Tours of 4 districts of Paris (Part 1: Saint-Germain and Monde Arabe)

Saturday - 9/14

Rendez-vous for Rue de Mouffetard

The first weekend in Pairs was a fun-filled, whirlwind tour of four different quartiers of Paris. Saturday included a tour of the Rue de Mouffetard à Saint-Germain region led by Sabrina and l'Institute du Monde Arabe led by Michel. The first tour started at noon and because I underestimated how long it would take to get to our rendez-vous point at the exit of métro Censier-Daubenton on ligne 7, I arrived a few minutes late. Thankfully, I wasn't the last one to get there. The rain was on and off all day, which made the wonderful experience just slightly less wonderful, but that was hardly enough to put a damper on our adventures. 


When we first began the tour, we passed by an electric cigarette shop. Speaking from my experiences, I have encountered a far greater number of smokers in Paris than I have most other places I have been to (expect perhaps Beijing). These new cigarettes give the smoker their dose of nicotine, but in the form of water vapor instead of fumes from burning ashes. In addition to claiming to be less harmful to the body, electric cigarettes seem to be the only exception to the rule of forbidden smoking in all restaurants and public indoor spaces. Thus, these "healthier cigarettes" are all the rage now in Paris. I had a discussion about this topic with other CUPA students and we all were in agreement that anyone who used electric cigarettes were just fooling themselves. Introducing addictive chemicals into your body in any form will be harmful, water vapor or not. Although it is an interesting question whether or not they should be acceptable substitutes for smoking in public spaces. 

Back on track, our first stop on the tour was the famous fresh market on the Rue Mouffetard. Unlike some of the other open air markets in France that are only open on certain days, the market on the Rue Mouffetard is open daily and sells a huge variety of goods. Sabrina explained that the streets were usually full of people and students, but it was not the case today because of the rain (both a blessing and a curse). As the market has grown to become more and more touristy over the years,prices underwent a similar increase, however the quality of goods are still top notch. The market is especially well-known for its seafood. Also a result of tourism, there are crêperie stands ever few hundred meters. One of the beloved toppings on a freshly made crepe is of course nutella, and this crêperie was definitely not short of the delicious chocolate hazelnut spread. 


Afterwards, we visited the Arenes de Lutece. This is the oldest place in Paris that is not allowed to be touched or changed in any way. I will talk about it more later because we revisit it in more depth with Michel in the afternoon tour. The line of buildings that separate the arena from the road is really interesting. From the front, it looks like any other Parisian building, but from the side, you can see how this the building is. These are real apartments, and normal sized people live in them. This is an exceptional case where you have to learn to live with less!

On our walk, we also saw a couple of famous houses including the director of Campus France , Rene Descartes, and Ernest Hemingway. For those who have never studied at a University in France, you have never had the pleasure of going through the hell that is the Campus France application process, it is a 3 month long process to apply to study at a French university and their system is so primitive that you have to mail in your payments and log into the website to check their email system to see if you have a new message. Blah.

Anyways, I was much happier to see Hemingway's house. The Sun Also Rises is probably my favorite of his works. Sabrina also told us a little story about dear Earnest and how the drink the Bloody Mary came to be. When Hemingway lived in his Paris apartment, he had a mistress named Mary. Being the frequent partier that he way, Hemingway often came home drunk and reeking of alcohol, which drove Mary insane. In order to get rid of the alcoholic smell on his breath, she mixed in tomato juice with his alcohol and it worked like a charm. Thus, the Bloody Mary was born. I've personally never had it, and frankly it sounds like an unappetizing V8 to me. 

Pantheon

La Sorbonne

College de France

Our tour also included several architectural beauties such as the Panthéon, College de France, and La Sorbonne. An interesting history between the two big universities of College de France and La Sorbonne. The College was established as an alternative to La Sorbonne, promoting disciplines in foreign languages (Hebrew and Greek), math, and the sciences. It currently houses one of the best research libraries in Europe. 

The Saint Germain region is also called the Quartier Latin because of all the nearby universities. During the Middle Ages, latin was the international language of learning widely spoken by the students in the area. As a result of the youthful population, there are a lot of little bistros and cheaper restaurants with ethnic cuisine from all over the world as well as cinemas and cafes.

Lastly, we visited one of the last covered passages left in Paris. During the 18th century,  as the bourgeois class was beginning to arise, these roofed alley ways were very popular. Shared by horse drawn carts, all of the garbage that were thrown out of houses and onto the streets, and the working class that had to move about, the main streets were extremely crowded and dirty. Because upper class women wore grandiose dresses and hardly cared to move out of the way for oncoming traffic, insisted that these covered alleys be constructed so that they could move about the city in weather-proof, clean spaces. In this specific passage is the famous cafe Le Procope, which was the first cafe where you could come to sit relax and drink a coffee and have some dessert without eating a meal. During that time, this kind of thing was unheard of. Now, it is commonplace on every Parisian street. 
After the end of the tour, Mary, Gracie, and I went back to the Pantheon in the hour we had left before we had to meet Michel. Inside the greek styled building were statues commemorating French nationality. Underground was a crypt holding the graves of the top leaders and intellectuals of France including Napoleon, Pierre and Marie Curie, Voltaire, Rousseau, and Victor Hugo. Victor Hugo was one of the biggest oppositions to Napoleon and he helped to save many of the historical buildings and districts in Paris. He is also known worldwide as the author of Les Misérables. Because we were on a tight schedule, we didn't have a lot of time to peruse before running off to meet Michel. 


The afternoon tour with Michel was an exploration of the Monde d'Arabe in France. Michel is our methodology teacher and he will also teach the CUPA class that I want to take on Islam in Paris. He is quite the history buff so everything we saw was accompanied by stories and explanations. 

He first started off with the architecture of the street. The way to tell if a street was built in historical Paris or the modern day is to look at the angles of the roads and buildings. In older, unrenovated areas the roads are more narrow and not straight. Also, the walls of the buildings are angled in a way such that the bottom layer is wider at the bottom and slightly more narrow at the top; the foundation is built strong enough so that it can support all the weight of the upper floors.  Also,adjacent buildings may be leaning into each other to ensure that nothing topples over. 

Inside l'Arene de Lutece

Because Arab Institute is not far from the Saint Germain area, Michel also took us to see the Arènes de Lutece. Commissioned by Napoleon III during the mid 19th century to renovate and modernize Paris, Geroges-Eugene Haussmann is the architectural mind behind the look of what most people picture when they think of Paris. Haussmann had originally planned to replace the arena with a parking lot and hired workers to tear it down in the quiet of the night. However, the inhabitants of the area soon smelled something fishy and brought in Victor Hugo, opposer to Napoleon III, to put a stop to the destruction and save the arena. Today, this place is protected as a historical monument and is the oldest landmark in Paris, dating back to the first century A.D. The Gallo-Roman amphitheatre used to host gladiator battles, but on the day we were visiting, they were in preparation for a horse show that night so we went able to enter the center of the arena. 

UPMC under construction

Michel as animated as ever

Along the way to the Institute  we also happened to pass by the Jussieu University, which I fondly know as UPMC (Université Pierre Marie Curie) where my thermodynamics classes are held. An important fact that MIchel wanted to point out was how ugly the University was. This would be important later when talking about the architecture of the Institute. The look of the University has actually gotten much better because it has been undergoing renovations. One of the original wall materials was carcinogenic so everything had to be torn out and replaced. 


Just neighboring to the north is the Institute du Monde d'Arabe. Michel gave a long-winded history of the place, which I do not remember enough of to relate here. But what I can say is that it represents a cultural exchange. A bridge between the French and Arabs, as well as a bridge between disparate architectures and time periods. 

Stutters made to look like apertures

The special exhibits building

The building of the Institute is actually in two parts in order to better bridge the disparity between the not-so-pretty UPMC and the classic Parisian architecture on the other side of the Seine. The UPMC side is tall, rectangular, and heavy, with large windows and an industrial feel caused by the aperture shutters. The side closer to the Seine and dainty Paris is constructed in the shape of a pointed ellipse with streamline horizontal bars running across the side to parallel the Seine River. The left side is also a bit shorter to mimic the stoutness of Paris buildings. The two parts are literally connected by bridges.Michel chose not to comment on the white blob that was the special exhibits building. Specific words he used were (in french of course) "different, tries to be modern, I hate it."

Glass elevators

The modern and glamours interior was also a stark contrast to the outside. Even the elevators were beautiful. In the basement, there were these giant pillars reminiscent the Greek and Roman pillars. These are known as the pillars of education and learning because philosophers used to give lectures leaning against them while students gathered around and listened. 

When we got to the top of the Institute, we were able to go onto the roof, which would usually be full of tables and chairs for an roof-top cafe had it not been so rainy. None the less, the views were still gorgeous and the perfect end to a great day of tours.