Destination: Paris
What To See
Paris
Paris
  + Exploring Paris
  Sights
* Pont Alexandre III
* Arc de Triomphe
* Art Moderne de La Ville de Paris, Musée d'
* Arts Asiatiques-Guimet, Musée national des
* Arts Décoratifs, Musée des
* Arts et Métiers-Techniques, Musée national des
* Assemblée Nationale Palais-Bourbon
* Baccarat, Musée
* Balzac, Maison de
* Bastille
* Bibliothèque Nationale De France
* Carnavalet, Musée
* Cernuschi, Musée
* Chaillot, Palais de
* Cognacq-Jay, Musée
* La Conciergerie
* Concorde, Place de la
* Eugène Delacroix, Musée National
* Faubourg Saint-Germain
* Faubourg St-Honoré
* Fragonard, Musée
* Gobelins, Manufacture nationale des
* Grand Palais
* Grands Boulevards
* Les Halles
* Hôtel De Ville
* Institut De France
* Institut du Monde Arabe
* Jacquemart-André, Musée
* Jeu de Paume, Galerie nationale du
* Madeleine, Eglise de la
* Maillol, Musée
* Le Marais
* Marmottan, Musée
* Mode et du Costume, Musée de la
* Montmartre
* Montparnasse
* Moyen-Age, Musée National du
* Musique, Musée de la
* Nissim de Camondo, Musée
* Opéra Garnier
* Orangerie, Musée National de l'
* Palais-Royal
* Panthéon
* Père-Lachaise, Cimetière du
* Petit Palais, Musée du
* Picasso, Musée
* Plantes, Jardin des
* Rodin, Musée
* Sacré Coeur, Basilique du
* St-Germain-des-Prés
* Saint-Louis, Ile
* St-Sulpice, église
* Sainte-Chapelle
* Tuileries, Jardin des
* Vendôme, Place
* Vosges, place des
Vicinity
  + Vicinity

  Walk/Drive
  Food&Drink
  In The Know
  Did You Know?
Faubourg Saint-Germain

( Highly Recommended )

This 'suburb' is today one of the most elegant districts of central Paris.
Its name came from the nearby Abbaye de St-Germain-des-Prés to which it belonged in medieval times. University students loved to stroll through fields and meadows stretching down to the river west of the abbey and the area remained in its natural state until the 18th century, when it became fashionable for the aristocracy and the wealthy middle class to have mansions built there by the famous architects of the time. Today, a few streets have retained some of their past elegance even though most of the mansions have now been taken over by ministries and foreign embassies.
The rue de Varenne (a distortion of garenne, the French word for warren, which confirms the area's rural origins!), is lined with the famous Hôtel Matignon, built in 1721 and now the Prime Minister's residence, and the Hôtel Biron, better known as the Musée Rodin. The parallel rue de Grenelle is equally interesting for its wealth of authentic architecture, including the Hôtel de Villars which is now the town hall of the 7th arrondissement. Further along the street, on the opposite side, there is an interesting museum (No 59) devoted to the sculptor Maillol and, next to it, the beautiful Fontaine des Quatre Saisons (Fountain of the Four Seasons).


Address: 75007 Paris
Open: For the museums' opening times, see the relevant entries
Restaurant: Cafés and restaurants near by in boulevard St-Germain (Inexpensive-Moderately priced)
Bus: 69, 83, 84, 94
Metro: Varenne, Rue du Bac
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