... apart from weekends or school holidays, when groups of children swarm around the fascinating galleries of the Natural History Museum of France, part of which happens to be based in Jardin des Plantes. The many attractions include the Evolution Gallery, the Menagerie and ‘Les Grandes Serres’/large hot houses, reminiscent of Kew Gardens.
As with most Parisian ‘quartiers’, it was rather like a little village with its own identity, complete with a rather comprehensive range of small businesses – boulangeries, pharmacies, butchers’ shops, iron mongers, mini supermarkets et al. It was also very close to Rue Mouffetard, so had the benefit of the plentiful food market stalls, cafés and restaurants. However, I soon realised that Rue Mouffetard was not a place frequented by Parisians, being rather a tourist trap with inflated prices. There were of course the odd exceptions, such as quality goods not readily available elsewhere – succulent Medjool dates, unusual goat's cheeses, exotic fruits and vegetables and I even found a great cobbler to restore my winter footwear!
There were other exceptions to the rule, namely my favourite café, St Médard, at the bottom of Rue Mouffetard. It was elegantly French and, although I felt treated like a tourist on my first few visits, I was gradually made to feel more welcome as time went on. So much so, that my café allongé, croissant and verre d’eau used to arrive without me having to order it!
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| St Médard |
The café was most probably named after the beautiful 12th century church facing it, where I occasionally attended Sunday mass ... but on those occasions I was pleased to be an ‘outsider’, finding the anonymity most conducive to peaceful reflection.
