Unusual and interesting place to visit in Paris

See an interesting part of Paris that tourists normally don't see, and find your way to Little India/Passage Brady. Like most cosmopolitan cities Paris is a magnet for immigrants trying to better their lot, and in this area you will find expats from the subcontinent, mostly from India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, they are an important component of multi-cultural Paris.

Before you see little India, you will smell it, as your senses are aroused with the smells of cardamom, garlic, chili, incense and turmeric. Then you are hit by the kaleidoscope of color, as silks and satins are hung up in the store entrances.

On offer here are Saris and silks, exotic foods, C.D.s, Carnatic music and Bollywood flicks, Tamilian shops, barbers shops, Ayurveda treatment salons and even a Ganesh Temple which celebrates an annual festival sometime in late August early September.
Apart from the stores of course there are the restaurants, each with it's own regional delicacy, and at a variety of prices. If you like it hot and spicy this is the place for you.

The passage itself is covered, and so you can visit in all weather, but don't neglect the stores in the surrounding alleys. The passages close to the Brady are also interesting and each holds it's own immigrant culture and charm. The supermarket Cash&Carry ( 13 Rue Cail ) supplies home comforts for a number of countries, not just those on the subcontinent.

 Another place expats gather - this time English speakers - is the English bookshop in Paris. So on your next visit to Paris see more than the Eiffel Tower!

Where:
83 Brady Passage
in the Gare du Nord area of 10th arrondisement.
75010 Paris
Getting there:
Exit La Chapelle tube station turn left for Rue du Faubourg St. Denis (in the direction of Gare du Nord), you will already see the Asian stores, and a little further on you can follow your nose to the Brady Passage. It is in the 10th arrondisement between boulevard St. Martin and the boulevard du Faubourg St. Denis. Alternatively start at the Chateau d'eau or Stasbourg St. Denis Metro stations.