Eating in the rue des Rosiers

After leaving the Archive Nationale today, I walked down the rue des Rosier, the heart of the Jewish neighborhood in Paris. I had a falafel pita from one of the many restaurants that offer take out at their windows. It reminded me of my first falafel pita on that same street on my first trip to Paris 10 years ago.

The rue des Rosiers is an interesting place, a little bit Paris, a little bit Jerusalem. Along the street, Orthodox men in black hats walked or gathered in groups to talk with one another. Signs with stars of David adorn the shopfronts as do menorahs in the windows. Someone told me recently that you can get pretty good bagels in this neighborhood -- not quite a New York bagel, but close. I saw some, along with a range of other delicious looking treats, in the window of an impressive bakery. I might go there tomorrow for lunch.

In front of me standing at the take out window were some Americans, probably college kids. One of them had ordered a pita, and the girl next to him asked, "Did you just say 's'il vous please?'" (rather than "s'il vous plait," or "please" in French). I didn't hear him make such a funny mixture of French and English ("franglais," as some call it), so I don't know whether he said it or not. But it somehow seemed appropriate for such a multicultural place as the rue des Rosiers. Either way, he got his pita.