Walking up the northern end of the famed Boulevard Saint Michel, one passes students, tourists, and shabbily dressed intellectuals, shops full of decently priced funky clothes and shoes, and a variety of fast food places. It seems that a student could take care of all bodily needs just along this one Boulevard.

But, of course, the life of the mind is also important. The Boulevard Saint Michel is one of the best places in Paris to find discount books on everything from medicine to philosophy, from technical to occult sciences, from harrowing tales of crime, to harlequin romances. The largest and best known of these discount bookstores are right along the Boulevard, beginning near the Musée de Cluny. Two low-price English bookstores, Shakespeare & Company (rue de la Bucherie) and The Abbey Bookshop (rue de la Parcheminerie), are in this neighborhood, as well.

The life of the mind continues in the numerous monuments in the quartier. The aforementioned Musée de Cluny houses medieval art and architectural details (including
the original sculpted kings that adorned the façade of nearby Notre Dame). The museum itself is an impressive example of not one, but two very distinct types of architecture: the collection is housed in an old flamboyant Gothic building which was built on the site of Paris’ ancient Roman baths, whose ruins have been unearthed for all to see. Across from the museum’s pretty park, the rue Boutebrie, part of a charming tangle of narrow streets, leads to the church of Saint Severin. This church, portions of which date from as early as the 12th century, is a marvellous example of the Gothic style. A must to include in your Quartier Latin tour.

Continuing along the thin, winding streets, one finds countless small shops and eateries. Especially of note is the rue de la Huchette, lined with Greek restaurants. This street is also home to the Théâtre de la Huchette, where Ionesco’s La Cantatrice Chauve (The Bald Soprano) has been playing for nearly half a century. Across from the theater is the amusingly named rue du Chat qui Pêche (“street of the Fishing Cat”). Taking this narrow alley, one comes out on a view of the bouquinists’ (book vendors’) stalls that line the streets above the Seine. If from here one turns around, one will see the Fontain St. Michel rising up at the top of the Boulevard, with lovely marble columns and a statue of the Archangel slaying Lucifer. Today this place is a popular meeting and gathering place, making it, like the rest of the quartier, a symbol of another major part of age-old Parisian culture: the bustle of student life.