Rue du Faubourg Montmartre

I'm back from one of my weekly trips to Paris...a few of the girls joined me at one of my favorite restaurants in Paris, Le Bouillon Chartier on rue du Faubourg Montmartre. There are many streets in Paris with the names starting with 'Faubourg'...they led to former 'suburbs' surrounding the old walls of Paris. This one leads to Montmartre and to the hilly area, home to the Sacre Coeur church and Place du Tertre.

Faubourg is an ancient French term approximating "suburb" ( now banlieue ). The earliest form of Forsbourg, derived from Latin foris, 'out of', and Vulgar Latin ( originally Germanic) burgum, 'town or 'fortress'. Traditionally, this name was given to an agglomeration forming around a throughway leading outwards from a city gate, and usually took the name of the same thoroughfare within the city.

Many Parisian streets have retained their ancient denomination in spite of city growth; today it is still possible to discern pre-1860 delimitations in Paris by marking the point where a thoroughfare's name changes from rue to rue du faubourg. For instance, the rue du Faubourg Saint-Denis used to be located outside of the city wall and was an extension of the rue Saint-Denis within the walls. The rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré and rue du Faubourg de Montmartre came about in a similar manner.