Dipping into a French melting pot

Places to explore the global night life in Paris include the Olympic Cafe. [Photo/Agencies]

Richness of the city's global culture is one of its greatest assets.

When is Paris not just Paris? When it's a window onto Dakar, Senegal; or Morocco; or Mumbai, India; or Moscow.

The city successfully markets itself as a playground in which to sample France's vast traditional cultural and gastronomic output, from wines to cheeses to literature and fashion. But that's only half of France's heritage.

So while tourists often flock to the City of Lights to see famous French sites - Notre Dame, the Louvre and, of course, the Eiffel Tower - that are clustered, for the most part, in the center of the city, they may miss a global metropolis that offers a sampling of many different cultures.

France's former colonial ties with many countries have created vital immigrant communities from North and West Africa and from parts of Asia. The result is a mix of areas to explore in less tourist-centric outer neighborhoods: the 18th, 19th, 20th, 10th, 11th and 12th Arrondissements.

In the Goutte d'Or neighborhood in the 18th Arrondissement, for example, you'll find West African women in long dresses of bright wax batik fabric buying vegetables at shops with names like Paris L'Afrique.

At Passage Brady in the 10th, you'll find yourself in a street of Indian restaurants and shops; or, in gentrifying, multicultural Belleville, a mlange of cultures including one of the city's East Asian communities.

While waves of immigration transform many global cities, there are few road maps to explore them in a country so wedded to its heritage that it maintains an academy dedicated to preserving its language.

Here is a quick lesson on mezze Paris and a few suggestions of places where you can immerse yourself in a different world.