Cardinal Lemoine

A literary Centerpiece....

Picture this: you are blissfully ensconced in a light and quiet two-bedroom apartment on the fifth floor of an early nineteenth century building in the fabled Latin Quarter, a mere block from the Seine. From the master bed, you look up at the zinc roof with all its Parisian chimney pots and a sky that changes from bright, unclouded blue laced with swallows, to smoky silver as rain makes music on the roof, all in the space of about fifteen minutes. Or you look out from the other bedroom through red geraniums, at another angle of the roof and the spire of a nearby church. At one of the two desks, you work on that poem or short story. Or pick up a book from the 200-volume library spanning French architecture, history, language, shopping -- or read Marcel Proust in the original. When you're hungry, you meander across the original parquet floor to whip up a meal in the fully equipped kitchen, which you serve at a thick oak table back in the dining room.

But perhaps today you don't feel like cooking. You hop in one of two showers, and dress quickly. You take the fifth floor elevator, then cross the courtyard through the massive green doors to the rue du Cardinal Lemoine. Turning left, you walk half a block to Saint Germain, and another to the Quai de la Tournelle. To your right is the world-famous Tour d'Argent restaurant with an unsurpassed rooftop view of Notre Dame Cathedral.

You continue across the Pont de la Tournelle, past the statue of Sainte-Genevieve, the patron saint of Paris, who in 451 CE, protected the Parisians from Attila the Hun by the power of her prayer. To your left is the east end of Notre Dame, the massive stone cathedral where Napoleon was crowned. At the end of Pont de la Tournelle, you cross the center of L'Ile Saint-Louis, where you might lunch at a sidewalk café facing the Seine, then stop for ice cream at Berthillon, or poke around in antique shops, or meander past the building where Camille Claudel once made her sculptures, or Baudelaire had his opium den. You could continue on through the Marais, or turn left on the quai de l'Hotel de Ville. It's not far to the Louvre, where you're eager to see Vermeer's Lacemaker (too crowded in front of the Mona Lisa).

Another day: You're leaving the apartment again. As inviting as it is with its mix of clean modern lines and ancient details like the oak doors and windows with crémone closings, the rosettes on the ceiling, you have much to see and do. You like the notion of being as lean as Parisians tend to be. You spiral down the polished mahogany and French blue stairs, out to rue du Cardinal Lemoine, and this time turn right. Up the street you pass the house where Pascal, the mathematician and mystical thinker, lived, then walk past one of the largest ancient remnants of king Louis Philippe's former city walls, dating back to the 12th century.

Farther up Cardinal Lemoine, you see where James Joyce lived the year before he published Ulysses, then pass the first apartment of Ernest Hemingway, where Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas visited, advising him to completely rewrite his first novel, which he heeded. You emerge on Place de la Contrescarpe, a square where you have a choice of sidewalk cafés. Stop for a café crème and a few hours of being a flaneur. Then walk the cobblestones of rue Mouffetard, the original Roman road that ran south from Paris through Lyon to Rome, and shop at one of the oldest open air markets in Paris.

No matter what direction in which your adventures continue, to the Pantheon or dreaming in the Jardin du Luxembourg, to fashion and gourmet shopping at Bon Marche, art galleries in the 6th, or fine fabric stores on rue Jacob, the latest French, German or American films, you can zip back to your spacious apartment in minutes by bus or Metro, come out at the nearby stops of Jussieu or Cardinal Lemoine. Stop at the Champion supermarket to pick up some Poilane bread, and go home to relax with a good DVD, catch up on e-mail on the wireless connection or call your family at home (for free if they're in the U.S.).

No matter how many days you spend on Cardinal Lemoine, there's always another Parisian treasure hunt, for you are surrounded by history. Careful! you may never leave.

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"... this time, I was going until 1 A.M., loading up my car with the following: 2 very large rectangular mirror frames, a lovely porcelain corner sink with its original faucet, an oak cabinet door, a small cheese cabinet door with its wooden grill, more carved marble mantle pieces, a large cast iron skillet, and bits and pieces of carved wood: from molding to cornices."

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