Mon ancien quartier, le 6ème

As promised, my pictures from playing tourist on my last day living in the 6ème. I'm of the opinion that a person can see better (read: professional) pictures of major monuments and attractions by doing a good ol' fashioned Google image search. I've included some links to get you started.

Instead, I prefer to show pictures that show you a perspective, that capture a particular instant or help one occupy better a described space (the occasion for my next picture post). So here's my 6ème; enjoy.

On the stairway up to the Bibliothèque Mazarine, a two-minute walk from my former apartment, just on the left bank of the Pont Des Arts. Yes, it's a baby bust. With adult shoulders. And a toga. Your guess is as good as mine.

The interior of the reading room of the Bibliothèque Mazarine. It's soft, I know, but it was the only picture I could take before a librarian came over to tell me that taking photographs was interdit. The reading room is magnificent, though. Imagine the Beast's library.

View from the Pont Des Arts, formerly the closest bridge to me. Walk out my door, turn right, and continue for two or three blocks, and here you are. Facing east, toward Notre Dame and Sainte Chapelle.

Facing east, toward the Palais and the Tour Eiffel.

The Louvre, as seen from the Pont des Arts.

The Thing To Do, apparently, is to place a lock on the bridge for/with a lover. They come in a variety of shapes and colors and sizes, but I liked this little design.

Bibliothèque Mazarine and Institut de France (same building) from the Pont des Arts.

Pink Vespa. J'en ai envie.

Rue de Buci, a street I frequented, located between my apartment and Boulevard Saint Germain.

The window of the 6ème Ladurée shop. I am in love with their packaging.

L'Église Saint-Germain-de-Près. About five minutes south of the apartment, right next to the Metro stop. I was just going to link to it, but the pictures at the website were so awful that they might as well have been taken by a tourist.

Les Deux Magots, of course, is a landmark, situated directly across the place from the Église Saint-Germain-de-Près. It once played host to a number of famous writers, most notably the Surrealists (and, at one point, Oscar Wilde, who died about a block from my former apartment). Like its next-door neighbor and longtime competitor Café de Flore--which hosted the Existentialists, famously Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir--it's now full of tourists sipping on 12-euro-glasses of vintage literary history.

 I like to think of the sign in its current state as a pronunciation guide for Americans.

In front of an adorable Art Nouveau restaurant. They were getting the place ready for a private musical event.

This man plays classical guitar in the quiet little square where one enters the Musée Eugène Delacroix. He's astounding, transcendent.

My former street, rue de Seine. One can see the famous café, La Palette, and various shops and galleries.

A pretty little square around the corner. Paris is full of them.

One of many art galleries on rue de Seine. One gets the impression that the street is a gallery of galleries. I love this doorknob.

Mon ancien immeuble. That is: my former apartment building.

Not interesting to post too many pictures of the house. But I did love the staircase, even if it creaked every time someone ascended or descended it. Very double-helix.

If you'd like to see pictures of my new neighborhood, let me know. It's quiet but pleasant, typical of the residential arrondissements.