Rue Montorgueil: In which our heroine slogs the streets of Paris with camera in hand

Okay, so it wasn't quite that bad.  In fact, slogging is hardly an appropriate term, but how often do you get to use that in every day conversation?  My point exactly.

I went out this afternoon to take some photos of the aforementioned Rue Montorgueil.  Our landlady, while here checking on our internet, asked us if we went to the local supermarket, and then asked if we knew Rue Montorgueil.  We said yes and she said, "Well you know everything then!"  That's kind of what it feels like.  The street is mostly closed off to all but local traffic and pedestrians treat it as glorified sidewalk.  It bustles with cars, vans and motos in the morning, as the businesses open up and get ready for the day, but the rest of the time, driving down it is about as efficient as driving down the road directly in front of Pike Place.  Don't waste your time.

The entrance to Marche Montorgueil

The green, wire work arch, with gold letters reading Marche Montorgueil marks the entrance to what is probably the only street in Paris that one needs to survive.  It is lined with restaurants (French, Lebanese, Chinese, Japanese, Turkish, Italian, fast food), cafes, bakeries, butcher's shops, cheese shops, wine shops, pharmacies, a couple of supermarkets (though they really only supply what you can't get everywhere else on the street), newstands, flower shops, the list goes on.  Just this side of the arch and outside Montorgueil, sitting rejected and lonely, is a Starbucks that yearns to be allowed to hang with the cool kids.  Tough cookies.

Typical French cafe

Most, scratch that, all of the restaurants down Montorgueil have outdoor seating.  Most of them have surprisingly formidable protection against rain and inclement weather, which has been put to very good use lately.  Just after these shots were snapped, I sat down for coffee, watched the clouds roll in and the rain pour down.  Makes for good people-watching.

Pharmacy

In need of some ibuprofen to dull the pain of too many baguettes? Go searching for a neon green cross.  Sometimes they even flash in interesting and exciting patterns.

Outdoor displays from several different shops

Sidewalks are covered in the displays and cases from all the various stores.  Last night, Nick and I watched the butcher take everything down.  The very large, l-shaped refrigerated case that sits in front, fully on the sidewalk, was slid in front of the section of case housed inside the actual building.  Platforms under the outside case were picked up in three pieces and stowed behind the counter and the door was pulled down in front.  When open, the store is at least double its closed square footage.  No pictures though, they were closed when I walked by today.

Cheese shop!

The French buy, sell and eat lots and lots of delicious cheese.  Need I say more?

Our breakfast cafe of choice

Fruit and vegetable stand

Yum!

Mmmm....

If you're really lucky, after a day wandering down Montorgueil, drinking coffee and wiping the drool off your chin as you walk through wine shop after Greek importer after vegetable stand after, after, after...you end up, at home, with a delightful dinner like this.

Bon appetit!

PS For a more, er, French tour of the street, Nick's coworkers told him about this music video which was filmed down Montorgueil.  Be forewarned, it does feature women wearing nothing more than selectively placed black bars, but there's nothing crude, assuming you can handle French techno.