"Les Deux Magots" Café on the Left Bank

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This is a famous café on the Left Bank called Les Deux Magots (pronounced /le dø mago/). It’s popular with both tourists and Parisians, and has a long and colorful history as a meeting place for famous writers and philosophers. The picture was taken from the northeast corner of the Place du Québec, which is at the intersection of the boulevard Saint-Germain and the rue de Rennes. The boulevard Saint-Germain continues into the heart of the Latin Quarter behind the camera. To the right, and also off-camera, is the rue Bonaparte, which leads a short distance north to the left (southern) bank of the Seine river (that’s where the Left Bank gets its name—the southern bank of the river is on the left in the direction of the river’s flow, which is westward). To the left, and off-camera, the intersection leads into the rue de Rennes, which continues south into the Montparnasse area. All of this is in the sixth district of Paris, best known as the home of the Latin Quarter, the students’ district. This part of Paris, like many others, is filled with people from morning until very late at night.

The name Les Deux Magots means, roughly, “The Two Chinese Figurines,” and is a reference to a novelty shop that used to occupy the same address, up until around 1885.

This was taken in the afternoon in late winter. It was extremely hard to get a decent picture, since so many people were walking to and fro; even in this picture, there are still several people blocking the view, but that was the best I could do.

Photographed on March 2, 2009.