Paris is the kind of city where you can turn a corner and find yourself someplace completely unlike where you just were. Some of these spots are just a sample of Paris as it was at another moment of time; some suggest another world entirely; some are simply blessedly quiet. Here's a few of my personal favorites.
An actual place of worship, this is also an enchanting pocket of picturesque Arabian culture. During the summer, a quiet garden with a gurgling fountain is open, hidden from the traffic by high stone walls. Inside, a caféwith low brass tables (actually round trays set on stands) and cushioned benches serves sweet pastries and mint tea. Students from nearby Censier often come here to study.
Some women I knew in Paris used to come here with a basket of food to spend the afternoon in the hammam (steam baths). There's one for men, too, but on different days.
METROS: Place Monge, Censier-Daubenton.
Thousands of people walk by this secluded square everyday. Mercifully, few actually enter it, even though it's right off the Pont-Neuf. Yves Montand used to live here. It's still a lovely place for a romantic stroll and a quiet dinner.
METRO: Pont Neuf.
Montmartre was probably like this before the tourist buses. The Butte aux Cailles ("Quail Mount") is somewhat safe from the latter, since it's in the Thirteenth, towards the southern edge of Paris. But it's got lots of small, picturesque streets and small clubs which (so far at least) are only frequented by young French people. Very bohemian - Greenwich Village must have been like this once.
METRO: Corvisart, Place d'Italie.
This is smack in the middle of the busiest part of Paris. All it is is a tiny square lit by two beautiful streetlamps. You may have seen it- photographers love it. You're half a block from the crowds in any direction, but somehow this spot is always serene.
UPDATE 2008: The characteristic globes which can be seen in innumerable old photographs of this little square have been replaced by more conventional lamps. Because of vandalism? Not a welcome change, at any rate.
METRO: St. Germain de Près, Mabillon.
A fantasy, from start to finish. This park in the Twentieth has two high mountains joined by a footbridge, and numerous other artificial bits of "Nature": a grotto, a waterfall, an artificial lake. As well as a colonnaded temple. Sort of a Nineteenth-Century Disneyland. The child in you will love it.
METROS: Buttes-Chaumont.
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