Village de Charonne

Village de Charonne, like a lot of Paris, used to be its own town. Over the years Paris has expanded and eaten up many little villages. Charonne, much like Butte Aux Cailles, still has a little bit of that 12th century small town feel. Recently we explored it using another paris.fr walking tour as our guide. We began at the Porte de Bagnolet Metro station, heading up a street that is actually just a huge flight of stairs into an area packed with cute houses and tiny streets. If you've been following along, you know that small, isolated enclaves filled with cute houses is a running theme for us. It's especially nice when they have colorful doors and majestic beasts.

Descending from Porte de Bagnolet, we stopped by Paris' version of the Mary Tyler Moore statue. Here is Edith Piaf, singing or fighting off birds or something. It's pretty underwhelming. 

Near Place Edith Piaf, we found a graffiti reworking of the classic sign prohibiting the posting of notices. 

"Défense d'Afficher: Loi du 29 Juillet 1881" has been changed to "Défense d'Elephant: Loi du 29 Juillet 1881" It appears to be working.

I'm a fan of bare vine-covered trellises. Here's one in Square Antoine Blondin.

The first blossoms have appeared throughout Paris. 

How are things in Minnesota?

At the old center of Village de Charonne is, of course, an old church. Construction of St-Germain de Charonne began in the 12th Century. That's old. 

St-Germain de Charonne is one of two churches in Paris that still has a small adjacent cemetery. 

I'm not sure what's with the rooster on top of the cross. Or is it a squirrel?

Either way, it reconfigures the trinity in an interesting way.

Lia at the lower end of Rue Stendhal, which follows the edge of the cemetery as it goes up the hill.

 

Around the corner from the church there was a fashion photo shoot going on. A lady in leopard print on a bridge over train tracks. Edgy.

UPDATE: We later saw this woman pictured on a magazine cover and realized: It's Yelle! She's actually a pretty big French pop star. Here is the video for her recent single in which she wears the same outfit.

"Mean Dog" sign on the gate of a rundown Parisian trash house.

Between Rue de Bagnolet and Père Lachaise Cemetery there is a Jardin Naturel- sort of a recreating of the orginal ecosystem of the area. It reminded me of the parks and swamps around where I grew up.

 

Just outside the park, a door leading into Père Lachaise.