Oberkampf: the bar spine, walked by daylight
The 11th's nightlife corridor in the calm of afternoon — the circus, the church, the food street. This is a Claude-drafted route awaiting the editor's walk.

1. Oberkampf metro
Come up at the Boulevard Voltaire end and turn into rue Oberkampf. By night this is the loudest street in the 11th; by afternoon it's just a street with the shutters half up, which is the point.

2. Cirque d'Hiver
An 1852 polygon with a winged-victory frieze, still a working circus run by the Bouglione family. You won't get in mid-afternoon, but stand at the corner of rue Amelot and look up; few buildings in Paris commit to their own shape this hard.

3. Rue Saint-Maur
Turn south down the quieter parallel to Oberkampf. Bistros, a *cave à vin* (wine shop) or two, the odd gallery. Walk it slowly; this is where the neighbourhood actually lives between the rushes.

4. Square Maurice-Gardette
A neighbourhood square with plane trees and benches and not a single thing to see, which after the circus is exactly what you want. Sit for ten minutes.

5. Église Saint-Ambroise
A double-towered nineteenth-century church on its own leafy square. You don't have to go in; the square in front, with the market that sets up some mornings, is the better stop.

6. Rue Jean-Pierre Timbaud
The food street — Maghrebi grocers, a couple of the city's better bakeries, spice shops with the door propped open. Buy something to eat on the move; that's how this street is meant to be used.

7. Filles du Calvaire
The M8 stop on Boulevard du Temple, five minutes from the top of the food street. End here, or carry your bread on into the Marais if the light's still good.

Oberkampf: the bar spine, walked by daylight