SUMMER 2002

Picturesque and fabled, Rue Mouffetard in the Latin Quarter.

Strolling Down The Rue

Story and photos by Paul D Trier, ? 2002 Paul D Trier, all rights reserved, use by permission only

When Ernest Hemmingway lived in Paris, he wrote of the simple joys of life in that city. The cafe on the corner serving hot coffee and warm croissants for breakfast. Open-air markets filled with flowers and fruit stands. Gourmet food shops lined up one after another. Wine shops packed to the brim with Vin-de-Pays from every corner of France.

A familiar scene from one of his novels still exists today on the Rue Mouffetard in Paris' Latin Quarter. A cobblestone walk, Saturday morning, and the bustling market pictured in movies, written about in books, comes to life in reality. There is an air of excitement, mixed with the scents of bakeries and flowers shops. Shoppers busy finding their weekend treasures move from stand to stand, shop to shop, picking, prodding and ogling at every step.

After breakfast served on sidewalk tables, we're off to see the sights and snag some treasures of our own. My first stop (naturally) is the wine shop with its cases of country wines stacked up outside, advertising prices too little to believe. If you were to purchase wines like these, small-batch, hand-crafted, in the States, you'd certainly pay three or four times as much. But today you can fill a case of wonderful wine for less than $50. 

My favorite is a Cotes du Rhone Villages from Beaumes de Venise which costs less than $5 and when (a week later) I taste it, I realize this is a $20 wine back home. Full rich flavors of raspberry and licorice with a pepper-spice finish. Just one of many discoveries found at the shop called La Fontaine Aux Vins.

Then the food begins to work it's way into my thoughts. There are shellfish, roasted chickens, fresh produce and desserts. A gourmet cook looking to stock up on ingredients for the next masterpiece would not have a hard time doing it here. Everything fresh or freshly made. So I begin to collect baked goods and other assorted delicacies, placed in bags for my nibbling pleasure, as I walk the streets of Paris.

Of course, it doesn't end with culinary treats. There are many others shops on Mouffetard. A hodge-podge of flowers, fabric, jewelry, cosmetic, clothing and even comic book stores, all the way down to the Rue Censier. In between every few shops, a cafe or restaurant is waiting to seat you outside, so you can watch the shoppers pass by as you leisurely sip away.

And Ernest would feel right at home. Inspired, I'm sure.