République is the central axis touching three arrondissements: the 10th, the 11th, and the 3rd. All streets around « Répu » (as Parisians like to say) are full of restaurants, bars, boutique hotels and shops, especially west, going into the Marais, and east, leading to the Canal. The statue in the middle of this large Parisian square is of Marianne, the French version of Lady Liberty.
République is the real deal: everyone, from skaters, protesters of heretofore unimaginable stripes (Turkish communists? Pro-Putin Russians?), graffiti artists, basic-ass commuters, religious proselytizers (so refreshingly rare in the land of Laïcité!)and, of course, les drug dealers de Paris, use it daily. Even the infamous pickpocket gang reconvenes here at about 6–7 pm, after a day of stealing your shit at the Louvre, etc., before they gather and head to their communal hideout in some unsurveilled part of the suburbs. For once I’m not joking.
