Ann Jeanne in Paris

a Friend in Paris

25Oct

The LATIN QUARTER, the student’s headquarter

Posted by: afriendinparis Categories: Paris Neighborhoods Tours
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Sorbonne Place

The Latin Quarter is located on the Left Bank, between the Seine and the Luxembourg Garden.  It’s an area known for its lively, narrow and winding streets, its students bookshops, publishing houses, its experimental cinemas, its cafés, and jazz clubs…  Paris'map

In this area, famous institutes of learning among them, the 2 most prestigious lycées (high schools) Henri IV and Louis Le Grand, the Ecole Normale Supérieure, the Sorbonne, the Collège de France, Ecole Normale Sup…… 

This neighborhood is a part of Medieval Paris (Middle Âges : from the XI century to the end of XV century). This area was dominated by the Sorbonne since the Middle Âges. The Paris University was created in 1215, the first in France; 4 subjects were taught : Theology, Arts, Medecine and Law. During the 16th century, there were 40 000 students and 65 colleges. Latin was the common language. 

It gets its name from the common language spoken by theology students who came from all over Europe beginning of the 13th century to study at local university such as the Sorbonne. Latin was spoken in the area until the French Revolution (end of 18th century)

 

Take a walk in the Latin Quarter : the best way to enjoy it !

But one of the best way to enjoy the Latin quarter is to stroll the little streets : rue de la Harpe, rue de la Huchette, rue Galande, rue Saint Julien le Pauvre, rue de la Bucherie, rue Frédéric Sauton… When you walk in the eastern part of the area, you’ll be surprised to see how quiet it is  !

Here are a few Latin Quarter locations and buildings :

Sorbonne Place

Place de la Sorbonne and La Chapelle de la Sorbonne. The Chapel was built in the 17th. The place is lined with cafés and shops. It’s one of the favorite haunt for students of the nearby Universities and schools. 

Midnight in Paris  : a famous location of the movie is in the Latin Quarter

Owen Wilson sitting on the steps

Owen Wilson sitting on the steps

Eglise Saint Etienne-du-Mont :

Located on the left side of the Panthéon (just behind).  This church houses of shrine of Sainte Geneviève, patron of Paris and the remains of the great literary figures Racine and Pascal. Its rood screen is gorgeous and really worth a visit.The steps in front of its entrance are where Owen Wilson sat to go back in time in the movie (in “Midnight in Paris“ – Woody Allen). 
(Saint-Etienne-du-Mont church (Latin Quarter) 5 place Sainte Genevieve – Paris 5)

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    Eglise Saint Etienne du Mont

The Panthéon : Conceived (mid 18th century) by Louis XV to honour Sainte Genevieve  (Paris’ patron). With the French Revolution, the church was turned in to a Panthéon. It’s a location for the tombs of France’s great men and women (Voltaire, Rousseau, Pierre and Marie Curie, Victor Hugo, Emile Zola…)

Panthéon

Panthéon

The College de France : one of Paris’s great institutes of research and learning, established by François 1er in 1630. You can easily enter its courtyard.  (College de France’s main entrance :  rue des Ecoles – Paris 5)

College de France courtyard

College de France courtyard

The Middle Âges museum  :
a late 15th century medieval mansion and one of the world’s finest collections of Medieval Art.  (7 rue de Cluny – Paris 5 – RER Cluny Sorbonne or Metro stop Luxembourg or Saint Michel)

Middle Âges Museum

Middle Âges Museum

 

Gallo-Roman Bath

The Gallo-Roman baths : built in AD 200. The baths lasted for about 100 years before being sacked by the Barbarians. Romans settled around the Montagne Saint Genevieve and built Lutecia. They built an acqueduc of 15 kilometers and a network of paved roads, a forum, Baths, theaters…    In the 3 century, Lutecia was a small town of 6000 inhabitants. The remain of the Gallo Roman baths can be visited. (7 rue de Cluny – Paris 5 – Same address than the Middle Âges museum)

Saint Severin church

Saint Severin church

Saint Severin church : a typical Gothic style church. Begun in the 13th century. It took 3 century to build

 

 

Saint Julien le Pauvre church

Saint Julien le Pauvre church

Saint Julien le Pauvre church and the Paris’ oldest tree : Saint Julien le Pauvre is one of the oldest church in Paris (12 century and rebuilt join the 17th century). An a setting for a lot of music concerts. In the park beside the church : the oldest Paris ‘ tree planted in 1601)

St-Michael Fountain

St-Michael Fountain

The Place Saint Michel : the popular meeting point for students, but not only students, and its fountain (Michaël killing the dragon)              

Some more photos

To experience Paris as a local :  take a walk in the Latin Quarter with Ann Jeanne in Paris

My advice :

  • In my opinion, the best way to enjoy the Latin Quarter is to take your time and stroll the area, go in a café (or several !) to rest and people watch. I suggest the cafés Place de la Sorbonne.
  • Walk to the Place du Panthéon and pay a visit to the Saint Etienne du Mont church just behind the Panthéon and then, sit on the steps where Owen Wilson sat in Midnight in Paris !
  • Spend more time in the eastern part of the area (between rue de la Bucherie and the Panthéon).
  • Take a break at Shakespeare and Company’s cafe : a nice place and lovely pastries and snacks. The coffee is delicious too.  Shakespeare and Company café – rue de la Bucherie – Paris 5 – Metro Saint Michel

Link to the article :  Shakespeare and company 

Nearby Notre Dame

YOUR Private walk, with Ann Jeanne in Paris, native Parisian

  • You’d like to feel like a local and having a tour in a Paris neighborhood, but you don’t feel having a tour with a group ?
  • You’d like to discover Paris off the beaten path ?
    You’d like to see Paris in another perspective and to know more about Paris lifestyle 

Meet Ann Jeanne in Paris

CONTACT me for a private walking tour and EXPERIENCE PARIS as a local

  • You only, or you and the person you choose.
  • Duration of the tour : 3-3.5 hours. It includes a coffee in an authentic cafe
  • The tour can be customized according to your preferences and interests 

For more details : The tours – Booking and Pricing

Don’t hesitate to contact me

 

 

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21Jul

HEMINGWAY in Paris

Posted by: afriendinparis Categories: People
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Ernest-Hemingway-quote

01 - Photo Hemingway - a moveable feast

Ernest HEMINGWAY :

1918 – La Madeleine (Metro : Madeleine)

First place for Hemingway in Paris : in 1918, Hemingway, a U.S. Red Cross volunteer at the time, found himself in front of the damaged façade of the church.

Hemingway in Saint Germain des Prés :

  • In 1921, Hemingway and his first wife, Hadley, arrived in Paris and stayed in the “Hôtel d’Angleterre” ( room 14 – 44 rue Jacob – Paris 6) – Metro Saint Germain des Prés), recommended by the American writer, Sherwood Anderson, who also gave him letters of introduction to Gerturde Stein, James Joyce, and to the publisher Sylvia Beach.
    Hemingway often enjoyed coming to “Le Pré aux Clercs”, a cafe located nearby the Hôtel d’Angleterre, (30, rue Bonaparte – Paris 6 – Opening hours : 7/7 8am – 2am)
  • Brasserie Lipp (151 boulevard Saint Germain – Paris 6 – Metro Mabillon)  Hemingway was very fond of this place.
  • Michaud (= now called : “Le Comptoir des Saints-Pères”) in Saint Germain des Prés (corner of rue Jacob and rue des   Saints-Pères) – A restaurant
  • Cafe de Flore, 172 boulevard Saint Germain – Metro Saint Germain des Prés: After the war, Hemingway used to come to the Coupole regularly.
  • Les Deux Magots, 6 place Saint Germain des Prés – Metro Saint Germain des Prés : One of the oldest cafes in Paris. Among its regulars : Verlaine, Rimbaud, Stéphane Mallarmé, Picasso, Oscar Wilde, André Malraux and Antoine de Saint Exupéry.

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Hemingway in Montparnasse :

  • 1924 – Hemingway moves in a flat near the Luxembourg Gardens (113, rue Notre-Dame-des -Champs – Metro Vavin)
  • La Rotonde (105, boulevard Montparnasse – Paris 14 – Metro Vavin) : That’s where he sometimes meets Henry Miller, Scott Fitzgerald and George Gershwin
  • Les Blés d’Ange (boulangerie) – 151 boulevard du Montparnasse – Metro Vavin : That’s where Hemingway was buying his pastries. It was easy for him to get there as it was opposite his house by Notre Dame des Champs.
  • La Closerie des Lilas**   Article about the Luxembourg Gardens : coming next°°° (171, boulevard Montparnasse – RER : Port Royal or Metro : Vavin) He wrote that it was “one of the best cafes in Paris” and it became his “home cafe”. Others writers used to come at the Closerie des Lilas such as Modigliani, Pablo Picasso, Oscar Wilde, Verlaine, Gide, Aragon, Fitzgerald, Sartre, Beckett. Earlier, other famous regulars used to come in this cafe such as : Zola, Gautier, Baudelaire, Honoré de Balzac… That’s where Hemingway wrote his short stories. That’s also where he used to come after splitting up with this first wife, Hadley.
  • Le Select°°°° (99 boulevard Montparnasse – Metro Vavin) – Ernest Hemingway often start his day with breakfast at the Select. He also set several scenes in his novel “The Sun also Rises” (1926) here
  • The Dôme ( 108, boulevard Montparnasse – Paris 14 – Metro Vavin) : Hemingway loved this cafe because often frequented by writers, painters, and artists’ models, such as Gauguin, Modigliani, Kandinsky, Picasso, Miller, Nin and Man Ray.
  • La Coupole, 102 boulevard Montparnasse – Paris 14 – Metro Vavin
  • The Dingo Bar ( = today : “Auberge de Venise” – 10 rue Delambre – Paris 14 – Metro Vavin) : That’s where Hemingway met Scott Fitzgerald for the first time. Where Picasso, and Jean Cocteau used to go as well
  • Hotel Venitia (no longer exists. Now, t’s a travel bookshop) 159 boulevard Montparnasse – Paris 14– Metro Port Royal, Vavin or Raspail
  • Ernest-Hemingway-quote

  • Hemingway and the Luxembourg Gardens** and museum (Metro : Luxembourg or Vavin)

    • This was Hemingway’s favorite place to walk. That’s where he would  often meet Gertrude Stein (The American writer, poetess and feminist) who was walking her dog there.
    • He also enjoyed admiring the impressionist paintings in the Luxembourg museum.  In “A moveable feast” he wrote : “I was learning something from the paintings of Cezanne that made writing simple true sentences far from enough to make the stories have the dimensions that I was trying to put in them. I was learning very much from him…”

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Hemingway in the Latin quarter :

This neighborhood inspired ‘s greatest early works.

  • 1922-1923 : Ernest Hemingway and his wife, Hadley rented a very modest 2 rooms flat on the 3rd floor at 74, rue Cardinal Lemoine (Paris 5 – Metro Cardinal Lemoine). Hemingway described this place in “The Snows of Kilimanjaro”.
  • Then he rented a studio, (39, rue Descartes – Paris 5 – Metro Cardinal Lemoine) in the attic in a four-story house. There was a small restaurant Chez Verlaine, on the ground floor.

About that time, Hemingway wrote : “I was always hungry with the walking and the cold and the working”.

  • Café des Amateurs (today “Café Delmas”, 2 place de la Contrescarpe – Paris 5 – Metro Cardinal Lemoine).  Hemingway wasn’t very fond of the place because regularly frequented by drunks from the neighboring houses, but started “A moveable feast” with the description of the Amateurs : “The Cafe des Amateurs was the cesspool of the rue Mouffetard, that wonderful narrow crowded market street which led into the Place Contrescarpe.”

(Nearby, the “Rue Mouffetard”, one of the Paris’s oldest and liveliest streets, with a number of cafes, restaurants and a famous open market.)

  • Shakespeare and Company :  Sylvia Beach, the owner, gave him a borrowing card allowing him to take as many books as he wanted. In “A moveable Feast” Hemingway writes : “She had pretty legs and she was kind, cheerful and interested, and loved to make jokes and gossip. No one that I ever knew was nicer to me.”hemingway_bookshop devant Shakespeare

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Other Hemingway’s locations 

Hotel Ritz – 15 place Vendôme – Paris 1 – Metro Tuileries : The bar at the Ritz was one of Hemingway’s favorite place. He spent  many evenings there with Scott Fitzgerald. To commemorate its guest, the bar was named after Hemingway.

69 rue Froidevaux – Paris 14 – Metro Gaité or Denfert Rochereau : The second apartment where he lived with his second wife, Pauline Pfeiffer.

A-Moveable-Feast-e1354045713964

 

AND…… : Do you REMEMBER HEMINGWAY in “MIDNIGHT IN PARIS”  ?

ernesthemingway

 

 Article about La Closerie des Lilas 

**   Article about the Luxembourg Gardens : coming next

°°°° Article about Le Select coming next

 

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