“If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast.”
-Ernest Hemingway

As I am currently reading A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway, I thought it would be interesting to go on my own walking tour of Hemingway’s Paris. After doing some research online I pieced together a list of places to visit and started my journey to the left bank of Paris. I took the metro to Odeon and from there walked down Boulevard Saint Germain before turning left on rue Saint-Jacques. A couple blocks later I took a right on rue de la Bucherie and arrived at the Shakespeare and Company bookstore. While the location has changed since Hemingway’s day, the re-opened (1951) bookstore stays true to it’s ex-pat roots. It was a bit more crowded than I thought it would be with tourists and a really annoying Hare Krishna group outside banging their drums. Aside from the vast collection of books in english and some cool decor, I have to admit I wasn’t really moved by visiting this site.

At this point I knew I had to recover my tour quickly from the somewhat disappointment of the Shakespeare and Company bookstore. I decided that my next stop would be Hemingway’s apartment in the Latin Quarter. Again I was able to walk and I slowly made my way down rue Descartes taking in the neighborhood and shops. A couple of friends had given me a heads up that the Latin Quarter was a great neighborhood and they were spot on. I managed to find Hemingway’s apartment at 74 rue Cardinal Lemone. While you cannot go inside the building, there is a plaque outside honoring the great author. At this point I was flying high again with thoughts of walking the same streets Hemingway did in the 1920s.

While I was walking to Hemingway’s apartment, I noticed I was extremely close to the Pantheon and decided to take a detour and check out this historic  building. It did not disappoint with it’s beautiful Roman architecture and stunning murals. The crypt below the building is the final resting place for many of France’s famous and historical figures. It is definitely worth the stop if you ever get to Paris.

My second to last stop was Luxembourg Gardens where Hemingway used to go when he was short on cash. It is rumored that he would secretly kill pigeons to take back to his house to eat when he couldn’t make ends meet. The park is absolutely stunning, with manicured lawns, hedges and flowers. The pool and fountain in front of the Luxembourg Palace which houses the French Senate is very tranquil which explains the amount of Parisians relaxing by it. I walked the entire park and this was by far one of the highlights of the tour.

The final stop on my Hemingway tour was the Hotel d’Angleterre which was Hemingway’s first place he stayed when originally arriving in Paris in 1921. The Hotel d’Angleterre was also the hotel that Charles Lindbergh stayed at after his famous solo flight from New York to paris. Again I did not enter the building but casually walked by it outside.

And that concluded my walking tour of Hemingway’s Paris. While I know a lot has changed since the 1920’s, it was still a lot of fun to retrace the steps of Ernest Hemingway.

Cheers,
George