Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
LOCAL KNOWLEDGE
RUE DE LAPPE
Although at night it's one of the rowdiest bar-hopping streets in Paris, rue de Lappe is
actually quite peaceful during the day and worth a quick wander. Like most streets in
the area, it dates back to the 17th century and was originally home to cabinetmakers,
who first moved into the area to escape the taxes and restrictions imposed by guilds
operating within city limits.
In the centuries that followed, the street was gradually taken over by metalworkers,
who equipped the city with its zinc bars, copper piping and the like. At the same time,
immigrants from the central French region of Auvergne also moved in, opening up
cafés-charbons,places where you could go for a drink and buy coal at the same time.
In this way the street eventually became a popular drinking strip, and its accordion-
driven dance halls, which hosted bals-musettes,were to become famous throughout
Paris. The dance hall
Le Balajo
dates back to 1936 and continues to host a weekly bal-
musette.
You can still find an Auvergne speciality shop here, Chez Teil, at No 6, as well as a
beautiful old bistro, Les Sans-Culottes, at No 27.
ENTERTAINMENT
OPERA, BALLET
OPÉRA BASTILLE
08 92 89 90 90;
www.operadeparis.fr
;
2-6 place de la Bastille, 12e;
Bastille)
This 3400-seat venue is the city's main opera hall; it also occasionally stages ballet and clas-
sical concerts. Tickets go on sale online up to two weeks before they're available by tele-
phone or at the
box office
. Standing-only tickets (
places débouts;
€5) are available 90
minutes before performances begin.
CINEMA
CINÉMATHÈQUE FRANÇAISE
noon-7pm Mon & Wed-Sat,
10am-5pm Sun; Bercy)
This national institution is a temple to the 'seventh art' and always screens its foreign offer-
ings in their original versions. Up to 10 movies a day are shown, usually retrospectives
(Spielberg, Altman, Eastwood) mixed in with related but more obscure films. Tickets €6 to
€8.
