After the disappointment of just how poorly I had done in Qualifiers (future post on this), Scott proposed walking along Canal Saint Martin. With the lovely weather, I thought this was a very good idea. We decided to start our walk out of the metro station Juares (look along orange line 5 on the right bank side), and were immediately struck by all these tents right outside the station and all along the canal. These tents went on a fair distance and looked like fairly long-term residences for what seemed to entirely Middle Eastern people. My first thought was, are these refugees?

There were tents both at canal and street level (Photo: https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7012/26979091772_3732fd8b95_b.jpg)

It turns out they are. I had no idea such a large encampment could exist so visibly and in a gentrified area such as Canal Saint Martin.

This picture gives you a bit of a clue of the litter around the camps (Photo: wikimedia.org)

As I approached each section of tents/men, I quickened my pace, clutched my handbag, to get past them. It made me wonder, why do you feel threatened by these refugees? Part of the answer is I did not know for certain they were refugees. And I think that a long row of men, of any race/status is threatening. Except for frat boys or guys at a American football game.

One of the locks along the canal.

While our walk was not as scenic as we expected, it yielded information on one of the many issues Paris deals with.