Quiet or not on Monday afternoon Susan and I took a stroll west toward the Bastille, walking down rue Saint-Antoine, turning up rue Malher (no, it's not "Mahler") toward the Carnavalet museum. We passed the Carnavalet -- it was closed today anyway -- rue de la Parc Royal where we turned left and another block found us at the tiny Place Thorigny. We walked a block down rue des Quatre Fils, turning left onto rue Vielle du Temple, into the land of the original headquarters of the Knights Templars (those "nasty boys" of the middle ages, so loathed by the Vatican that the Pope had many of them put to death but not before excommunicating them of course, thus rendering their souls forever damned.)
We walked down in the direction of rue Saint-Antoine and then turned left again this time onto rue des Rosiers. The "street of the roses" got its name, so I'm told, from the rose bushes that once stood along the northern section of the ancient city wall. Today it is the center of the Paris Jewish community, as one can see by the business such as the tempting food shops like Finkelstein and Korcarz lining this bustling and yet somehow quiet part of the city
Also located on rue des Rosiers is the L'AS du Falafel, where they reputedly serve the best falafel in the city. The more I researched this place the more I heard that they serve the best falafel in Paris. Everyone from Mark Bittman of the New York Times to our friend Diane from Oregon claiming that you cannot beat the food. And it's kosher too. Unfortunately we found it closed until 16 October as they are apparently doing some interior work. We'll be back though. Count on it.By the way this is a wonderful area to stroll -- and to get away from the noise and frenetci pace of the rue Saint-Antoine just a couple of hundred meters away.
Wish you had been there,
Steve
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