The “Left Bank” Neighborhoods of Paris France

There are numerous neighborhoods in the beautiful city of Paris France. Although all should be explored in depth Lindsay and I feel in love with the Latin Quarter and St Germain neighborhoods which are on the “left bank” of the Seine river. We were there with Lindsay's mother and sister and we happened to be staying at a beautiful little hotel right in the heart of this district. Our first introduction to the area was stepping out of the metro on to Saint Michele Square. It was late fall and the trees all had yellow leaves and black trunks. This mixed with the large fountain, beautiful architecture and overall Parisian feel was truly a travelers high. This was Lindsay's Mom and Sisters first international trip and Lindsay and I watched them closely as they stepped out of the metro station for the first time. They both had the “deer in the headlights” look and were simply blown away by the beauty. After checking into our hotel we began to explore the neighborhood. Some people consider this area a “tourist ghetto” but because it was the low season we were surrounded by locals. Each little café and corner store was packed with locals going about their daily business. We found one little café in particular that we must have hit up 10 times during our stay. They would make crepes on the street and all of us would line up to get our Coke Light and Nutella/banana crepe. We would then take this back to our hotel room and eat it on the balcony overlooking the street below. Numerous times during our stay we would simply wander the narrow cobble stone streets just taking in the amazing scene of these two neighborhoods. They have been described as a “small village” within a big city and we all agreed that this description fit well. There were numerous small churches, a café on every corner and narrow cobblestone streets for miles…it truly was the perfect Paris neighborhood. We were all very sad to leave but will never forget the amazing neighborhoods of Saint Germain and the Latin Quarter on the left bank of the River Seine in Paris.