I walked from the Pont de la Concorde on the Boulevard Saint-Germain all the way to the Place de l'Odéon. Saint-Germain and Odéon were my stomping grounds back in the 1970s, when I was working in Paris as a teacher.
The whole area has changed, but in Paris, the more things change the more they remain the same. The old Drugstore is gone, as is the Pub Saint-Germain. But Flore, Les Deux Magots, and the Brasserie Lipp are still there. Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir are gone too, obviously. Juliette Gréco is 87 years old, but she still sings once in a while.
I like the way the place below describes itself on the little sign over the orange awning: Bistro-Resto-Café-Bar. There are many nuances covered by all those terms. Notice that Lipp is a brasserie, and the Auberge Saint-Germain in the first photo here is a bar, a restaurant, and a brasserie that also serves grillades or grilled meats.
I've never had a meal chez Lipp, which specializes in choucroute and other Alsatian dishes. It always seemed to upscale and expensive for my budget. Maybe one day. It looks like the awning needs replacing.
The Danton is at the Odéon metro stop, and I've eaten there several times over the years. I worked just up the street at the Sorbonne in 1974-76. None of these places, except Lipp, would be considered particularly fancy or expensive. I wouldn't mind trying them all one day.
they all look dee-lish!
ReplyDeleteLe Bizuth caught my eye. It's in the neighborhood of "les grands écoles" and university. This one is (or was) the hangout for the Ecole de Medecine" and le bizutage, hazing, is not outlawed, but the memory of it lives in the name of this café. (Unfortunately, almost every year, there are still stories of horrible hazing incidents, but since it's illegal, they get reported.)
ReplyDelete: ^ )
DeleteSciences Po and ENA are (were) in that neighborhood, along with other grandes écoles, so I figured the name Le Bizuth had to do with bizutage or hazing. I don't know if that café has been there for a long time.
DeleteOf course, I meant "is now outlawed" not "not outlawed"!
DeleteIf you're interested in a novel about the St. Germain dès Près neighborhood when the Boulevard was bulldozing its way through, read Tania de Rosnay's novel "The House I Loved" ("Rose", in French). It's not historically perfect, but it gives you a good idea. As a side note, the rue de Rennes, was supposed to go all the way to the Seine, but got stopped at the St. Germain intersection. Our old haunt, the Pierwige, if you remember, was slightly off alignment, with stairs going down from the sidewalk to the dining room, in the older building, slightly lower than the main salon where Zaza reigned. That's because that older building was one of the few on the boulevard to escape demolition.
Of course I always noticed the setback and lower level of that one building that was the Pierwige, but I never before thought of why it was built that way. What you say makes perfect sense.
DeleteI was looking up the word "boulevard" to see what it's origin was, and it seems to come from a Dutch term that means "bulwark" or rampart. The boulevard replaced the ramparts, of course. It's all pretty interesting.
I wish you and your camera went to Paris more
ReplyDeleteoften, Ken.
Great views, Ken :)
ReplyDeleteThe several folks with warm scarves give me the impression that it was a little chilly?
I was wearing a fleece jacket, and I don't remember being too warm — but not cold either. At the restaurant where I had lunch, the heat lamps were turned on out on the terrace (the roof was open).
DeleteBefore baron Haussmann, the odd numbered houses on the south side where now stands Brasserie Lipp were on rue Taranne. My grandfather's atelier was located on the even numbered north side of that street which later was razed to widen boulevard Saint-Germain. There still a sign, rue Taranne, on the house at the corner of rue des Saints-Pères and boulevard Saint-Germain.
ReplyDeleteWas the Boulevard Saint-Germain already called by that name before Haussmann's grands travaux?
DeleteI think so. The block of houses on the north side of rue Taranne was in the way, so it was razed. But the south side was left intact.
DeleteThanks for the interesting info. chm. Hope you are well.
DeleteLet's stay here when we try all of those bistros :http://www.hotelaumanoir.com/en/hotel-luxury-manoir-paris/hotel-au-manoir-paris-hotel-luxury-saint-germain-des-pres-4-stars-hotel.html
ReplyDeleteDo you remember seeing a street named Dupuytren near the medical school? It is named after Baron Guillaume Dupuytren, the surgeon who described an operation to correct the affliction in the Lancet in 1831 (wiki). Lewis noticed the name right away when we stayed in that area a couple of times.
Loved hearing about your grandfather's atelier, CHM.
Evelyn, you know that CHM's father was a well-known surgeon, don't you?
ReplyDeleteI actually took a picture up the rue Dupuytren last Wednesday. I'll post it tomorrow.
No, I didn't know CHM's father was a surgeon! What a talented family- painters, doctors, linguists...
ReplyDeleteHi Evelyn,
DeleteIn fact, my father was a gynecologist and obstetrician. He was also interested in surgery and, in 1900, invented the surgical clips bearing his name still in use to this day.
PS I was joking about staying at that hotel lol. It is lovely, but out of my price range. The location is good and the rooms are beautiful.
ReplyDeleteIt's out of my price range too, but one can dream. It would be fun to stay there for a few days and have meals in all those restaurants bistrots cafés...
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