always ask for donations, which is fine, but they’re more guides. You have Greeters also, I think, the Greeters.
Annie: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, the Greeters. Yes. Yes.
Yann: Yeah. Yeah. But yeah, they’re getting less and less of these platforms, unfortunately.
Annie: All right. Thank you very much, Yann, and bonne [00:42:00] continuation and good luck with all your endeavors. That sounds wonderful.
Yann: Thank you very much, Annie. Merci beaucoup. Merci. It’s been a pleasure, and thank you so much for having me on the show.
Annie: À bientôt.
Yann: À bientôt.
Annie: Au revoir.
(Mid-roll ad spot)
Annie: Again, I want to thank my patrons for giving back and supporting the show. Patrons get several exclusive rewards for doing that. You can see them at patreon.com/joinus.
And a special shout-out this week to my new Join Us in France champions, Kevin Blank, Krista Critter, Susan Ferry, John Harrison, Wineka G, and Lisa DeFalco.
Annie: Would you join them, too? You can do it for as little as $3 a month, and that will get you ad-free versions of the [00:43:00] podcast. But if you can afford it, of course, I would love to have you pledge more so you can have access to more of the rewards.
I just did a Zoom in French with my patrons, and I was just blown away by how many people showed up. You clearly want to learn French, and you are pretty good at it. Most of you were pretty good at it. So congratulations. We’ll keep that going.
And to support Elyse, go to patreon.com/elysart.
Louis Vuitton Street Redesign Debate
Annie: If you walk up the Champs-Élysées toward the Arc de Triomphe, you’ll pass a big construction site at numbers 103 to 111. That’s the future Louis Vuitton flagship store due to open in 2027.
Louis Vuitton is part of LVMH, the biggest luxury group in the world, and this week, the Paris City Council, le Conseil de Paris, voted to let Louis Vuitton pay to redo two side streets next to the store, Rue Bassano and Rue Galilée [00:44:00] in the Eighth Arrondissement.
The cost is two million euros. The plan is wider sidewalks, bike racks, and planters to make the streets calmer and friendlier for pedestrians. So a rich company pays for nicer sidewalks. What’s the problem? The problem for many councilors is that the city isn’t just taking the money, it’s also handing Louis Vuitton the management of the works.
Critics came from every side, including the Greens, who are part of the mayor’s own majority. The mayor of the Eighth Arrondissement from the right wing, Les Républicains, said the money was welcome, but the city was stepping back from its own public space. One Green councilor worried that LVMH would design the streets around its own customers.
A councilor from the hard left, La France Insoumise, or LFI as we call them in French, LFI, [00:45:00] called it the shameless privatization of public space. The mayor of Paris, Emmanuel Grégoire, a socialist, called the debate ubuesque, absurd. He said the city sets the rules for the work and gets the final say.
His argument goes like this, "Money is tight. Paris helps make these brands famous so when they can pay, I’ll take their money." That frees up city funds for schools and streets in poorer neighborhoods. And LVMH declined to comment to journalists who asked them about this. So is it smart use of private money or the start of streets designed for luxury shoppers?
I can see both sides. What do you think?
Gare Du Nord Origins
Annie: About the Gare du Nord, the backstory of Europe’s busiest train station. If you’ve come to Paris on the Eurostar, you’ve been through the Gare du Nord. Around 700,000 people a day pass through it, more than any [00:46:00] other station in Europe. Most people rush through without looking up.
Annie: France 3, Paris, Île-de-France just aired a documentary on the station, part of a series called Paris Capitale Ferroviaire, and it’s full of things I didn’t know.
It starts in 1846. James Rothschild, the banker, runs the company des Chemins de Fer du Nord. He wants to link Paris to the industrial north, where the coal mines and steelworks are.
At first, the line carries more goods than people, mostly coal to heat and light Paris. The railway historian Clive Lamming says the company was the only one that never asked the state for any money. And it made a profit. " Railways done right pay for themselves," in his words.
The first station was soon too small, so Rothschild hired a well-known architect, Jacques Ignace Hittorff, to build [00:47:00] something that would impress people.
That’s the building you see today, which opened in 1864. Lamming calls it the thinnest station in the world. There’s almost nothing between the street and the platform. It’s all facade. Look up at the facade next time. There are 23 statues of women, each standing for a city the network served, and 13 different sculptors made them.
The company also helped invent the day trip. Rothschild loved horse racing, so he ran trains to the Chantilly Racecourse. Later, Parisians could take the train to the forest, the chateau, and the seaside. The Touquet Paris Plage grew because of this line. In January 1959, the line to Lille was electrified, and the 258-kilometer trip dropped to one hour 58 minutes.
Yay for the electricity. These [00:48:00] days it takes about one hour on the TGV. So it’s all gone in the right direction.
My favorite story is about the architect, Jean-Marie Duthilleul, who designed the newer underground sections and wanted daylight to reach the lower levels. A woman once asked him how he’d managed to raise the Metro.
He told her, "Mais non, Madame, nous avons descendu le soleil." No, madam, we brought the sun down. Of course you did.
Sources Newsletter And Wrap Up
Annie: I got all of this from an article on the France 3 Paris Île-de-France website by Tanguy Kermarrec, published on November 11th, 2026, which is today as I record this.
One more thing before I let you go. If you like the podcast, the newsletter is worth your inbox. It’s short, it comes out around each episode, and it’s the place where I actually talk about what’s going on behind the scenes, not just the show notes. You can sign up at [00:49:00] joinusinfrance.com/newsletter.
And if you’re preparing for Christmas and doing the…What is it called? The Friday after Thanksgiving, I forget! We don’t do this here. Anyway, if you do that, do it from joinusinfrance.com/amazon. It takes you to a search page. Just search for your products the same way you normally would. Doesn’t cost you anything, but you know, many of you have been doing this, and it helps the show tremendously.
My thanks to podcast editors Anne and Christian Cotovan.
Next week on the podcast
Annie: Next week on the podcast, an episode about Francois Premier and the Renaissance with Elyse.
So much to say about this French king. This was a fascinating historical podcast. Thank you so much for listening, and I hope you join me next time so we can look around France together. Au revoir.
Copyright
Annie Sargent: The join us in France Travel Podcast is written, hosted, and produced by Annie Sargent and copyright 2026 by Addicted to France. It is released under a [00:50:00] Creative Commons, attribution, non-commercial, no derivatives license.[00:51:00]
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Episode PageCategory: Paris