I love friends who make effort to visit Paris more than once. It means this city is no mere checklist item for them; it also opens up the possibility of leading them to Parisian neighbourhoods where few visitors venture in because they still need to see the Louvre, or Notre Dame, or Montmartre, and the likes. Don’t get me wrong: these are good places to see with much to learn (art, architecture, culture, etc) but after bringing one friend after another to the same set of places, it’s a nice change to be elsewhere, you know?

After a lovely brunch near the Canal St Martin (more on that next time), I invited SL to join me on an exploratory walk towards Mouzaïa, another purported “countryside” of Paris that lies in the 19th arrondissement. I don’t often come by this part of the city either, as I normally play explorer to discover the nooks and corners near where I live instead. Our trail took us from Canal St Martin to the small hilly streets by Colonel Fabien, then towards Parc des Buttes-Chaumont to continue towards the villas branching out from rue de Mouzaïa. And voila, the photos of things and places we admired on that wonderfully sunny September afternoon.

To wander around Buttes Chaumont and Colonel Fabien is not new to me, but to look around Mouzaïa and its hidden villas is certainly a first. It is easiest to explore around here in a zig-zag/snaking manner to enjoy the quite small lanes and the quaint houses lining along them.

However, I do ponder if it would be better to swing by again in another season, when trees are not carrying their full foliage and blocking many of the views? Mind, some houses do have high panels right at the front, so they would be shielded from the nosy outsiders – like me – with or without those trees. I’d like to give it a second go, and before I go next, I should try to find out more about the neighbourhood too. It’s always fun to spot things through some historical points. (I know, I’m a nerd…)