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Paris
The 15th district is very similar to the 14th
district: a quiet residential district, maybe a little more
bourgeois, plus the Montparnasse area.
It's the most populated district in Paris with 225,362 inhabitants
in 1990, which would make it one of 10 or 15 biggest towns in
France. It's also the largest (8.50 km2) if you don't count
Bois de Boulogne in the 16th district and
Bois de Vincennes in the 12th district. I'm
sure that what you really want is the map. So here it is:
7th 6th
---||
|~| avenue de Suffren --' Tour
|~|------------------------------.' Montparnasse
-~| _____---' ,' Gare
|~- _____-----' ' Montparnasse
|~|`-___-----' ,' ||
|~| / ||
| | / ||
|S| / ||
|e| / ||
|i|Front / ||
|n| r/ ||
16th |e| de / || 14th
| | V| ||
|~|Seine a/ ||
|~| u| ||
|~| g/ ||
|~| i| ||
Mirabeau-----------------------------------||--
|~| r| ||
|~| a/ ||
|~|A-Citroën r| Georges ||
|~| d' Brassens ||
|~| | ||
|~|________________Pt.___________________||
|~|_______________Vers.__________________||___
|~|
Issy-les-M Vanves
The top direction is north-east. Everything in italics is
located outside the district.
Montparnasse
See the 14th district for a description of the
eastern part of Montparnasse. Here I won't talk about artists and
theaters, but about two monsters.
The first monster is the Montparnasse building,
a 200m black tower. Its height, which would go unnoticed in
other parts of the Earth, stands out in a town where most
buildings have 7 floors or less. It's the highest building in France,
and the second highest structure after you know
what. The view from the terrace is at least as good as the view from
the Eiffel Tower while being less expensive and less crowded. The
building hosts offices, and I have been working there for
three years, but you don't really care.
The second monster is the Montparnasse train and metro
station, just facing the tower. You need to go there if you
want to go to west or southwest of France. Its architecture is
modern and rather ugly. The shapes may be nice, but they should really
cover the concrete pillars with something more friendly.
Garden
The most interesting part in the Montparnasse train station is a
garden hidden above it. Many people have been living or working in the
area without ever hearing about it. You need to go for example to the
station main hall and find stairs which go up to the Jardin
Atlantique. It's one of these innovative gardens created in
Paris during the 80s and 90s with many little isolated spots and
oddities.
South of the station, not far from the railway which separates the
15th district from the 14th district, the Georges-Brassens
park is a pleasant park with a water pond and a hill. Every
week-end it hosts a very important book market, a must-see for all
book lovers.
One more garden, and the most interesting one, is Jardin
André-Citroën. It was created along the Seine where
Citroën used to build his cars. While Georges-Brassens is quite
traditional, this one is one of the most modern gardens in
Paris. Around a very large lawn, small thematic alleys and greenhouses
make for unexpected walks.
Front-de-Seine
North of Jardin André-Citroën, along the Seine, the
Front-de-Seine area applies Le Corbusier' s
terrifying ideas about urbanism: 30-storey buildings above a
lifeless esplanade suspended above dark streets. The problem with this
kind of esplanade, which was supposed to free the pedestrian from the
dangers and inconvenience of the street, is that it's too separated
from the rest of the city, and that you can get lost when you walk
between the buildings without being guided by the simple lines of the
street networks. One of Le Corbusier's craziest ideas was to replace
most of Paris with this kind of concrete desert.
Epilogue
Between Jardin André-Citroën and Front-de-Seine, you can cross the
Seine on Pont Mirabeau with its gigantic statues
against the pillars. American tourists come to this bridge to take a
picture of the Statue of Liberty in front of the Eiffel Tower. Not the
Statue of Liberty in New York, but a smaller replica on the Ile des
Cygnes (Isle of Swans). French people know this bridge because the
Seine flows under it. Ok, the Seine flows under all the bridges in
Paris, but everybody in France would understand that I'm thinking of
Apollinaire:
Sous le pont Mirabeau coule la Seine
Et nos amours
Faut-il qu'il m'en souvienne
La joie venait toujours après la peine
Vienne la nuit sonne l'heure
Les jours s'en vont je demeure
Under the Mirabeau Bridge there flows the Seine
Must I recall
Our loves recall how then
After each sorrow joy came back again
Let night come on bells end the day
The days go by me still I stay
Guillaume Apollinaire, translation Richard
Wilbur