The Saint-Germain-des-Prés (St. Germain of the Fields) area is a left bank neighborhood known for being frequented by artists and intellectuals (e.g. Sartre, Picasso, Hemingway, de Beauvoir) over the past century.

In 2010, Nella and I added ourselves to this list, as our hotel was located in this area, though I'm not sure whether we're artists or intellectuals (as for myself, I'm pretty sure I'm not an artist, and I know a number of people who would vote against intellectual). The neighborhood is named after a Benedictine abbey that was established here back in the 6th Century. Being outside the city wall of Paris (in "the fields"), the abbey was plundered several times over the centuries and fires and other mishaps caused further damage. All that remains of the abbey is its church, which dates back to the 11th Century. As is normal with European churches, a number of people are buried there, the most well-known probably being the philosopher and mathematician René Descartes. The church is located five blocks west of our hotel, along the Boulevard St-Germain, so after breakfast we stopped by for a visit.





From Saint-Germain-des-Prés we headed south toward another left bank church, Saint-Sulpice.