Here's how I got inside an 800-year-old Paris tower this week

Exploring the Philippe Auguste Wall (...again)

On Monday morning, I was leading my usual walking tour of the Marais. When I do the tours, I tend to go pretty deep on the Philippe Auguste Wall, which encircled Paris 800 years ago.

If you’re new to this thing, it’s a defensive wall from the year 1190 that got swallowed up by Paris, largely disappearing over the centuries. I appear to have made it my life’s mission to find all the lost and forgotten vestiges, by knocking on doors, slipping through half open-doors, and sometimes sneaking into places I’m not meant to be.

I’m particularly fond of the old towers.

There used to be 77 of these towers, now there are maybe 7 or 8 that you can still find, almost always in unusual places like in the middle of restaurants, car parks, museums, hidden gardens… that kind of thing.

Let me just remind you, these are 800-year-old towers. Ancient history, as far as I’m concerned. And they’re just standing there, ignored by the majority of passersby.

Anyway, on this walking tour we get to one of the vestiges that’s tucked inside a hidden courtyard in the Marais. I’m talking to the guests about the tower, how I’m fascinated by the brick addition they put on top, centuries later. About how I like that the architects kept with the theme. And I was musing about what might be inside the tower, whether it was bricked up inside or hollow.

And then, as I’m talking about it, two workmen came out of the building that’s attached to the tower, bringing with them a big cloud of dust.

I don’t know what came over me, but I darted up to one of them, and I asked it all. I asked if it was hollow inside. I think he sensed that my curiosity ran deeper than polite conversation, and he said one of my favourite things in the French language.

“Normally we shouldn’t let anyone inside, but exceptionnellement, I’ll show you. But quickly.”

I love exceptions. I live for them.

So, the man whisks me inside the building, opens a dusty door, and reveals the tower’s interior to me.

And to my surprise, it wasn’t bricked up at all. It was hollow. Well, not just hollow. It was home to a wooden, spiral staircase, that went all the way up. And all the way down too.

I knew I only had a few seconds, so I took some quick videos, I took some pictures, and then the man offered to take some photos of me, flitting around in my element. To think, I was inside a medieval tower that was closed to the public. Maybe even abandoned. Jumping around on a staircase that was once an ancient staircase, where sword-wielding Parisians would have walked in the year 1190, watching out for the fearsome Englishmen in the north…

I would have loved to have stayed in the tower, but my tour group was waiting outside, and I had work to do. I thanked the man and went back to the tour (which incidentally has had 87 five-star reviews in a row. Will we make 100?).

So why am I sharing this story? Why do I care? Why should you care?

Well, I don’t know, really. I am very well aware how unusual and obscure this wall obsession is.

It’s just that the hidden curiosities of Paris energize me more than anything else. And if I can bring you readers and listeners even a small percentage of that joy, then I’ll keep sharing it. It truly is astonishing to think what’s hidden away in this wonderful city.

This week on the podcast

This week on The Earful Tower podcast was American baker in Paris Frank Adrian Barron, aka Cake Boy Paris. He talked about how he made it as a baker in the city, sharing his sweet treats on social media, and his book Sweet Paris. Find out more here.

Bonus: for Patreon members, here’s the link to the video where Frank showed us around the chocolate shops on Rue de Bac, from deep in the Patreon archives.

And all this sweet treat talk got us hankering for more, so we dug out seven memorable times we talked chocolate, pastry, and other treats on the podcast. Read more here.

The blades of the Moulin Rouge fall

In this week’s unexpected news, the blades of the windmill atop the Moulin Rouge appear to have fallen off. The venue said that no one was injured, and that the iconic blades fell around 3am. No one knows why.

Cancan anyone fix it, that is the question! Funny to think we just featured the Moulin Rouge two weeks ago, relive the adventure here via our chat with one of the dancers, Canadian Allie Goodbun.

Below is a picture from this afternoon. A very bare windmill indeed.

Our new book is almost ready

Lastly, I’m gonna say something now that authors always say. But I mean it. Our new book, the Animal Games in Paris, might just be our best one yet. This past week Lina and I have been making the final tweaks to it, changing the text, adding new illustrations, hiding little easter eggs for the keen eyes, and making it as perfect as we can. Any day now, we will press the ‘PRINT’ button and send it out to the hundreds of you generous souls who pre-ordered a copy.

If you didn’t order yours, you can still get one ahead of the initial postage wave. Here’s the link for US and French addresses, here’s the link for the rest of the world. Postage is included in those prices. There’s a lot of fun in this book, a lot of Paris, a lot of animals, and some bloody good rhymes, if I’m honest. I can’t wait for you all to read it!

That will do from me, my wife Lina is about 99.9 percent of her way through this second pregnancy, and I have a sneaking suspicion I might be going offline for a little while :)

Wish us luck!