Kathleen, Queen of the Desert

For all moving beings in Paris, the allees, avenues, boulevards, impasses, passages, quais, and rues are very important. Like in the United States, some of these designations of surfaces for vehicular passage are a little vague–do you have to be so many feet wide to qualify as an avenue as opposed to a rue?–but I’ve compiled a sampler of what I understand so far.

ALLEES: There are several alleys or lanes in Les Halles (the covered markets), the large shopping area south of me. These alleys are small paved pathways, sometimes only wide enough to accommodate pedestrians and cyclists. Even the sprawling Pere Lachaise cemetery has walking allees between the grave sites (shown in the image below). Allees don’t usually have sidewalks.

 

AVENUES: The largest and most famous avenue in Paris is Avenue des Champs Elysees, “Avenue of the Elysian Fields” (shown below left). Parisians say it is la plus belle avenue du monde (the most beautiful avenue in the world). The Greeks’ Elysian Fields were a section of the Underworld reserved for the heroic and virtuous. This strip of real estate is one of the most expensive in the world, second only to New York’s Fifth Avenue. Many chain stores now dot the avenue, including McDonald’s and the Disney Store. Champs Elysees is also famous for the marches of the occupying Nazis in June 1940 and the liberating Free French and 4th Infantry Division in August 1944. See the image below, right, of the American infantrymen. My Uncle Al’s in there somewhere. This avenue is also the traditional end to the final stage of the Tour de France bicycle race.

    

BOULEVARDS: The great boulevards in Paris tend to be pretty grand, and very straight. My son told me that it was easiest to pedal his rented bike on the big boulevards because of the right-hand bike lanes. Even with having to share the lane with buses, the traffic was very predictable. Boulevards typically have wide sidewalks. Many of the boulevards are so big, they have two pedestrian traffic alerts, so you have to cross to the middle, wait for the green pedestrian sign, then cross again. My favorite boulevard is Boulevard St. Germain-des-Pres (shown below). Along St. Germain are two of my favorite cafes–Cafe les Deux Magots and Cafe de Flore. It’s also along this boulevard that I watched a gigantic gay pride parade in July 2002. Awesome!

    

IMPASSES: An impasse in Paris is a dead-end street or cul-de-sac. A “cul-de-sac” is more of a suburban designation with houses around the bulbous dead-end’s nose. An impasse can be charming or dangerous, so be aware.

PASSAGES or PASSAGES COUVERTS: Close to my apartment is Passage du Grand Cerf (“passage of the great stag,” seen in the photo below left). This particular covered passage is a throughway for pedestrians between Rue Dussoubs and Rue St. Denis. Passage du Grand Cerf is lined with small shops selling art, jewelry, and clothing. If you go straight north on my street, you’ll come to Passage du Caire (image below at right). With its 370 meters long, the passage of Cairo is the longest in Paris. It is also one of the narrowest. These passages are great shortcuts for the weary pedestrian.

     

QUAIS: Cobbled wharf walkways go up and down the Seine. They are great for walking but not good for biking because of the bumpy cobbles. If you’re going to walk along a quai, leave your high heels in le reduit (closet). Many people relieve themselves along the often out-of-sight corners of various quais, so sometimes your stroll won’t smell so romantic. I also saw some men sunbathing in the nude on a quai while on boat tour. A Parisian quai was recently renamed Quai Francois Mitterand, after the former French president.

RUES: A rue is a street in Paris. Rues come in various sizes and can be one-way and one-lane small streets or a multiple-lane high-traffic street like Rue du Louvre where I mail my postcards at the big 24-hour post office. A rue can be straight or crooked, paved or cobbled. Rue Montorgueil is my nearby market street. When some infrastructure work was recently done there, the workmen just dug out the cobbles, fixed the pipes, and pounded back in the cobbles to cover the filled-in hole. Street names appear in white letters on blue enamel plaques attached to buildings near each intersection (see example below). The arrondissement (Parisian district) number also appears above the street name.

Except for a few taxi rides and some Red Bus and Cityrama bus tours I’ve taken, I’m a pedestrian in Paris. For me, getting safely across these allees, avenues, boulevards, impasses, quais, and rues becomes quite important. Le pieton vert, “the green walking pedestrian,” is the signal that I’m safe to cross.

If I see le pieton rouge, the red standing pedestrian, I stay put at the curb. With cyclists and scooters swooping along the allees, avenues, boulevards, impasses, quais, and rues (thankfully not in the passages) and even along sidewalks, I need to be watchful and patient.