St-Germain-des-Prés

Dominated for centuries by a vast Benedictine abbey, St-Germain-des-Prés came into vogue in the 20th century as the center of intellectual and artistic life, home to smoky jazz clubs and literary cafés. Although the neighborhood’s character has forever changed with the recent arrival of couture and designer clothing boutiques, its narrow side-streets and passages are still full of art galleries, bookstores, and cozy café terraces.

Starting from the Place St-Michel, take the passage Rue de l’Hirondelle to the Rue Git-le-Coeur, turning right onto the Quai des Grands Augustins. This is the oldest quay in Paris, built in 1313. Turn left after the historic restaurant Lapérouse onto the Rue des Grands-Augustins, and explore the Rue Christine, Rue Dauphine and Rue André Mazet. Many of these buildings date back to the 17th century, when the neighborhood surrounding the Abbey at St-Germain-des-Prés became a fashionable place to live. Cross the Rue St-André-des-Arts, a busy street lined with crêpe stands, gift shops, Greek restaurants and art house cinemas, to the Cour du Commerce-St-André. This pleasant passage of cafés and gift boutiques was built in 1776 – look out for those uneven cobblestones! On the right is the back door of the country’s oldest café, Le Procope (13 Rue de l’Ancienne Comédie, 6th, M° Odéon). Opened in 1686, it was popular with actors from the Comédie Française, as well as the young Napoleon Bonaparte and revolutionaries such as Benjamin Franklin and Voltaire. Today it’s an upscale restaurant, but sometimes they’ll let you stop in for coffee at the lobby bar between 4 and 6pm (use the restrooms upstairs to get a good peek at the restored 18th-century décor).

Loop back up to the Carrefour de Buci, turning left onto the busy market street Rue de Buci. This is one of the prime people-watching streets in the neighborhood (particularly from the sidewalk terrace of Le Bar du Marché). Take a right onto the Rue de Seine, cutting through the tiny Rue Jacques Callot to the Rue Guénégaud. On the left is the boutique of the Paris Mint (2 Rue Guénégaud, 6th). Turn left onto the Quai de Conti to visit the production workshops and coin museum of the Hôtel des Monnaies (11 Quai de Conti, 6th, M° Mabillon, www.monnaiedeparis.com). Created by Louis XV in 1775 to mint all of the country’s currency, today it’s reserved for commemorative pieces and medals. The museum is open Tuesday through Friday, 11am to 5:30pm; and weekends, noon to 5:30pm; entry €8 (includes audio guide). Museum Pass accepted. One-hour guided tours of the workshops are available Wednesdays and Fridays at 2:15pm. Tickets €3, free for kids under 16. Call to reserve a place, ☎ 01 40 46 55 35 or ☎ 01 40 46 55 30.

Continue along the quay to the grand Institut de France (23 Quai de Conti, 6th, M° Mabillon). This impressive building, with its 17th-century dome by Le Vau, is where the 40 immortels of the Académie Française gather each year to bemoan the proliferation of franglais in the French vocabulary.

Farther along the quay is the prestigious fine arts academy, the Ecole Nationale Superieur des Beaux-Arts (13 Quai Malaquis, 6th, M° St-Germain-des-Prés, ☎ 01 47 03 50 00, www.ensba.fr). There are regular arts exhibitions, and a bookstore that is open to the public Tuesday through Sunday, 1 to 7pm; exhibit entry €4. The rest of the school is off limits to visitors except during the open house in June. Guided tours of the school are available on Mondays during the school year with prior reservations; ☎ 01 47 03 52 15.

Walk down the Rue Bonaparte, with art gallery detours along the Rue des Beaux-Arts and Rue Visconti. Turn left onto Rue Jacob, with its darling little boutiques and bookshops, to the Rue de Fürstenberg. This romantic square was originally part of the courtyard for the Palais Abbatial (the brick and stone building you can see at the far end of the street), with stables and housing for servants. Today it’s home to upscale interior decorating boutiques and the Musée Eugène Delacroix (6 Rue de Fürstenberg, 6th, M° Mabillon, ☎ 01 44 41 86 50). This museum was the painter’s last residence, where he died in 1863, offering an intimate look at the artist’s work and also personal souvenirs, letters and photographs. Open daily except Tuesday, 9:30am to 5pm. Entry €4, €2.60 for visitors 18-25, free for kids under 18, and everyone the first Sunday of the month. Museum Pass accepted.

Follow the Rue de l’Abbaye to the entrance of the Eglise St-Germaindes-Prés (3 Place St-Germain-des-Prés, 6th, M° St-Germain-des-Prés). From the Middle Ages up until the Revolution, this entire neighborhood belonged to the independent Benedictine abbey, with its own houses, stables, chapels, cloisters and prison. It was closed down by the revolutionary Assembly and used for gunpowder storage. An explosion on August 19,1794 destroyed most of the buildings. Today all that’s left of this once powerful abbey is the Palais Abbatial (converted into government offices) and the monastic church, St-Germain-des-Prés. The bell tower dates back to the original construction in the 11th century, although the rest of the building has been altered throughout the centuries. René Descartes is buried inside (although his head is actually in the Musée de l’Homme, page 120).

Overlooking the Place St-Germain-des-Prés is the Café Deux Magots, and one block down, the Café Flore. These two traditional Parisian cafés were frequented by artists and writers such as Picasso, Hemingway, Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, Albert Camus, Verlaine, and Rimbaud. Today they still hang onto their literary roots, although most of the chic locals and tourists on the terrace don’t bother themselves with anything more existential than a pair of dark sunglasses (the better to discreetly people-watch, my dear). Across the street is another historic landmark, the Brasserie Lipp, an Alsatian brasserie popular with French politicians since the 1920s.

Cross the busy Boulevard St-Germain, one of Haussmann’s Left Bank thoroughfares, to the Rue du Dragon, a tiny street dating back to the Middle Ages, known today for its upscale accessories boutiques. At the end of the street is the Carrefour de la Croix Rouge, the crossroads of the neighborhood’s prime shopping streets, punctuated by César’s Centaure statue. Bear right along the Rue de Sèvres, to the pedestrian-only Rue Récamier. At the back of the passage is a little garden, the Square Récamier, and the Espace EDF Electra (6 Rue Récamier, 6th, M° Sèvres-Babylone, ☎ 01 53 63 23 45), a former electric station converted into a contemporary exposition center for the arts run by EDF (the electric company). Open Tuesday through Sunday, noon to 7pm. Free entry.

At the corner of Rue de Sèvres and Boulevard Raspail is the majestic Hôtel Lutetia, the Left Bank’s only palace hotel, and the historic Bon Marché, the Left Bank’s only department store. Take a well-deserved break in the leafy gardens of the Square Boucicaut.

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