Le Village Royal

Métro: Madeleine (line 12 or 14)
Address: 25 rue Royal, 75008 Paris
Hours:  8:00 am to 7:00 pm Monday-Saturday
             Closed on Sunday
Website: http://www.villageroyal.com/

Probably one of the most well-kept passages in Paris, it makes you feel in a different atmosphere than the busy Paris we all know. One of the things I really like about this passage way is that it's decorated with seasonal flowers and plants so you can even smell tropical flowers in the summer months. Right now, obviously it's Christmas season so it's appropriately dressed for the occasion with beautiful red lights and abundant Christmas trees.

So beside its charm, this place also has a cool history. Originally, it was a barrack for the Musketeers of Louis XIII. With the growing population of the 18th century, there was an urgent need for a market. Butchers and farmers made it their quarter. But with the years, it got abandoned. Luckily in 1992, it was decided to make it the fashion place that it is now. Chanel or Dior are its new residents more glamorous than fishmonger.

Passage Gustave Lepeu et Passage Alexandrine

Métro: Charonne (line 9)
Address: Passage Gustave Lepeu, 75011 Paris
               Passage Alexandrine, 75011 Paris

I was walking around in the 11th district when I stumbled upon these two paralleled passage ways. They're not the most amazing, famous or original streets of Paris I've seen but I don't know there's something about them. They are located far from the glitz of the center of Paris but they got soul. I find them charming in their own way. You can tell it's not the rich and famous living here but yet I think the inhabitants of these lovely pads did an awesome job making these streets romantic.