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The times have changed and while
Francois
Villon has
long vanished from the dark riverbanks,
J.P Sartre
no longer keeps office
hours in the local cafés,
Alberto
Giacometti
and
Samuel
Beckett no
longer stroll the
Boulevard St.
Germain and
black American Jazz masters no longer haunt the
late night dives, St. Germain is still blessed by
a youthful energy, interesting streets and the
atmosphere that accompanies a living university
district. Yes, the gritty feel of it's original
streets and crowded bars has long since given in
to a wave of tourist-inspired gift shops, fake
Greek eateries run by North Africans,
pseudo-Irish, pseudo-Salsa, pseudo-everything
bars--- but one has to fight the temptation to
grow bitter. Certain traditional Parisians refuse
to associate with the neighborhood in the same way
they avert their gaze when passing the glass
pyramids of the Louvre. Tradition has been
damaged, but traditions are constantly being
renewed (we hope), and oxymoronic as that may
sound, it is the only way countries built on
complex and much-scrutinized histories assert
themselves as modern players. The area is not
limited to students, bars and tourists. As a
center for bookstores, design shops, museums,
churches, high-end art galleries, boutique hotels,
historic cafés and restaurants, it is virtually
impossible to be disappointed. To paraphrase
Samuel Johnson with a twist--- if you are bored in
St. Germain, you are bored with life.
The official "center" of the area is the
church of St.
Germain des Prés
(metro St. Germain des
Prés). The original foundations were laid in the
3d century A.D. but the church standing today was
built in 1163 and is the remnant of what was once
a rather large monastery complex. Visible remains
can be seen in the ivy-covered areas inside the
wrought iron fence that surrounds the building.
The interior is a good example of the painted
Gothic style and on certain days, usually
religious holidays, classical concerts are
performed in the candlelit interior. Facing the
square is the
Café Les Deux
Magots, ( I
call it, the two maggots, but don't do that)
possibly the most famous left bank café along with
theCafé de
Flore which
is just around the corner on the Boulevard St.
Germain.
(Hemmingway,
Sartre
and
Simone de
Beauvoirall
frequented the
Deux
Magots,
whereas
Picasso
liked the
Flore
) You can stare at the trendy artsy-fartsy types
and the cell-phone-obsessed businessmen with
beautiful (and very bored) girlfriends in the
windows, or go in yourself and order a vin blanc
or a five-euro coffee. In warm weather, the
sidewalk tables are filled, but if you want to see
good looking people walking around and funny dogs
is various new dog accoutrements, get a table and
try to look preoccupied with your own brilliant
thoughts. For a less visible, but just as
intellectually authentic, stroll down
therue
Bonaparte and
try the Café
Bonaparte,
also formerly patronized by the artists and poets
who are now more likely to be serving in the cafés
than frequenting them.
If you continue down
the rue
Bonaparte you
will eventually see the
Ecole des Beaux
Arts on your
left. This is the historic
School of Fine Arts
in Paris
through which many of
the great names in art history passed before
anyone knew them. At the turn of the century, this
was the most prestigious art academy in the world.
While it maintained a stiff and traditional method
of training, the rigorous program was where many
young painters learned the techniques they later
earned the right to break.
Gericault, Delacroix,
Fragonard, Ingres, Moreau, Degas, Monet,
Renoir,
and
Sisley
were some of the early
masters to graduate form the school. While the
school may conjure references to the establishment
and conservative art, it was actually founded on a
social theory which invited art students on merit
alone and not social standing. If you continue,
turn right and make your way up the
rue de
Seine you
will see most of the high-end art galleries
specializing in 19th and 20th century masters,
prints, and photographs. If you feel like
splurging on a small
Vlaminck
, or
Matisse
Print, or a
Picasso
sketch, this is the
place. As you walk back up, there is a very nice
bistro on the corner
ofrue de
Seine
and
rue Callot
for those who need a
break. The rue
de Seine is
also lined with small restaurants, bars and hotels
as you near the
Blvd. St.
Germain.
For a more touristy, noisy walk, turn on
the rue
Buci which
has a couple of good cafés and a
Taschen
bookstore which is worth
visiting for cheap, high-quality art books, and
good looking art students. Right across the street
is a funky café which appears to be modeled on
some sort of former brothel-red walls, etc. There
are no prostitutes to be found, but the coffee
isn't bad.
The rue
Buci turns
into the rue
St. Andre des
Arts, which
is a lively street full of sandwich shops,
creperies, bars, restaurants. It must be somewhat
obvious by now that it is unlikely you will leave
the neighborhood without overeating or getting
drunk. Give in, I recommend both. Right at
13 rue de l'Ancienne
Comédie you
will find the
legendaryCafé
Le Procope,
which claims to be the oldest café/restaurant in
France, founded in 1686. If that's not good enough
for you,
Volataire, Danton,
Hugo, Balzac, Rousseau,Benjamin
Franklin
and
Thomas
Jefferson all
hung out here (at different times we hope) This is
a beautiful place to treat someone to a special
lunch/dinner in high style. The interior is
stunning, and when you arrive from the airport
late and step outside after a quick shower for a
bite to eat, this place will remind you why you
just flew 4000 miles on your overextended credit
card. There is a special menu for 45 euros which
is a good solution. (check out www.procope.com )
In general, my advice it to avoid restaurants with
big menu specials on colored cardboard, and by all
means NEVER be coerced into entering by a
fast-talking, grinning, multilingual "patron".
This is a personal rule, but if a restaurant has
to plead with me to enter and offer me nasty
liqueurs as a bribe, I don't want to eat there.
The people who stand in restaurant doorways and
try to "snag" tourists are paid to do that. They
count on those of you who are too polite to refuse
their enthusiasm. Do not start a conversation
about your home state or whether you like grilled
fish, or state your nationality--- the more you
say, the harder it is to escape. Be rude, you are
in Paris after all! When in Rome…
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Another focal point in St. Germain is
the St.
Sulpice
church. Organ concerts
are performed at the St. Sulpice, mostly works for
the Organ. On Sundays you can actually climb the
stairs and find yourself "inside" an organ with
about 7000 pipes going full blast. Try to get
there around noon to be included in this, or
arrive at 10:30 if you are simply interested in
the public mass. The organ was considered to be
one of the best three in the French Kingdom. It
was rebuilt to accommodate more modern technology
without altering its historic design. It is still
one of only three "100 stop" organs in the world.
(the other two are in Germany and England) The
church itself faces the Square St. Sulpice flanked
by some of the priciest real estate in Paris (in
other words, if you live here you are lucky).
Right next to the square is the small
rue des
Cannettes
which has a number of
nice little restaurants, cafes a brewery and even
the Birdland
Jazz Bar.
That whole little section which includes
rue
Guisard,
rue
Princesse
and
rue
Mabillon
seems to have more than
its share of good food and nightly activity. Among
recommended restaurants are
L'Enfance de Lard,
Chez Henri, Chez
Georges, and
whatever the name of the Italian restaurant is
onrue de
Cannettes
that is closest to the
square. Normally I remember to take a card but a
guy had a heart attack and was taken out on a
stretcher and it sort of distracted me from my
task. I am sure it was nothing in the food that
caused it. Also in the same little area is the
Village Voice bookshop on rue Princesse, a
haunt of famous and obscure English and
American writers and readers which has a large
selection of English language books and magazines
crammed into a tiny space. They have poetry and
novel readings by the same local writers who shop
and browse here as well as many who are just
passing through.
The Rue
Bonaparte
leads off the square and
is known for cafés and restaurants and is worth
taking a stroll along. Both
Baudelaire
and
theMarquis de
Sade were
baptized in the church, which is an amazing
thought in itself, and makes you wonder how
effective that little ritual was in making them
holy… The Square is a great place to sit down or
lie on a bench near the fountains and cool off
during the hot summer months. It attracts
musicians and street performers who are sometimes
quite good. For those interested in the great
Romantic painter
Eugene
Delacroix,
the Musee
Delacroix is
filled with memorabilia, sketches, drawings,
furniture and famous correspondence from the
painter's life. It was
Delacroix
who painted the frescoes
in the nearby church.
Delacroix's
greatest works are to be
found in museums throughout the world, but his
most celebrated canvas,
Liberty Leading the
People, hangs
in the
Louvre.
The
smallDelacroix
museum is
situated in a courtyard with a garden and is
another place to escape the noise and heat while
discovering something of the private life of one
of the world's great painters.
(6 rue de
Furstenburg,
9:30-5:00. closed Tuesday, price : 3,50 Euros)
If the weather is nice, take a break and
wander through the Beautiful
Luxembourg
gardens.
After a horrific shopping spree in the
multitudinous shops of St. Germain, this is an
ideal place to find a chair by the main fountain
and lounge in the sun. There is another fountain
on the southeast end of the park, which is covered
in Ivy and is more private. Certain areas are also
reserved for children, with swings,
merry-go-rounds and ponies for rent. The grass is
accessible in some spots, but not in others, but
bicycles are not allowed. (unless you walk them)
The gardens are actually owned by the French
Senate, which is housed in the elegant Chateau.
This explains the somewhat rigid feel of the
park--- lots of rules written on signs, but is
apparently the price we pay for having such
cultivated aesthetics, the flowerbeds which are
rotated at a stunning rate, the groomed perfection
of the trees and shrubs, the lack of any garbage.
As a form of resistance, it will appear that every
teenager in Paris has chosen this spot to make out
in public. If you are a puritan type, and easily
distressed by such public displays of affection, I
recommend you stay in your hotel room and hide
under the bed. We have always been told this is
the city of romance--- if you can't kiss here,
where the hell can you?
St. Germain is bisected by the
Boulevard St.
Germain,
which serves as the central axis of the area
running roughly parallel to the river. Most of the
above mentioned sights are within five minutes
walk of the Boulevard. Because it would be
impossible and somewhat pointless to list all the
interesting spots along this long, broad and
colorful boulevard, I simply recommend you follow
it's entire length, starting at the national
Assembly and ending at the
Institut du Monde
Arabe on the
other side of the left bank. It's a long walk, but
you are sure to be distracted in the best possible
manner along the way. Also on the Boulevard be
sure to stop in at the tourism office for Brittany
where you will see their incredible collection of
sardine cans. You can buy them (with sardines of
course) and you too can have a sardine collection
that will impress your friends who are probably
ignorant of the large variety of sardines that
exist in Brittany. I bought a dozen or so cans and
besides being beautiful they are quite good.
Better than any I have eaten in America.
(You can enlarge any of the above photos by clicking on them.)
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