Paris Walk #14

Date: 11/14/12
La Route des Manifs: Canal Saint-Martin, Republique, Bastille, Viaduc des Arts

Me, Kaitlin, and Olivia were determined to get these walks done, so at maybe too late an hour, we decided to start this walk. The first thing the walk tells you to go see is the Canal Saint-Martin, which kind of just looks like a big dirty river. Apparently this is where people used to like to protest a long long time ago. It reminded me a little bit of Les Miserables, and so we obviously started singing "Can You Hear the People Sing" from it. It really did look like a sewer because it flowed into this creepy tunnel. We crossed over a bridge which was pretty cool, and then continued. We were headed toward the Bastille, but there were a lot of really creepy people around, and I just was really sketched out by that area. Then, Olivia tells us that it says to do the walk during the day; it was about 5pm and getting dark. Seriously, that area is really skeevy. We decided that since we had already seen the Bastille before, we would just read about it and go home. Better safe than sorry, right? I will still write about what I learned. It column at the Bastille was built in 1833 in honor of those who fought in the Revolution of 1830. The statue on top of it is called the Genie of Liberty. There is also a large building there which is the Bastille Opera house, home to many operas and ballets.