St-Germain-des-Prés

Rich in history and trendy as tomorrow, Paris doesn't get any smarter than St-Germain. Ever since Le Procope, the world's first café opened in 1686, intellectuals have clustered here, debating humanity's condition over bitter jolts of thought-enhancing brew. Coffee houses sprang up like beanstalks, each with its own giant: Sartre held forth at Café de Flore; Hemingway at Brasserie Lipp; Les Deux Magots, third in the famous trilogy, even set up its own literary prize in 1933. The café scene is just as lively today, although indigent young Picassos likely sit elbow-to-elbow with seriously rich fashion big-shots, whose intellectual stature may be limited to looking smart.

St-Germain-des-Prés is the oldest church in Paris. Parts of it date from around 1000. Across the street is a newer temple to consumerism, Emporio Armani. To the side of the church, in a small square, is Picasso's Hommage to Appolinaire, in memory of the poet. There is no reason why these conflicting tributes should work together, yet somehow they do. That's St-Germain's magic: a heady mixture of history, flash, and stones that talk (well, commemorative plaques that talk, anyway).

Keep your eyes up and read the signs—Americans have been coming to this quartier for centuries. John Paul Jones spent his last days here; Benjamin Franklin, John Jay, and John Adams signed The Treaty of Paris, recognizing the independence of the US colonies; Gertrude Stein gathered the lost generation to her ample bosom; Henry Miller fell in love and wrote Tropic of Cancer; Sylvia Beach opened the original Shakespeare and Company; Richard Wright wrote, free of the racial prejudice back home, a Native Son of St-Germain. Wander around, find out for yourself what seduced them.

Don't miss the Musée Eugène Delacroix, the last home and studio of the great Romantic painter (1798-1863). Find it in the tiny Place de Furstenburg—containing only a globed lamppost and some paulownia trees—nothing much to recommend it but its postcard-perfect self, possibly the most charming square in Paris.

Dedicated to the sculptor, Aristide Maillol, and containing many of his works, the Musée Maillol-Fondation Dina Vierny, has significant works by others, including: Cézanne, Degas, Dufy, Foujita, Gauguin, Matisse, Picasso, and Renoir. The collection is housed in a stylish 18th-century mansion.

The kids will want to see the Cour du Commerce St-Andre where a certain Dr. Joseph-Ignace Guillotin thought up a brand new "humane" device to relieve folks of their problems. Perfection was achieved by practicing on sheep in this courtyard.

Concentrate on keeping your head when you get near any branch of Compagnie Française de l'Orient et de la Chine (three of the seven Paris shops are on Boulevard St-Germain). Beautiful imported goods from the East in color-coordinated displays make you lust after the whole shebang: clothing, pottery, glassware, housewares, fans—unlikely souvenirs from Paris, but very special stuff.

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