Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The residential secret begins around the expansive Place
Denfert-Rochereau. Although the
quartier
has changed and
high-rise development has tried to encroach, much of the
area remains reminiscent of a Paris that has elsewhere
disappeared. Broad streets close to the square, such as
rue Froidevaux and boulevard Saint-Jacques, have stately
buildings and an open atmosphere. The massive, concrete
Place de Catalogne, part residential, part offices, dominates
toward the west, but it gives way to the long rue Vercingétorix,
whose top portion is now a neighbourhood promenade
and park. Renovated studios and apartments with quiet
courtyards nestle in some of the short streets (the
impasses
,
cités
and
villas
) and artists' ateliers still dot the entire area.
Off the busy avenue du Général Leclerc and just a few steps
from the market street, rue Daguerre, is the astoundingly
beautiful Villa Adrienne, a community of gracious apartments
overlooking a lovely little park.
The area from Plaisance to Alésia is lively, with both
commercial and residential buildings and interesting little
streets mixed in, some of which will, no doubt, soon be
renewed. Rue d'Alésia is known for its discount clothing
shops, but it is also the commercial artery in this agreeable
part of the
arrondissement
.
But it is the southern area that has it all. Parc Montsouris
has beautiful gardens, a charming, terraced restaurant
featuring band performances, a puppet theatre for the
children and a sizeable lake that is home to graceful aquatic
birds. Overlooking this wonder are the apartments on rue
Nansouty. Adjacent—and dotting this
quartier
throughout—
are exceptional private villas. Just across boulevard Jourdan,
lying admist another green expanse, is the Cité Universitaire,
a cluster of 40 international student residences of eclectic
styles dating from the 1920s. This greensward stretches
west to the Porte de Vanves, the scene of one of Paris' most
popular weekend flea markets.
Getting around these southern reaches has been
made easier recently, with the opening of the new
modern tramway that runs from Porte d'Ivry to the Pont
de Garigliano.
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