We’re in the central square, Place du Tertre, in Montmartre, outside under the canopy of trees here. Restaurants line the square. Big canvas sunshades are set up in the center of the square so people can eat outside and be protected from the elements. The atmosphere has a circus-like quality to it. Everyone seems to be having a good time, including the servers at Au Cadet de Gaston.
We’ve just finished lunch with a whole bunch of people who must have had the same idea today as us. The place was packed. Even though this place is unquestionably touristy, everyone sitting around us had been speaking French. Interesting, eh?
After lunch we walked around the square and watched artists at work. It’s fun to see someone who’s working on a painting that’s maybe halfway complete. And of course, if you’re in the mood for buying one of their paintings, they certainly wouldn’t mind pausing for a few minutes to help you out.
We walked quite a ways, meandering through some nice residential areas, but pretty soon our dogs started talking to us. They were asking, “you guys didn’t forget about that mile-long winding staircase you made us climb to get to the top of Montmartre, did you?” Yeah, that’s what they were saying!
Finally we saw a stray taxi and flagged it down. Whew! Just in time, I think. When we got back to the apartment, it was time to take it easy for awhile. There had been some serious exercise involved in our little outing today!
After what had turned into a busy morning, we had a lazy afternoon, and before we knew it, we were ready to be out and about again. We decided to make the short walk over to the area known as “Les Halles.” You may recall from a previous letter, (First Look at Montorgueil), that the main attraction in this part of town used to be a place called “Les Halles,” (pronounced “lay-ahl”).
Les Halles was THE farmer’s market serving Paris back in the day. In the 1850’s, big glass-and-iron buildings were built to house it. That’s when it became known as “Les Halles.” In the 1970’s it was torn down and moved to the outskirts of town. The space is now home to a new shopping mall called Forum des Halles.
Le Ventre de Paris
The best way to get an idea of what Les Halles was like back in the day is to read “Le Ventre de Paris,” (The Belly of Paris), by Emile Zola. He wrote it in 1873, but the story takes place in the 1850’s. It starts out very early one morning, long before sunrise. (Don’t worry – I’m not going to drag you through the whole story).
Anyway, as I was saying, it’s dark – long before sunrise. A long line of horse-drawn carts loaded with vegetables of all sorts – cabbages, carrots, turnips, peas, lettuce, squash – was on a gas-lit road into Paris, making its daily trip to the market. The procession had to stop because there was something lying in the middle of the road. That “something” would turn out to be the main character of the story – a fellow named “Florent.”
Florent was in miserable shape, half-starved, and barely alive. The lady driving the lead horse and cart had pity on him and helped him onto the pile of cabbage in her cart and took him to their destination: Les Halles. It turned out that Florent knew this area well, since he had been arrested right on good ‘ol Rue Montorgueil on December 4th, 1851, during unrest in the streets following Louis Napoleon’s takeover of the government.
Florent hadn’t done anything wrong, but he had gotten himself caught in a sweep of a group of demonstrators. A girl had been killed, Florent had gotten some blood on his shirt, and that was enough to send him to the infamous Devil’s Island for who-knows-how-long. Poor old Florent.
To be continued…
Photo Credits: Original Les Halles, tnhistoirexix.tableau-noir.net
