Improbable Walks

Feb 28 2025 40 ep. 15 mins 6
Improbable Walks Podcast artwork

Welcome to Improbable Walks, the travel podcast that brings you to the streets of Paris, wherever you are. Every episode, we discover a new street in the City of Light, strolling into the hidden history and stories of Paris, block by block. Your host is Canadian writer and long-time parisienne, Lisa Pasold. To support this  monthly podcast, please subscribe for free, so you're notified when the next podcast is available. Merci!

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Charles Baudelaire & the Club des Hashischins

Feb 28 2025 18 mins  
In honor of the moody month of February, we visit Ile Saint-Louis, retracing Baudelaire's drug-induced dreams. Our route goes along the central main street, rue de Saint-Louis-en-l'Ile, from West to East. The first mansion on our route is the Hôtel de Lauzun - where Revolutionary "it girl" Thérésa Cabarrus Tallien lived. For photos, please check out my website. Thanks as always

In the Shadow of Notre Dame

Jan 31 2025 12 mins  
In this episode, we celebrate the reopening of the Grand Dame of Paris by strolling in the shadow of the great Cathedral Notre Dame, looking at narrow medieval streets on the Island of the City which survived the great upheaval of Haussmann renovations. We talk about rue Chanoinesse--where there is a surprisingly beautiful police garage! And we walk down the unbelievably tiny rue d

Sublime & Seedy: Delacroix on rue Visconti

Nov 30 2024 14 mins  
In this episode, we check out the atmospheric rue Visconti on the Left Bank, tucked around the corner from chic rue Jacob. This sometimes-maligned little street was home to painter Delacroix (this is where he painted his friend George Sand & her lover Chopin!) and writer Balzac ran a printing press here. For photos, please check out my website. Thanks as always to Bremner Fletc

Surrealism, Lee Miller, & Blue

Oct 29 2024 20 mins  
In this episode, we check out CAMPAGNE-PREMIERE just below boulevard de Montparnasse. The street is barely one block long, but a surprising number artists and writers lived here during the first half of the 20th century, including Man Ray, Lee Miller, Yves Klein, Foujita, Elsa Triolet, and Louis Aragon! If streets are haunted by past creative shades, this is definitely a busy block

Anais Nin, Henry Miller, & the Villa Seurat

Jul 24 2024 17 mins  
In this episode, we stroll into a hidden gem behind the well-known streets of Montparnasse: the Villa Seurat. This is a small street described in the famous Diaries of Anais Nin. Villa Seurat also appears in the work of her lover, Henry Miller, although he disguises the identity of the street by calling it “Villa Borghese”. This part of the 14th arrondissement really conjures t

Pop songs & cigarettes - Serge Gainsbourg on rue de Verneuil

Jul 01 2024 18 mins  
In this episode, we visit a classic Left Bank street, the rue de Verneuil... which has a lively 20th century cultural record: This is where writer James Baldwin first landed in Paris, where singer Juliette Gréco lived, and where songwriter Serge Gainsbourg wrote, loved, smoked, and drank--today, his former home is the location of the Gainsbourg museum. For photos, please check out

Theatre & Decadence in La Nouvelle Athènes

May 31 2024 14 mins  
In this episode, we visit the "New Athens", a newly-restored neighborhood once inhabited by theatre stars, courtesans, and painters. Find out who Napoleon Bonaparte bought bedroom furniture for, admire some truly lovely 1820s architecture, and admire the decadent visionary artistry of Symbolist painter Gustave Moreau. For photos, please check out my website. Thanks as always to Bre

The Passage des Panoramas

Mar 27 2024 18 mins  
We focus on the Passage des Panoramas & the Passage Jouffroy--two of my favourite covered passageways in Paris today. Back in the 1800s, Parisians window-shopped, met for pastry and tea, and browsed music stories to find the latest compositions in these arcades, and really, things haven't all changed that much. This episode includes the story of the Panoramas (virtual reality b

Back to the Grands Boulevards

Feb 28 2024 20 mins  
In this episode, we continue our stroll along the Grands Boulevards, exploring some wild stories, literati, and even an assassination attempt that resulted in the brand new Garnier Opera house being built. And I get to chat about some of my favourite Parisians from the past, including General Thomas-Alexandre Dumas, the Revolutionary hero & father of writer Alexandre Dumas. For

Belle Epoque Spectacle: Grands Blvds (part 1)

Dec 19 2023 24 mins  
In this episode, we celebrate the holidays with a stroll past the Opera Garnier. Bright department store windows, glittering performances, and even cinema lights: the Grands Boulevards has it all. This is where the Lumiere Brothers introduced film to Paris audiences, and where Nadar ran his 19th-century photography studio. As always, for more info, links, and photos, check out my w