March 21, 2008

La Butte aux Cailles (1)

Yesterday, I talked about water sources, including one at La Butte aux Cailles (the “Quail Hill”), Place Paul-Verlaine. La Butte aux Cailles can be found a few paths from Place d’Italie (13th arrt.). In the surrounding you can find a lot of dull modern apartment buildings from the 60’s and 70’s, but this little area has been well preserved, probably due to difficult ground conditions.

A small river, Bièvre, used to pass by at the bottom of the hill (today the river is underground), limestone mining and dyeing industry seems to have been rather dominant and on the hill you could find a number of wind mills. The area was annexed to Paris in 1860. Important battles took place here during the Paris Commune (1871). It remained a working class area until rather recently, but... there is soon no more "working class" living in Paris - too expensive. This is in my taste a fabulous little area, a small Montmartre – without tourists. (Sorry, I have nothing against kind tourists, but…).

There are a number of things to say about La Butte aux Cailles and I will do it in two or three episodes.

You can reach the “Butte” in different ways, but I chose to climb some stairs just in front of the metro station Corvisart. The birches have got their first leaves. (See top picture.) You reach a small playground. I then headed for the central place, on top of the hill, Place Paul-Verlaine, where we find our spring water and the public swimming bath, built in 1924 (see yesterday's post). This is also the spot which was reached by the first ever human flight, by a “montgolfière”, coming from La Muette (16th arrdt,) some 9-10 km (6 miles) away. (See my post February 08). You can find a small memorial.Opening to the place is also a school, founded in the middle of the 19th century by the Sisters of Saint Vincent de Paul. It was originally thought for the professional education of girls of modest origin. They were taught the ladies' professions of those times; they prepared even dresses for Queen Victoria! Today, it’s just a “normal school”. The place is full of narrow streets, small houses, small private gardens … and of course bars and restaurants. I will come back to all this, but in the meantime, let’s celebrate Easter! (See you Monday – or Tuesday!)

Happy Easter!

Some of these pictures can be found on my photo-blog!

48 comments:

AJEYA RAO said...

Very nice account of your walk.. Nice pics

lyliane six said...

Encore un endroit charmant et préservé dans Paris, mais pourquoi ce nom? Il devait y avoir beaucoup de ces oiseaux sur cette butte.
Bonnes Pâques, Bonnes promenades , mais le temps ne sera pas au rendez vous, n'abuse pas trop des chocolats que le coq(dans le Nord c'est le coq et les cloches qui amènent les œufs) auront laissés cachés dans ton parc.

claude said...

Encore un bel endroit de Paris que je découvre. HAPPY EASTER, Peter !

Anonymous said...

Bon, bon tu n'as rien contre les touristes à Paris Peter mais... Qu'est-ce que c'est que ce "but" là au milieu de ton texte? :-)) Toujours un plaisir de venir ici, et de voir et lire tes reportages. Bon je vais faire un mauvais jeu de mots, en Suisse ce matin, il neige et on se les caille. :-))
Pas mal non?
Je t'embrasse cher ami, moi je vais partir quelques jours à la montagne et je serai de retour sur les blogs et dans ma boîte mai mercredi je pense. Je te souhaite de bonnes fêtes de Pâques. Et sois sage pendant mon absence. Salutations également à ton lama. :-)

Ash said...

Fantastic images Peter.

Happy Easter to you and your loved ones!!! Have a wonderful time.

hpy said...

Si le temps se maintient et que Delphinium garde la neige pour elle-même, tu pourras faire plein de belles promenades pendant le week-end. Je pense que bloguer sur Paris te fait visiter des endroits que tu n'aurais peut-être pas visité avec autant d'assiduité sans ce but précis.
Bonjour à ton lama et à ses acariens. Ne leur donne pas trop de champagne, ils risquerait de se mettre à pousser la chansonnette.
Bon week-end de Pâques, mon petit lapin.

SusuPetal said...

Have a happy Easter, Peter and enjoy the sun(if there's any!)

Vagabondage said...

Bonjour Peter,

Cette première photo est très belle, très émouvante, cette dame parviendra- t-elle jusqu'en haut, je me souviens de ces escaliers, ils sont interminables...

Est-ce que tu vas cacher des oeufs et des petites poules dans "ton" parc pour Paloma? le vent les emportera.... Peut-être n'est-ce pas une coutume chez toi... Moi, je cache des peluches pour les carlins, prétexte à la photographie... Encore que la tempête fait rage chez moi... aie, aie... mon jardin....!

Joyeuses fêtes Peter et bonne journée.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for all the information about the little butte. And was that a mimosa tree?

Happy Easter to you too, Peter.

Anonymous said...

Your photography is really special.

Have a nice holiday weekend.

Abraham Lincoln
Brookville

Delphinium said...

Nous apprenons ici que peter est le petit lapin de hpy. :-))

Chuckeroon said...

Happy Easter Weekend Peter! I liked the Caille Butte.

Daniel Chérouvrier said...

Très beau village à Paris. Je confonds parfois avec "La butte rouge" autre haut-lieu de résistance pendant la Commune qui est à Chatenay-Malabry et est le titre d'une chanson.
La Butte aux cailles tirerait son nom d'un ancien propriétaire dans les années 1500 : Pierre Caille.

alice said...

"La butte aux cailles", rien que le nom, c'est déjà un poème...
Y a t'il une chasse aux oeufs organisée dans ton parc? j'imagine que tu as prévu tout ce qu'il faut pour tes petits-enfants...

Jessica said...

Happy Easter, Peter! I assume it will be time spent with your beautiful grandchildren?

Ming the Merciless said...

Happy Easter to you and your family.

Unknown said...

Have a nice weekend

Happy Easter :-)

Shammickite said...

This is a very unspoilt corner of Paris, a pleasant walk on a sunny spring day.
Je te souhaite de bonnes fêtes de Pâques, Peter. Et je souhaite que tu mange beaucoup des oeufs du chocolat avec tes petits-enfants!

Olivier said...

de retour sur une belle ballade. J'ai vu dans le post précédent, le retour d'une superbe fontaine wallace. très belle.
Je te souhaite une bonne chasse aux oeufs de paque

Olivier said...

tient peter, tu peux voir une superbe fontaine wallace sur le DP de Nancy.
On va pouvoir faire une belle collection ;o)

Seda said...

You have again great pictures here but especially first one with the old lady by the stairs is amazing.
Seda
Istanbul Photo

Anonymous said...

Your enthusiasm to do all these fine posts is really worth great appreciation!

Have a happy Easter weekend you and your family!

EMNM said...

Happy Easter Peter!

Unknown said...

Peter, what a wonderful blog. I love your photographs. You must be very busy covering Paris.

Thanks for sharing.

sonia a. mascaro said...

Very nice stroll, Peter! Love those narrow streets and small gardens!

A Very Happy Easter to you and yours as well!

GMG said...

Butte aux Cailles looks great nowadays, at least in your pictures... I've there once, in the seventies I believe, and must confess that it was not that much for tourists. Actually, the Place d'Italie area is probably one of the Paris areas I'm not that keen on... And, according to Dina's game, I belong to Paris... ;)
The Water sources post is excellent, and the Wallace fountains great!
CD should be «Peter's Paris, For Beginners and Experts»; sorry for the misspelling...
Happy Easter!

PeterParis said...

ajeya rao:
Thanks for this first vist!

myliane:
Oui, je vais abuser!

claude:
Happy Easter à toi aussi!

Peter said...

delphinium:
Bon sejour à la montagne! (Très bien ton jeu de mots!)

ash:
Thanks, and the same to you!

hpy:
Tu as raison; le lema chante encore plus mal que moi!

PeterParis said...

suspetal:
Thanks, same to you!

mathilde:
La dame est bien arrivée en haut! Paloma a eu qu'un oeuf bien visible, en chocolat (la pluie...).
Joyeuses fêtes à toi aussi!

ruth:
No, not mimosa... but don't ask me what! Happy Easter!

PeterParis said...

oldmanlincoln:
Special... yes, of course compared to yours, dear prfoessional photographer!

delphinium:
Tu ne le savais pas?

chuckerron:
Thanks, the same!

PeterParis said...

deslilas:
Merci pour cette information! Donc encore un nom qui a été transformé.

alice:
Pas de chasse, mais des petites choses prévues, oui!

jessica:
Yes... and thanks! The same to you!

PeterParis said...

ming, azer:
Thanks... and the same!

ex-shammickite:
... et des commentaires en français! Merci et bravo!

olivier:
Merci! Content de te voir de retour! Elles sont belles les fontaines de Wallace!

PeterParis said...

seda:
Yes, a nice old lady!

leenam:
Thanks and my best wishes also to you and your family!

matritensis:
Thanks! The same!!

PeterParis said...

jan:
Thenks for the compliments... and the same go for your blog!!

sonia:
My best wishes also to you, to Carlos and your kids!

gmg:
I agree. This is really an oasis in a dull area. (You have of course one of our China Towns around the corner, but the buildings are nasty.) I think also that although the "Butte" is not a tourist attraction, it's getting more and more "chic" and expensive. Today, it's still quite mixed.

Noushy Syah said...

Lovely pics with gr8 info make reading so interesting.

Happy belated Easter to you and family.

lyliane six said...

Merci de m'avoir trouvé un charmant diminutif, mon arrière grand mère m'appelait miane, mais Myliane (ma lyliane on dirait!) me plait beaucoup et il est inédit, les fautes de frappe sont bien faites.

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posturebrace said...

Its a nice place to just relax and enjoy the view after a hard days work.

puntahermosahotels said...

What a beautiful place. Its near to everything thats why its great.

santateresahotels said...

The place is a mixture of old and modern establishment that people can enjoy.

arequipahotels said...

You really captured some of the beautiful scenery of the place. Nice pics.

limaperuaccommodation said...

What a great place to go. Its nice to know that the bath house was built in 1924 and it is still existing for people who wants to take a dip.

bestforexmegadroid said...

A nice city to visit even some of the streets are narrow yet the houses and private gardens are great it would not be a problem.

bestonlinetrading said...

The place is also great for kids because the playground where they can have fun and meet with other kids playing there.

bulkbuywholesale said...

The whole family would enjoy the bath house to just relax and have fun.