Paris Moderne

One of the many modern buildings in the 13th.

Paris isn't just about Eiffel Tower and Haussmann buildings. There are some extremely modern architecture throughout the city.   This weekend, I decided to participate in a photography meetup group's tour of the 13th arrondissement (neighborhood).

The 13th arrondissment not only hosts the iconic Chinatown district, but also the new neighborhood "Paris Rive Gauche" or Left Bank Paris.  As soon as I got off the "Avenue de France" tramway station, I saw lots and lots of new construction.  Scaffolding and cranes encircled modern buildings with lots of metal sheeting and unconventional shapes and configurations -- quite the antithesis of the Napoleonic era Haussmann buildings most people imagine when thinking about Paris.  The 13th is a dynamic a lively neighborhood that surprisingly was not overly dense or crowded.  I'll have to go back in the fall to verify this last statement. It could just be the case that the residents were all on vacation...