Bonjour, It is a special and happy day for me. Today, I am launching my company : Croque Brique which has kept me busy for the last months.
Croque Brique is a Paris-based walking tour company for Parisians and tourists willing to go in the neighborhoods which are always out of the touristic routes. Whether you live here or are just in town for a few days, we will have you discover an underestimated urban history.
These neighbordhoods outside of the norm deserve a different approach. To dust off the world of the "walking tour", we have a transdisciplinary approach with a wide-angle lens : architecture, urbanism, sociology, geography, pop culture, nature, etc. to better understand the many facets of the city.
Which Parisian neighborhoods you will get to visit with Croque Brique ?
An image being worth a thousand words, below is a map I've made (with military precision) that illustrates what we are referencing when talking "about neighborhoods always out of the touristic routes" :
(Notes about the map : The part in blue is out of my scope since it's already packed with walking tours, tapping intensively into Parisian "clichés". The green area will be my first focus and I'll take over the yellow bit at later stage.)
Our first walking tours will bring us to the "south of the south" of Paris (13th-14th-15th arrondissements), where I have moved back a few months ago. It is not usually visited by tourists or parisians that are not living there. If everything goes smoothly, in a few months, we will also explore the right bank of the Seine river with visits in the 19th and 20th arrondissement. And then, as soon as possible, we will try to convince Parisians to cross the "périphérique" (the ring road circling Paris).
The "south of south" of Paris is incredible for many reasons :
An industrial and popular past that can still be seen in the streets
Architectures that are more than 200 years or less than 2 weeks old
Traces from great intellectual movements and utopias from the 20th century
Big brutalist concrete towers but also paradisiac little streets.
From writer Jean Genet to film-maker Agnès Varda, local heroes who have made these neighborhoods unique
A first-class cultural diversity and liveliness
Nature and remarkable parks and gardens (no kidding!), etc.
There is here something quite savoury that encapsulates all the history and the essence of Paris. This is what we will be happy to show you.
What should you be expecting ?
For the walking tours, a particular care will be brought to make these lively and impersonated moments. Life is too short to hear long monotonous monologues.
And since your time is precious, everything will be easy to book online. Availabilities for the walking tours will be progressively added to the website. It seems THAT simple that it quite intriguing why it is not the case everywhere.
All walking tours will also be available in English. I speak it with a delicious Oxfordian accent.
When will we meet again ?
It is (almost) time for our reunion. Walking tours will start for everyone early september. Suntaned and relaxed, we will be taking on the streets together, I swear.
Until then, you can :
Suscribe to our mailing list so you make sure not to miss anything!
Follow us on social networks like Instagram (@croquebrique) or Facebook.
And if you cannot wait and want to take part to the "test" walking tours, send me a message so I put you on the list.
Enjoy this long-deserved summer. See you soon ! All the best, Hugo
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