Our New 'Hood....Paris 15eme

Anyone who has ever moved homes knows how hectic moving can be. Your stuff is in a million different places, you have to fall into new routines and arrange to pay new bills. However, the exciting part of moving to Paris, for us, has been exploring our new neighborhood! We live in the 15th arrondissement, which lies just south of the 7th which is where the Eiffel Tower stands.Our neighborhood is one part residential, one part funky and eclectic, and one part shopping district, being one block off the Rue du Commerce, aptly named for its wealth of clothing and shoe stores, as well as bakeries, cafes, fromageries (cheese stores) and butcher shops.

Our Front Door

Walking out of our apartment and around the corner you come to Rue du Commerce. This is Commerce Cafe, a cute place with lots of seats outside. Across the street is Eric Kayser, one of the best bakeries in Paris also selling delicious ice cream and pastries.

Across from the bakery is one of our 4 local metro stop. This one pops you out right next to a cute park.

Rue du Commerce is flanked on either end by a beautiful church, and by another metro line, which actually runs above ground. In between, there is everything you can imagine.

A fruit stand on Rue du Commerce

Nicolas is a favorite wine shop and is popular all over Paris. You can find many in every neighborhood!

Living near a Zara and H&M next to one another makes it very hard to get to the metro without wanting to stop for "just one minute..."

A set of the increasingly popular Velibs (free bikes that actually do cost one euro per 24 hours). At the end of the street, in the distance, you can see the above-ground metro stop La Motte Piquet-Grennelle which services lines 6, 8 and 10 and is very convenient no matter where we want to go!
Following the outdoor metro for 3 or 4 minutes brings you to the next metro stop on the 6 line, Cambronne, which drops us off right outside our new favorite bakery, Maison Privat, in the picture above with the white awning. You can see the Tour Montparnasse in the distance (Paris' only skyscraper).

Some of the goodies offered at Maison Privat

This metro stop is at a large circle, half on either side of the train line. Our half is home to Maison Privat (the bakery), a beautiful flower shop named "Happy" and a few cafes with lot of outdoor tables. We've only sampled one during a late breakfast on Sunday morning, and the bacon and eggs were perfect. We'll have to try them all and decide which will be our new local favorite.

Passing by this adorable cafe/bar, you have to think to yourself, "This place is almost just too French to be real..."

Turning south down Rue de la Croix Nivert brings us to the corner of Rue de l'Amiral Roussin. #50 is home to the bakery owned by Mohamed Zerzour who earned 9th place in this year's Paris-wide baguette contest! Of course I had to stop in and buy one for Peter and I to sample.
This bakery won first place in last year's competition and "best croissant in Paris" in 2009. We're lucky to have it just around the corner!

Continuing back in the direction of home brings us to a small cinema around the corner from a beautiful park called Square Saint Lambert.
We call this park "the beach" because people actually use it like their local beach, since we are many many miles from the actual ocean. Kids play badminton (without a net), women lie topless (so as to avoid tan lines, of course) and men sport bathing suits to soak up rays on nice days. We prefer to sit on the benches and try not to look, hiding our faces in our Kindles.

So there you have it: A whirlwind tour of our new neighborhood. It's home now, and we're really starting to love our own little corner of Paris.