5th arr, continued

The headquarters of the Sorbonne, or the University of Paris, is in the area of St Michel, but its buildings are spread throughout the 5th.  Most people outside of France believe that the Sorbonne, because it is the oldest and most famous university in France, is also the most prestigious, but this is not true; there are three other schools off the top of my head that I can think of that are significantly harder to get into and have more impressive recent graduate lists (and two of those three also happen to be based in the 5th arr).  So, the Sorbonne is kind of France's Cornell.  *Sidenote - it is actually incorrect to call this set of affiliated schools "the Sorbonne" - it is more accurately the Universite de Paris.  Students will say they go to "Paris I-VII" - each school has a different area of academic emphasis.  I myself was in Paris I, which is based around social sciences/humanities.

However, the Sorbonne's establishment in this area in the 12th century set a precedent for this as the center of education in France.  Just a little south and east of the Place St Michel it seems like every fourth building is affiliated with one of the many universities or prep schools here - this is the area I live in.  As I've mentioned, I live on the same block as one of the main libraries of the Sorbonne, which is is turn next to the Sorbonne's law school, and next to the library is a prestigious grade school.  Just around the block from these are the two most competitive prep schools in the country.  The main polytechnic school in the country and the ENS, from which most of the top levels of government recruit their people, are also right around me.  In the middle of all this sits the Pantheon (no pics for that since I feel I've overloaded this blog with pics of the Pantheon).  

So I suppose it's probably easy to see how, with all these higher education institutions around, nearly every artist, writer, or philosopher you've ever heard of who lived in Paris at some point probably lived here.  Just in the 20th century a few of the famous residents of the 5th: Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, J-P Sartre, Oscar Wilde, James Joyce, Gertrude Stein, Allen Ginsberg, William S. Burroughs, sculptor Rodin, Picasso...the list goes on and on.  Small wonder the 5th is known for its bohemian/artsy way of life.  The recent Woody Allen movie "Midnight in Paris" is basically all about the 5th and its inhabitants - for those who have seen it, the place where he catches the car at night is in fact the corner of my street, Rue la Montagne St Genevieve, and the Place du Pantheon.

Running from what I'm categorizing as "the rest" of the 5th and the "educational" part of the 5th is the ancient Rue Mouffetard.  You might remember that in the summer I lived a block away from this street.  There is evidence that this road was used by the Romans, and possibly was established before they came into France.  

Today it is another main tourist stop, being that it is cute, mostly pedestrian, and absolutely covered in good restaurants/fast food places and good shopping.  You can follow the Rue Mouffetard right from the Pantheon, through the Place Contrescarpe, a favorite break-time spot covered with cafes for students to grab a glass of wine or coffee between classes, south towards "the rest" of the arr, where at the bottom of the road is the adorable medieval church St Medard and an every day fruit market.

A couple blocks from this church is the Grande Mosque de Paris, the main mosque of the city.  In the springtime the garden of the mosque is one of the most beautiful, peaceful places to sit and read with a cup of tea, I absolutely love it.  A bit farther on is the Jardin des Plantes, a park that was set up by botanists to display various types of plants and also included the only zoo-type thing in the city.  The garden itself is really lovely - very wild and haphazard unlike the very sculpted and composed gardens in the rest of the city.

This area, though, is far more residential and non-touristy than the rest of the arr: very few tourists will venture past the end of the Rue Mouffetard.  

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I love living in this neighborhood and probably would rather live here than anywhere else in the city.  It's such a great mix of people, has great museums and bookstores, has a good balance of famous monuments, more obscure sites, and everyday things.  Many others have described the Latin Quarter far better than me, so if it interests you just dig a little deeper to find out more!