Passy: Balzac's house and Guimard's curves
A village within the 16th, Balzac's free house and garden, and Hector Guimard's Art Nouveau facades. This is a Claude-drafted route awaiting the editor's walk.

1. Jardins du Ranelagh
Start in the shade of the Ranelagh gardens — chestnut avenues, a marionette theatre that's been running since the 1880s, children and dogs. The *Musée Marmottan Monet*, with the largest Monet collection anywhere, sits a few minutes north if you want to make a half-day of it.

2. Rue La Fontaine — Hector Guimard's street
The street where Guimard concentrated his Art Nouveau output. Numbers along it — the *Hôtel Mezzara* among them — carry his iron, glass and stone in full flow. Walk it looking up; the detail is all above the shopfronts.

3. Castel Béranger
Guimard's breakthrough block of flats, 1898, at 14 rue La Fontaine — the green iron gate alone is worth the trip. It's lived-in, so admire the facade and the entrance and don't try the door. This is the building that made his name.

4. Maison de Balzac
The writer's house on the slope of Passy, where he wrote and hid from creditors. The museum is free, the garden is small and green and looks out over the rooftops toward the river. Sit in it; this is the calm middle of the walk.

5. Rue de l'Annonciation
The market street of old Passy village — bakers, cheesemongers, a fishmonger, the rhythm of a neighbourhood that shops on foot. Pedestrianised and gently downhill. Pick up something for later.

6. Rue de Passy & Passy station
The high street proper, busier, then the Métro at Passy on its viaduct — one of the open-air stations, with a view to the Eiffel Tower as the train pulls in. A fitting last image for a 16th walk.

Passy: Balzac's house and Guimard's curves