Saint-Germain-des-Prés: cafés and galleries
The oldest church in Paris, two literary cafés, and the gallery street that ignores them both. This is a Claude-drafted route awaiting the editor's walk.

1. Église Saint-Germain-des-Prés
Start at the abbey church — the oldest in Paris, a Romanesque tower over a thousand years old. Go inside before the cafés open; the painted nave is quiet at nine and crowded by noon.

2. Café de Flore & Les Deux Magots
The two literary cafés face each other across the corner. You don't have to sit down — the prices are a tax on the ghosts of Sartre and de Beauvoir — but stand a moment and read the awnings.

3. Rue de Buci
The market street, two minutes south. Stalls of fruit and oysters, a *boulangerie* (bakery) on the corner, the morning rush of people who actually live here. Buy something to carry.

4. Rue de Seine
Turn up the gallery street. Small art dealers, one window after another, mostly open by eleven. Walk it slowly and look in; nobody minds browsers who don't buy.

5. Place de Furstemberg
A tiny square behind the church, four paulownia trees around a lamp, the old Delacroix studio in the corner. Almost nobody finds it. Sit on the edge of the planter for a minute.

6. Institut de France
Down to the river and the domed *quai* (riverside) building of the Académie française. Cross the Pont Neuf to the Louvre side, or stay left and read the *bouquiniste* (riverside book) boxes along the wall.

Saint-Germain-des-Prés: cafés and galleries