Glimpse of the Marais, Paris

Glimpse of the Marais, Paris, originally uploaded by Rita Crane Photography.

Glimpse of the Marais, Paris

The notes on the image explain a lot about this photo that shows one of the most ancient houses in Paris. This is a snapshot taken with my first little digital camera, an Olympus Camedia.
My ninth "Postcard from Paris" showing what for many years was said to be the oldest house in Paris still standing in its entirety. It turns out that it dates to 1641 rather than the 1200's as once was thought and the oldest house, dating to the 1300's is actually around the corner. (I didn't get a picture of that one but you can see it at the link below.) While walking around these old streets I love imagining what the entire neighborhood looked like centuries ago. Of course it would have just been a dirt road, and later cobbled. All of Paris looked like this, except for the palaces, churches, and mansions sprinkled among the working peoples' five story narrow 'apartments'. They had no running water or sewage.

Encore une "Carte Postale de Paris"! Celle-ci, faite avec ma petite Olympus Camedia il y a 5 ans. Il y a plusieurs maisons anciennes a Paris dont on dit qu'elles sont les plus anciennes. Celle-ci dans le Marais en est une. Mais on dit sur Wikipedia "On a longtemps pensé que la maison du n°3 était la plus vieille maison de Paris et qu'elle datait de 1300, alors qu'elle date de 1644 comme on le découvrit en 1979. En fait sauf nouvelle surprise, la plus ancienne maison de Paris se trouve non loin de là, rue de Montmorency (1407)." Interessant d'imaginer Paris d'autrefois quand on regarde ce vieux batiment...et ses alentours qui a l'epoque etaient la campagne avec des champs, des potagers, et vergers. Avant les rues il y avaient des petits chemins partout, juste assez large pour admettre des chevaux avec leurs chariots.