Rue Cler

Step onto Rue Cler and you immediately notice something different about this street. The butcher is deboning a roast with casual precision, a woman in her sixties is holding a wedge of cheese up to the light, and the smell of warm bread drifts through the air. This is not a market put on for tourists. The same aristocratic families who have lived in this 7th arrondissement for generations still shop here every week, and Le Figaro once described the street as "the discreet charm of the bourgeoisie."

The street is named after General Jean Joseph Gustave Cler, who died in 1859 at the age of 45 while leading his troops from the front at the Battle of Magenta. The city honored him in 1864 by giving his name to this street. His statue back in his hometown was quietly hidden in a rubbish dump during the German occupation to prevent it from being melted down for weapons. After liberation it was returned to its pedestal.

The American writer Julia Child also shopped here while living in the 7th, picking up the ingredients that would later inspire a generation of American home cooks.

On Sundays, regulars still tell the cheese vendor exactly when they plan to eat: "l'Époisse pour demain, le chèvre c'est pour ce soir," meaning the soft Époisses for tomorrow, the goat cheese for tonight. This matters more than you'd think, because the cheesemonger refuses to let a single wheel out the door until it's reached the exact perfect moment of ripeness.