JOIN IN THE FUN ~ CHAT ABOUT QUIRK NO.9! |
"How Old Can You Go?"
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And here you have it folks, I proudly give you what we've all been waiting for and as touted in Paris tourist guides up and down the kingdom for decades...
...the oldest house in Paris!
Ummm....
Only it isn't. Don't get me wrong; people thought it was, they really did (witness the aforementioned guide books) up until the end of the 70s. Then a chap with a stubborn tendency to not believe what he reads in guide books unless he's verified it for himself... found an older one!
Of course we'll be discovering the latter later, well, two or three other contenders for the throne actually, but for now let's just enjoy this marvellously medieval-looking structure.Apparently it was reclassified from the fourteenth to seventeenth century as historians began to have more and more doubts about its authenticity. I've even seen the suspiciously precise 1644 quoted by one source, although I fail to see how they can be so sure.
Most houses of the presupposed 1300s era had a cellar, and 3, rue Volta's singular lack of one may just have been its downfall, if that isn't a paradox too far.
The road itself is rather curious too. For some reason, this little section of street, along with the adjoining narrow Rue au Maire has developed into a mini-mini-mini China town or some sort of Asian backwater anyway.
"What would our 'middle-aged' friends have made of this - cheery Chinatown in the heart of 17th century Paris?" |
What with Asian restaurants and those unique Chinese supermarkets giving off unmistakably oriental aromas, as well as our old-house-in-question belonging to a family of Asian hairdressers, it seems like we are experiencing the third, or is it the fourth now, Paris Chinatown in the making.
What our 'middle-aged' friends would have made of that is anyone's guess. It just goes to show how times change, but the Wong remains the same. And having said that, I can't actually remember ever hearing the name Wong uttered in Paris or seeing it written. Maybe it's a South American export which didn't materialise on this side of the emigrating world.A nod goes to the Space Invader street decorator, who says he has just put his 1000th mosaic up on the walls of the city. Even our medieval Chinese hair salon isn't sacred. Oh well. Game over for 3 Rue Volta, I guess.
Intrigued as to what the current thinking on the oldest house in Paris is? Well, of course I'll tell you, just not quite yet!
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