Nature Diary Rocks History Gallery Links Home Page Saint-Germain-des-Pres  The rain has set in, so when we reach the square at Saint-Germain-des-Pres we decide to shelter in one of the famous cafes there. Les Deux Magots, frequented by Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre, is full, so I make this sketch from Napoleon's nearby.
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I'm afraid that for me Jean-Paul Sartre is more famous for his part in cafe society than for his work on existentialist philosophy, but I suspect his philosophy and his preferred habitat are closely linked. After the oppressive grandeur of parts of Paris, the Parthenon for example, to come across Saint-Germain, is like wandering into a small French provincial town. You are getting back to a human scale. Sitting at a cafe table here you could believe in a philosophy in which the individual has some freedom of choice. We choose hot chocolate.
An exhibition in the Romanesque church tells the story of the area through old maps and engravings. Saint-Germain kept its rural setting at least until the time of the Revolution. One map shows a Chemin des Vaches ('Path of the Cattle') passing through the village, I can picture the cattle being herded along on their way to market at Les Halles.