Belleville

(from wikipedia) Belleville (French pronunciation: ​[bɛlvil]) is a neighbourhood of Paris, France, parts of which lie in four different arrondissements. The major portion of Belleville straddles the borderline between the 20th arrondissement and the 19th along its main street, the Rue de Belleville. The remainder lies in the 10th and 11th arrondissements.

It was once the independent commune (municipality) of Belleville which was annexed by the City of Paris in 1860 and divided between two arrondissements Geographically, the neighborhood is situated on and around a hill which vies with Montmartre as the highest in Paris. The name Belleville literally means "beautiful town".

Belleville is also a big arty area but people are saying its becoming not edging and mainstream.  It's kind of ghetto.  I suppose you can compare it to williamsburg brooklyn

Aux Folies, a staple of Belleville.  

Does this appeal to you?  yea, me neither.  but there is more to belleville than this graffiti crap that you always see in belleville guides.

this is the last place i want to hang out at, a horse betting bar

very near Parc Butte Chaumont.  it is the coolest park in paris! 

"I like to walk my cat and my mental illness around parc butte chaumont on sunny days"

there are awesome trees aplenty in this park.  i can't wait to come here in the summertime!

this is at the highest point in the park.

you can see montmartre off in the distance

Rosa Bonheur is way cool cafe/bar in the park.  At night it fills up and can still go here after the park closes

this tree was greyish purple.  was it the time of day or is it always this color?

the other side of that weird shaped driveway tree.  i couldn't decide which photo was better.  do you see the kind of decisions i have to make?  these things take up so much of my time.

café chéri(e), another belleville staple.  if you walk down this street towards the metro you can see a bunch of middle aged chinese hookers.  Belleville has the second chinatown in paris which i didn't see so it looks like i will be exploring belleville again.