The Gare de l’Est, built in 1849, is one of the largest and the oldest railway stations in Paris. It's been a historical monument since 1984. On 4 October 1883, the Gare de l'Est saw the first departure of the Orient Express for Istanbul. The Gare de l'Est is the terminus of a strategic railway network extending towards the eastern part of France, and it saw large mobilizations of French troops, most notably in 1914, at the beginning of World War I. In the main-line train hall, a monumental painting by Albert Herter, dating from 1926, illustrates the departure of these soldiers for the Western front.

The Recollets convent (17th century - 18th century) . Marie de Medici started the convent with the first stone in 1614. Close to Gare du Nord and Gare de l'Est, it was used during the two world wars, and even during the Algerian war, as a military hospital. The buildings that you see are from the 18th century.

Canal Saint-Martin is a 4.5 km long canal in Paris. It connects the Canal de l'Ourcq to the river Seine. The construction of the canal was ordered by Napoleon I in 1802, in order to create an artificial waterway for supplying Paris with fresh water to support a growing population and to help avoid diseases such as dysentery and cholera. Today, the canal is a popular destination for Parisians, tourists, and students, who watch the barges navigate the series of locks and road bridges. There are also a number of popular restaurants and bars along it. Painters, such as Alfred Sisley, were inspired by the canal. The canal appears in the 2001 film Amélie by Jean-Pierre Jeunet. The turning bridge is from 1885.

The hospital was created by Henry IV, in 1607, because the Hotel Dieu (Ile de la Cité) was full during plague epidemics. It had it’s first patiens in 1618. It's like a small « Place des Vosges », built exactly at the same time, and by the same architect, Claude Chastillon.

Rue Saint Maur. Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa, one of the most famous paintings in the world, was stolen on August 21, 1911, right off the wall of the Louvre. It was noticed missing the following day. Two years went by with no word about the painting. Vincenzo Perugia kept the painting for two years Under his bed, at 196 rue Saint Maur. He hadn't had a plan to dispose of the painting; his only goal was to return it to Italy Then, he made contact with an italian rich merchant, Alfredo Geri. And that’s how we found back the Joconda.

Belleville in the 1940’s… Historically, Belleville was a working class neighborhood. In 1871, residents of the incorporated neighborhood of Belleville were some of the strongest supporters of the Paris Commune. When the Versailles Army came to reconquer Paris, it faced some of the toughest resistance in Belleville and in neighboring Menilmontant. During the first half of the 20th century, many immigrants settled there : Ottoman Armenians, Ottoman Greeks, German Jews and Spaniards during the civil war in 1936. Algerians and Tunisian Jews arrived during the 1960s.

It is the largest cemetery in the city of Paris. The cemetery takes its name from the confessor to Louis XIV, Pere François de la Chaise (1624–1709), who lived in the Jesuit house rebuilt in 1682 on the site of the chapel. Today there are over 300,000 bodies buried there. Among them : Honore de Balzac, Sarah Bernhardt, Georges Bizet, Jean-François Champollion, Frederic Chopin, Colette, Isadora Duncan, jean de la Fontaine , Theodore Gericault, Ingres, Clarence John Laughlin, Marcel Marceau, Modigliani, Jim Morrison, Edith Piaf, Gertrude Stein, Oscar Wilde, Richard Wright, and many more...