Paris first, before the rest...

Belleville
Originally uploaded by killerfemme

In July my family went on a huge trip to the South of France, where I had never been. Before joining them, I flew to Paris and spent a jetlagged day and evening there before getting on the TGV with Gael to go to Avignon. Of course our city wanderings took us to Belleville, a neighborhood that has excited and intrigued me since I first set foot in it. To me it seems more "real," more gritty, less perfect (shall we say, because it's more working class) than the sparkling neighborhoods of central and western Paris. I'm not the only one who thinks this though, as Belleville is gentrifying rapidly, especially the street in this picture.