The building is so old, it is moving - probably trying to fall down. Each year the windows have to be rehung to accommodate the slight shift in the building's walls. The floor slopes too - from the outer wall to the rock inner wall, which was most likely an outer wall at some stage in it's life.
The Marais has had a mixed history. It was originally marshland that became market gardens. The nobility moved in once Henri IV created what is now called Place des Vosges. The Knights Templar had their enclave a block away from us and, in the other direction, alchemist Nicolas Flamel had his house, conveniently on the edge of the cemetery, which was thought to have magical properties. For much of its life, though, the Marais has been home to migrant communities, including Paris' Jewish community.
We live in 'Bags' Ville', which happens to be the name of one of the shops on the street. Most of the street below us is filled with handbag wholesalers (no retail). It's a narrow one-way street, often blocked by delivery trucks who just stop and unload because there is nowhere for them to park. This is the view of Bags' Ville from our window.
The Marais is full of narrow streets like this. And full of wholesalers. A short walk takes you past jewellery wholesalers and Paris souvenir wholesalers too. You can buy shop fittings and display items and, at the moment, Christmas decorations in bulk. These shops seem to be run by the Asian community, so we have a street nearby full of Asian eateries - and what must be one of the last wooden buildings in Paris (Henri IV banned wooden buildings because of their tendency to burn down).
In the Marais, the past and the present collide. A few doors down the cobbled street (which is mercifully restricted to traffic other than motor scooters most of the time) is a public school. All the schools in the Marais have a plaque like this on their walls.
Eleven thousand children were deported from France by the Nazis between 1942 and 1944 - 500 of them from the 3rd arrondisement which the Marais straddles. Many buildings around the neighbourhood have plaques noting the deaths during World War 2 of the people who live in them.
The Marais is on the move. The Centre G. Pompidou and the outrageous mechanical fountain in Place Igor-Stravinsky (less than 10 minutes walk away) and the beautiful symmetry of Place des Vosges have brought tourism to the area.
So the Marais is changing. There are lots of galleries and you can be walking down a narrow street and suddenly find yourself amidst hip clothing shops, including one we found that provided clothing and other essentials for your dog and cat. And across the road from us is Hotel Jules et Jim, one of the hippest of the Marais' new boutique hotels (according to Time Out Paris) and named for Francois Truffaut's classic film. But you still have to get your designer luggage down a very narrow street to reach it.
PS I owe all my knowledge of the history of the Marais to Andrew Hussey's Paris - The Secret History, a copy of which I have unread at home. But someone very kindly left another copy in the apartment. It's riveting.
