The Latin Quarter

Saturday
We've been over here three months now, and we still hadn't been up to Paris, so we decided to put that right today. We took the train from Fontainebleau - only 40 minutes. We thought we'd explore the Latin Quarter today - the ancient riverside area between the Seine and the Luxembourg Gardens, home to the Sorbonne as well as various other famous institutions of learning. This area has been dominated by the Sorbonne since the Middle Ages, and has taken its name from the early Latin-speaking students. We first visited the church of St. Severin in its flamboyant Gothic style, then the small church of St. Julien-le-Pauvre, one of the oldest in Paris, dating from between 1165 and 1220. It now belongs to the Melchite sect of the Greek Orthodox Church. The narrow streets around St. Severin are home to several Greek restuarants, so we thought that would be a good choice for lunch. Then we headed over to the Musee de Cluny, one of the world's finest collections of medieval arts and crafts, incorporated into a medieval mansion. After that, we walked around a bit more, finishing up walking down Boulevard St-Michel to the River Seine and walking along the river for a way, past Notre Dame. We stopped in a cafe for a drink then decided it was time to head back to Gare de Lyons to get a train back to Fontainebleau. A good day out, and even though the skies were overcast most of the day, it stayed dry until we got back home!