The Canadian filmmaker introduces T+L to the streets and canal of Paris’s 10th arrondissement.
“The Rue de Lancry winds its way down to the Canal St.-Martin, a two-mile waterway in the 10th Arrondissement built under Napoléon. Now the street is modern and charming and lined with small shops, boulangeries, Italian and Middle Eastern grocers, and plenty of restaurants. I like to walk across the iron bridge that lets you off in front of the Hôtel du Nord, which is not a hotel at all but a restaurant and café that’s full of books. People spend the entire day there, it’s so comfortable. The neighborhood is trendy in an unforced way—it used to be rather unknown, but now it’s at a particular moment in its evolution when it all feels balanced between the old and new.
“The bridges over the canal have very steep staircases—they must be very high to allow room for the barges to go through. The ancient locks function as they have since 1825. It’s thrilling to be on top of one of the bridges when the machinery moves and water rushes in on the way to the Seine. You can hear only the sound of the river and the shrieks of children from a nearby playground. It’s a timeless moment—pure magic.”
“I love the 57-room Lancaster (7 Rue de Berri, 8th Arr.; 33-1/40-76-40-76; hotel-lancaster.fr; doubles from $726), set in a 19th-century mansion near the Champs-Élysées.”
“Try the house-made duck confit at Hôtel du Nord (102 Quai de Jemmapes, 10th Arr.; 33-1/40-40-78-78; dinner for two $84).”
“ArtaZart (83 Quai de Valmy, 10th Arr.; 33-1/40-40-24-03) may be the best bookshop in Paris. The Canadian owner stocks 19,000 titles in French and English on art, photography, architecture, and illustration.”
“For transatlantic flights, the sleeping pill Imovane is essential. It helps with jet lag when I have to work.”
“On my first trip to Paris I found small Left Bank cinemas showing movies I had only dreamed of seeing on a screen. Action Christine (4 Rue Christine, 6th Arr.; 33-1/43-25-85-78) opened in the 1970’s and specializes in films d’auteur.”
