The solo part of my ‘yoga trip to Paris’ was in East Paris (11e arrondissement), close to the Oberkampf metro station. The nieghbourhood is lively in the day and evenings, with a bit of a ‘Vancouver’s mainstreet vibe, except with lots of pedestrinaized streets. There are lots of small independent shops, small parks and tree-lined streets. Coming so far south meant some different trees, including broadleaf evergreens and lots of the balconies still have olive trees and outdoor cacti even in November.
Entrance to the Oberkampf metro 
Lots of cool old churches around town 
The winter circus naturally can’t be in a tent 
Statue at Place de la République 
Some of the boulevard parks remind me of Stockholm 
This community compst was outside a cathedral, along with a little free library that was so well-visited I didn’t find a chance to take a picture 
Community garden close to the cathedral
Cute local shops…
Recommendations
There was lots to appreciate in the Oberkampf neighbourhood! The yoga studio gets its own post, but here are a few other winners:
- Violette & Co – Queer feminist bookstore. Cool to be the least marxist one in the room! They had some nice resources on how to use the French language in a trans-friendly way (trickier than you think with every noun and adjective being gendered!)
- l’Oree Café – A really creative menu that went beyond taco spice latte and specializing in fresh blended nutmilk lattes (macadamia, sesame, and in between pulling shots the staff are peeling roasted cashes at the counter). I started with the regular latte to assess the coffee without too much ornament, and it was such a BALM after months of the burnt Nordic pallet.
- Boulangerie Polka – Best almond croissant and they mill flour for their sourdough – the walnut loaf was amazing. Tiny shop with no seating, so maybe get some to go, maybe get a coffee to go from l’Orée and then sit at the Boulevard Richard-Lenoir to enjoy it.
- Naturalia grocery store for hippies. With the windows all boarded up it didn’t look that inviting, but inside it had lots of great produce, dairy, and a really nice array of healthy deli items (perfect for those self-catering in a hotel kitchenette!) My favourite finds were organic buckwheat galettes and a seasonal ginger/winter spice kombucha.
- Église Saint-Ambroise is a lovely ‘mid-sized’ Catholic Cathedral from the 1600s with awesome flying buttresses and lovely stained glass. There is a narrow, block-long park facing the front entrance that makes a lovely stroll towards the building. The park has some wetland plantings and community veggie beds, along with some ‘introvert benches’ for one person to sit and contemplate or burn one down as some Parisien(ne)s were doing.
- Cimètiere de Père-Lachaise is a cemetery developed and owned by the city, so is inclusive of various religions and burial traditions. There are many family crypts and some very fancy memorials to illustrious artists, politicians, intellectuals, and aristocrats – although the overall impression of rows on rows of plot-sized gothic crypts is kind of “fancy outhouses at a castle”. Some of the most moving memorials were the most recent – there is a division with many WWII memorials, including French resistance and an entombment of ash from nazi work camps and concentration camps. It made for a lovely misty autumn walk on Remembrance day.
- Citadine République Paris – for a longer stay, an apartment hotel with a kitchen is a really nice, and I think ends up paying for itself if you avoid restaurants as a result. This one was perfectly fine; modern enough, clean enough, and equipped enough to feel like home for a week. Would stay again (I am very price-elastic so this is of course deal-dependent!)
