It was never a conscious decision, but for some reason I always stayed out of the 13th arrondissement. I only went here if catching a movie on Place d'Italie or if I had to buy dried noodles or erotic drinking glasses in the Chinese area (the ones where you see naked women at the bottom when you pour alcohol in!).

The 13th arrondissement has no distinctive reputation. There are some ugly high-rises inhabited by thousands of Chinese immigrants and the hospital where Lady Diana passed away. But I’ve never bumped into anything memorable here.

That is, until I discovered Butte aux Cailles. A tiny neighborhood in the 13th arr. concentrated around a few streets on a hill behind the metro station Corvisart. I’ve never felt so far from Paris inside of Paris. Narrow streets and town houses, small court yards with cabinetmaker’s workshops and bars with peeled paint on the walls and crochet curtains. Like a small village, where time hasn’t changed and you can still get sausage from Montbéllard with lentils and bacon for 8,50 Euros. Here some of my favourite adresses.