On your list of where to go and what to see in Paris, at the top must be the Latin Quarter. This area has been attracting visitors for centuries.
And it’s not hard to see why. It’s the only part of Paris that still has vestiges of the city’s Roman history dating back 2,000 years. Yet it remains a vibrant, central part of the capital with a student vibe sitting alongside chic boutiques and restaurants.
In the Latin Quarter you’ll find many eye-opening and illuminating places:
– The district was called the Latin Quarter because university students who went here centuries ago spoke Latin — so it makes sense to visit the Sorbonne, which still remains core to the area
– Of course to get a real feel of what Paris looked like when it started out, head to the Museum of the Middle Ages, also called le Musée de Cluny, which is built on ancient Roman baths. Among the many fascinating artefacts there you’ll see one of the jewels in the crown of France’s historic legacy: the 15th century tapestries of the Lady and the Unicorn.
– To actually walk around in Paris’s fascinating history you should see Les Arènes de Lutèce — Roman arenas where gladiators and wild animals fought, and where you can walk around today (people play football and pétanque there now).
– Nearby is cool little square of cafés and bars called Place de la Contrescarpe, where prices are mainly kept reasonable because of the number of students that drink there.
– And for a walk in the green — lots of green — there is the Latin Quarter’s biggest park. (It’s NOT the Jardin de Luxembourg, which actually isn’t part of the Latin Quarter). It’s the Jardin des Plantes: a cultivated expanse with rows and greenhouses of exotic plants — and there’s a musuem of natural history.
– Across the road from the Jardin de Plantes is Paris’s Mosque. There’s a door leading into a courtyard that anyone can go into, regardless of religion or not religion, where you can sit down for a glass of sweet mint tea or pastries from the Levant.
– Head to the other side of the Latin Quarter and you’ll be in the busy Odéon area, which is where there is a busy road, an intersection of métros and a lot of movie cinemas giving you the latest flicks but also, in the back streets, old classics and arthouse films.
– Here you might find a tucked away little alleyway with a lot of cute restaurants and cafés, including one entrance to Le Procope, which is one of the very oldest cafés in Paris (it started serving in 1686) — a cool address where both Napoléon and Marie Antoinette were known to drop by.
– Finally, you’ll really see and feel the grandeur of France in the Panthéon, a domed momument in the heart of the Latin Quarter that has the tombs of some 80 of France’s biggest illuminaries, among them Voltaire, Victor Hugo, Emile Zola and…. Josephine Baker, a famous singer born in America who helped the Résistance and who became French, and who has a cenotaph in the Panthéon.
The video is sorted into chapters:
00:00 – Midnight in Paris
00:13 – Introduction
00:31 – The Sorbonne
01:04 – Things to see
01:22 – Musée de Cluny
01:49 – Les Arènes de Lutèce
03:37 – Place de la Contrescarpe
03:50 – Jardin des Plantes
04:21 – Tea in the Mosque
04:32 – Odéon and Le Procope café
05:19 – The Panthéon
06:02 – Good knight
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*** Shot on an iPhone, edited on an iPad with LumaFusion ***
GEAR
What gear do I use? I did a video on that: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDvhHhpCKEc
But quickly here’s my kit I run around with.
(Disclaimer: as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. That means that for some links I may get a small commission if you buy through it — but it doesn’t cost you any more at all.)
CAMERA
– I use an iPhone 13 Pro Max: https://www.apple.com/iphone/
AUDIO
– Ulanzi J12 Bluetooth wireless microphone: https://amzn.to/3XypKoa
– RODE Wireless GO 2 microphone: https://amzn.to/3IT3jX3
– RODE Lavalier GO microphone: https://amzn.to/3iEbN9I
STABILIZATION
– Manfrotto Pixi mini tripod: https://amzn.to/3GJNnDP
– Rollei Compact Traveler No. 1 carbon fiber tripod (in the US, this one is nearly identical: K&F Concept carbon fiber tripod: https://amzn.to/3INKB31)
– DJI Osmo OM 5 gimbal: https://amzn.to/3INKB31 (there’s a later model DJI Osmo Mobile 6: https://amzn.to/3INKB31)
– Lume Cube 5-ft Light Stand: https://amzn.to/3INKB31 (this is FANTASTIC as a foldaway iPhone tripod)
Music via Artlist.io:
“Down the Rabbit Hole” by Jeremy Chontow
“The World is Mine” by Francesco DAndrea
“Run With the Wolves” by Ardie Son
“A Taxi Full of Tarantulas” by ikoliks
“Another Toy” by Alex Keren
“The Beat Detector” by Novembers
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