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Place Mouffetard- Paris 5th
History
Rue Mouffetard is a remnant of an old Roman road. Some buildings
date from the 12th century, and many have distinct histories; in
a sense, this street represents the history of Paris. The market
fills its lower half every morning, and people come to do their
daily shopping. Its vitality is reminiscent of a scene from the
Middle Ages. After the market closes, restaurants open up, offering
a wide variety of ethnic foods and more stereotypically French food
at cafes and creperies. Every day except
Monday, the rue Mouffetard hosts perhaps the most famous street
market in all of Paris and historians have traced the origins of
this market to 1350 and possibly earlier. Unlike most street markets
in Paris with temporary stalls and goods brought in, the area's
permanent shops place their goods on the pedestrian street and thus
have a great stake in preserving the character of the area.
What to see
Like most shops in Paris, those on the
rue Mouffetard typically close at noon Sunday and stay closed until
10 am on Tuesday. The street market is at its busiest on Sunday
mornings between 10 and noon and historians tell us that it resembles
the market of medieval times although today's focus is mostly on
food. Fresh fruit and vegetables bursting with flavor abound. Fromageries
and crémeries display hundreds of different kinds of cheese,
all purer than any of the pasteurized kinds found in supermarkets.
One could spend a lifetime trying all the foods displayed on a busy
market day on the rue Mouffetard. You can't find fresher vegetables,
meats, cheeses, ears, snouts, seafood or other delicacies anywhere!
Almost all of the buildings along the rue Mouffetard
date from the seventeenth century and the city of Paris has long
gone to great pains to preserve this section of town. I have never
seen a place in any other city where one can enjoy some truly great
architecture and shopping at once! If you want to impress chocolate
lovers back home, stop by Jeff de Bruges at no 112 for beautifully
wrapped gifts. If you want distinctively Parisian non-chocolate
gifts, check out Occitane (no 130), just across from a wonderful
cheese shop at no. 131. The bas relief above the door at no 122,
A la Bonne Source (At the Good Spring) dates from a 1592 wine shop.
There is no shortage of wine shops today and several have serious
wine tasting and a selection that will amaze Americans. For a truly
special gift, try the shoe shop at no. 64. It dates from 1890 and
still sells wooden shoes worn by farmers and other peasant footware
that will probably disappear before too much longer. In 1938 a hidden
treasure of three thousand gold pieces was found inside the walls
of a building at no. 53 (now a Comfort Inn) by construction workers,
eventually traced to a nobleman who had disappeared in 1757 and
finally divided among the construction workers and the nobleman's
living descendents in 1952. Near the top of the hill of rue Mouffetard,
take a quick jog to the left along rue du Pot de Fer (or "Iron
Pot Street" as your grandmother back in Peoria might say) and
check out the amazing variety of restaurants with tables spread
out into the walking street including the first Taiwanese teahouse
in Europe, La Maison de Trois Thés at no. 5 where any true
tea connoisseur visiting Paris will eventually rest his feet. The
rue Mouffetard ends in Place de la Contrescarpe, now a great hangout
for people watching with as long and bloody a history as the other
end of the rue Mouffetard. Drunks or beggars that might inhabit
the Place late at night are harmless (in France mentally ill and
socially disruptive people are provided with professional care and
not left on the streets). The crowd here is younger, hipper, and
poorer than that at the lower end, and restaurants are cheaper.
Turning away from the rue Mouffetard and continuing to the left
and uphill one will reach the Pantheon in a few minutes and the
Jardin Luxembourg a few minutes later. It's a lovely walk on a late
summer evening and if you're a jogger you will fall in love with
the urban path toward as well as the jogging paths inside the idyllic
Jardin Luxembourg. A favorite Hemingway story has to do with him
catching and roasting the pigeons from the park, but I've never
seen any independent confirmation of this.
In La Mouff, you are truly in the historic center of perhaps the
most fascinating city on earth and you will find stimulating sights
and sounds around every corner without the stress or fear associated
with large American cities. Paris was built for pedestrians and
crime, other than pick pocketing in the Metro or bus stations, is
rare.
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