On a chilly cold Thursday we met a Paris greeter at the metro station. Martine was waiting for us at a bakery and took us on a tour for a couple of hours in the Le Marais district where she had lived as child and then resided there until high prices forced her out. Paris greeters volunteer their time to show tourists around places they are very familiar with and know the history of.

I usually shy away from anything touristy as I think it gives you a skewed view of actual places, however this was different. Martine’s English was hard to follow, but well worth our time. How did I find out about such a thing as a Paris Greeter? I always recommend reading comments to bloggers who have city guides, some treasures to be found in the comments. I read Design Sponge’s Paris City Guide and in the comments one of the entries belonged to this volunteer organization.

This well above is where Martine would get water in her “basket” or what we would call a bucket. Everyday they would fill their buckets with water. During school they would line their buckets near this well, on a low wall above.  They boiled the water constantly on the stove to remove bacteria. Chicory, in place of coffee, was a staple as well during her childhood.

Very close to that low wall was a petite garden and tucked inside was a memorial of names of Jewish people who had their lives taken from them at concentration camps during World War II. The Jews who had their names written on that memorial lived in this complex of apartments. Sweet little pictures of faces of two Jewish children stood close to the memorial. I shuddered and had goose bumps, my eyes became wet and I turned to look at Matt, I could see he was impacted too. Martine told us thousands were taken from Le Marais district as it was a Jewish area and they started inhabiting this area 600 years ago. The French Vichy rounded up the Jewish children at a school close by and sent them to Auschwitz. No words can ever describe this time period. {We didn’t ask Martine her age, but I’m pretty sure she would’ve been a very young girl during the war.}

As we wondered through courtyards, I have learned you must go in them don’t just stay on the streets. You would duck into an area and there would be a tidy boxwood gardens and on you would walk and there would be Victor Hugo’s home.  Beautiful architecture everywhere and history in every nook & cranny.

Martine took us to a cafe she eats at when she is in the area. She told us just because you go to a fancy place doesn’t mean it’s going to be good {so true}. She was excited when she saw that the chicken dish was the special for that day. A  typical winter Parisian dish of split chicken breast in a broth. A basket of bread {of course, it’s Paris after all!} to dob your bread in the broth. She had us peek in the teeny-tiny kitchen to show us they were making dishes from scratch.  Martine and the owner threw cheerful banter back and forth. {P.S. coffee, and wine are cheaper than bottled water and if you want water ask for a carafe of water. This is their tap water and it’s free and we did just fine with that {well, and of course coffee & wine was fine too!}.

We loved the Le Marais district, it has so many neat shops, petite ones, more on that later!

I would like to thank Anne from Pret a Voyager, {do read her post on Paris info as she has lived there for 3 years now} she so kindly replied to my emails. It’s a small world {so it’s best to always be on your best behavior//kara garber} A small world as I found out when I was in Cleveland to see Charity, she informed me that Anne had written her home article on Design Sponge. Anne used to contribute for Grace at Design Sponge! I love how the inter-web makes it easier to connect with people all over the globe!