Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
level. Forthe best view andthe sweetest crêpes you've ever had,look forthe oldriver barge
Daphné
and see if Valeria is open (€2.50-3.50). If the sun is out, he should be there.
After passing the Pont au Double (the bridge leading to the facade of Notre-Dame),
watch on your left for
Shakespeare and Company,
an atmospheric reincarnation of the ori-
ginal 1920s bookshop and a good spot to page through books (37 Rue de la Bûcherie; see
here
). Before returning to the island, walk a block behind Shakespeare and Company, and
take a spin through the...
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Latin Quarter
Thisarea'stouristyfamerelatestoitsintriguing,artsy,bohemiancharacter.Thiswasperhaps
Europe's leading university district in the Middle Ages, when Latin was the language of
higher education.
The neighborhood's main boulevards (St. Michel and St. Germain) are lined with
cafés—once the haunts of great poets and philosophers, now the hangouts of tired tourists.
Though still youthful and artsy, much of this area has become a tourist ghetto filled with
cheap North African eateries. Exploring a few blocks up- or downriver from here gives you
a better chance of feeling the pulse of what survives of Paris' classic Left Bank. For colorful
wandering and café-sitting, afternoons and evenings are best.
Walking along Rue St. Séverin, you can still see the shadow of the medieval sewer sys-
tem. The street slopes into a central channel of bricks. In the days before plumbing and toi-
lets,whenpeoplestillwenttotheriverorneighborhoodwellsfortheirwater,flushingmeant
throwing it out the window. At certain times of day, maids on the fourth floor would holler,
“Garde de l'eau!”
(“Watch out for the water!”) and heave it into the streets, where it would
eventually wash down into the Seine.
Consider a visit to the
Cluny Museum
for its medieval art and unicorn tapestries (see
here
). The
Sorbonne
—the University of Paris' humanities department—is also nearby; vis-
itors can ogle at the famous dome, but they are not allowed to enter the building (two blocks
south of the river on Boulevard St. Michel).
Besuretosee
PlaceSt.Michel.
Thissquare(facingthePontSt.Michel)isthetraditional
core of the Left Bank's artsy, liberal, hippie, bohemian district of poets, philosophers, and
winos. In less commercial times, Place St. Michel was a gathering point for the city's mal-
contents and misfits. In 1830, 1848, and again in 1871, the citizens took the streets from the
government troops, set up barricades
Les Miz
-style, and fought against royalist oppression.
DuringWorldWarII,thelocalsroseupagainsttheirNazioppressors(readtheplaquesunder
the dragons at the foot of the St. Michel fountain). Even today, whenever there's a student
demonstration, it starts here.
