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St-Germain
St-Germain was a center of bohemianism and existentialism in the
glittering café society of the post-war years. Names associated
with this period are Sartre and Camus and the singer Juliette Greco.
Young French teenagers spent nights in its jazz clubs and cabarets.
Many famous French singers sang in the clubs or lived in the area,
such as Georges Brassens, Jacques Brel, Charles Trénet, Guy
Béart, Charles Aznavour. The home where Serge Gainsbourgh
lived on rue de Verneuil has become a graffitied shrine. Jazz greats
who played here include Sidney Bechet, Miles Davis and Duke Ellington.
The Church of St.Germain-des-Pres
The oldest Abbey in Paris dating from 543 AD, and the heart of the
sixth. This church has always been an important religious center,
and over the years acquired immense property. The church got its
name from the peasants who would come here on pilgrimage in the
8th century. Saint-Germain-des-Pres meaning Saint Germain of the
Fields. Around the year 1000 a new church in the Romanesque style
was built with three bell towers, two were destroyed but the third,
the gate-tower, is still in place.
On the corner of the square in front of the church is the cafe ‘Les
Deux Magots’ and nearby is the ‘Cafe Flore’, both
of which are literary and artistic shrines associated with many
writers and artists such as Jean Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir,
Picasso and Apollinaire. Across the road is Brasserie Lipp favored
by politicians, writers and celebrities.
The streets south of Blvd. St-Germain to the Seine are picturesque
and have a real feel of 18th and 19th century Paris.
St. Sulpice
Work on the church of St-Suplice, at one time Paris's largest, began
in 1646, but is stilll ongoing. It has one of the world's largest
organs, comprising 6,700 pipes. The Chapelle des Anges (Chapel of
the Angel) has two frescoes by Delacroix which were painted in Delacroix’s
final years and were a high point in his career. Outside the Church
is a large square with the 1844 fountain by Visconti at its center.
It is the location of the annual Foire de Saint-German held at the
beginning of June and which lasts for a month. This fair has been
an annual tradition for centuries.
Place St. Michel
Place St-Michel is the busiest spot in the Latin Quarter with
its pink marble fountain, built in 1860, surrounded by cafes facing
the Seine and Notre Dame. The Paris Commune of 1871 began here,
as did the student uprising of 1968.
Musee de Cluny
Was once a medieval monastery, built on the ruins of a vast third-century
Roman bathhouse. Today, it is a museum
of medieval antiquities. The remains of the bathhouse
can be seen just behind the museum.
Jardin du Luxembourg
Jardin du Luxembourg is the most loved park in Paris. It is large
and has fountains, flowers, statues, tennis courts, concerts in
the summer and on Sunday, Tai Chi. Within the park is located the
Palais du Luxembourg, home to the French Senate. Next to the senate
is the Musee du Luxembourg, which often has art exhibitions. Nearby
on rue de Fleurus lived Gertrude Stein and her companion Alice B.
Tokas who opened their home to many famous expatriates, writers
and artists, including Hemingway and Picasso.
Rue Jacob
On rue Jacob is the house and studio, now museum, where Delacroix
lived and where he was frequently visited by George Sand and Frederic
Chopin. Richard Wagner also lived on Rue Jacob, as did Thomas
Jefferson when in Paris. At #7 Racine lived when young; Richard
Wagner resided at #14 from 1841 to 1842; Ingres once lived at
# 27 and Hemingway occupied a tiny upstairs room at #44. Natalie
Barney’s former residence is landmarked but not open to the
public. In the garden you can see a small Doric temple bearing
the inscription A l'Amitié, "to friendship."
Off Rue Jacob is one of the most charming squares in Paris, Place
de Furstenberg.
Rue du Cherche-Midi
Was an ancient Roman road and now this narrow street has chic designer
boutiques, galleries and cafes. The world-famous baker, Poilane, is
at No. 8. Nearby is the first Parisian Department Store which belies
it name, Bon Marche. It has a fabulous food market ‘Le Grand
Epicerie’
Rue de Buci
Rue de Buci is a pretty little marketplace surrounded by cafes
and restaurants and leads into rue de Seine which is filled with
galleries all the way to the river. On rue Mazarine was the theatre
where Moliere made his first appearance as an actor and opened a
theatre, the Comedie-Francaise. The oldest cafe in Paris, founded
in 1686, ‘Cafe Procope’ is in the same street.
Continued...
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