Rue Cler: A Village Market Street
Why is it significant?
Turn into the narrow street and the grand monuments suddenly vanish. Instead there are crates of peaches and apricots stacked on the pavement, a fishmonger's ice glittering in the window, rounds of cheese stacked to the ceiling and the smell of warm bread drifting out of a doorway.
Key Facts
| Place | Rue Cler: A Village Market Street |
|---|---|
| Address | Rue Cler, 75007 Paris, France |
| Geo Coordinates | 48.85660, 2.30650 |
| Part of Walk | Iron, Glory and Gold: The Eiffel Tower, Trocadéro & Les Invalides in Paris |
| Generated | Generated |
Turn into the narrow street and the grand monuments suddenly vanish. Instead there are crates of peaches and apricots stacked on the pavement, a fishmonger's ice glittering in the window, rounds of cheese stacked to the ceiling and the smell of warm bread drifting out of a doorway. Welcome to Rue Cler, where the most elegant arrondissement in Paris does its daily shopping.
The street is named after a soldier, of course, this close to the Invalides. General Jean-Joseph Cler was killed at the Battle of Magenta in northern Italy in 1859, fighting for Napoleon the Third, and this whole corner of Paris is full of streets named after officers and battles. But very little about Rue Cler today feels military. Much of it is closed to cars, and the rhythm is set by delivery vans in the early morning and by queues at the bakery just before lunch.
This is the place to understand how Parisians actually eat. Nobody does one big supermarket shop. You buy bread at one counter, often twice a day, cheese at another, fruit from a third, and a bottle of wine from the shop on the corner, and you chat with every one of them. The cheesemonger will ask when you plan to eat it, tonight or on Sunday, and choose a different piece accordingly. Shopkeepers here know which neighbour likes a well-done baguette and which one wants it pale.
Watch the old ladies of the quarter with their wheeled shopping trolleys. Many of them have lived in these streets for decades, in apartments with views of the tower, and they navigate the morning rush with the precision of generals. Do not get between one of them and the last tarte aux fraises.
You began this walk on a terrace where the rights of every human being were proclaimed, and passed a tower, a cadet, an emperor and a sculptor. It is only fitting to end where ordinary Paris simply lives. Pick up something to eat, wander back towards the Champ de Mars, and find a spot on the grass in front of the tower... that is the most Parisian dinner there is.