hidden europe 3

Parisian impressions

by Nicky Gardner

Summary

capture the flavour of a Paris far removed from the grand boulevards

Pour a cup of coffee or a glass of wine, then sit back and savour the flavours of one Paris morning...

The woman in black walks purposefully across the Père-Lachaise cemetery, lays a red rose on the grave of Chopin, says a few words aloud in Polish, then turns silently away.

Monsieur Onik deftly mixes cumin and hot peppers to spice the lamb that later today will fill the pita pouches at Sandwichs Grecs on Rue Linné.

A stooped gardener carefully checks the progress of the buds in the tiny urban vineyard at the top of the steep manicured slopes of the Parc de Belleville.

At the Stade de France in St-Denis, a groundsman checks the turf on which Zizou and his multiethnic team worked their magic to win the World Cup for France in 1998.

An old Arabic woman with no teeth gets the last seat on the overcrowded bus on route 26 that climbs up Avenue Simon Bolivar towards the heights of Belleville.

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