Our corner of Paris

When we go to Paris we always stay at Hotel Laumiere in the 19th arr.

We like the area because it is a nice, safe, residential part of Paris with a wide variety of shops and restaurants, few tourists, and some interesting and attractive parks. It also has the advantage of being only 50 metres fom a metro station and 3 stops from Gare du Nord. An additional advantage is that the hotel is friendly, clean and inexpensive.

I had not realised until I arrived in Paris last weekend, that the trees along the Avenue Laumiere were not just ordinary lime or plane trees (having not paid any attention to them at all), but Paulownia trees, which blossom a delicate lilac colour.

When we stay at Laumiere we have breakfast at a cafe in a little square opposite the hotel, which means we start the day feeling very Parisian and oh so cosmopolitan. There is a Wallace fountain in the square, and unless it is too cool we sit under the trees and have a leisurely pain au chocolat or two and a cafe au lait.

The view from our hotel room

Before breakfast - but only if we are feeling energetic - we have a gentle wander around the Parc des Buttes Chaumont

There are also some interesting buildings in the area - the science park (built on the site and using some of the structures of the old abbatoir), the Canal St Martin and its locks, and the Mairie of the 19th arr - typical of its kind and very French.


Simon