Traversée 2 - part 3

... from the Panthéon, via Square René Le Gall and la Butte aux Cailles to Parc Montsourris.

More than a year later we pick up the route at the Panthéon (M-Cardinal Lemoine). We walk south on rue du Cardinal-Lemoine to the place de la Contrescarpe and cross the rue Mouffetard.Facade of butcher in the rue Mouffetard (source Paris à Pied)

Here we see a curious facade of the butcher shop from the 18th century at no. 14.

We make a small detour and return, through the rue Pot de Fer (pedestrian zone with restaurants), to the rue Mouffetard.

This Gallic and later Roman causeway has held the same name for about 20 centuries, derivedMarkt op de rue Mouffetard (bron: Reizen 1997 no.2) from the mountain it descends from. Pronunciations has changed though, from mons Cetardus to mont Fetard. The rue Mouffetard (also called le Mouffe) is a special street. All houses date from the same era (17-18 c.) and the street is full of atmoshpere, especially because of the food street market.

At the St Médard church we leave la Mouffe and cross Rue Claude Bernard and enter the narrow rue Broca. We follow it across the Bd Port Royal until the Bd Arago. We now enter the 13th district. We go left to the Rue de Gobelins.

We walk through this street and get to the rue Berbier du Mets, where Gobelin worshops have been for ages. Gobelin tapestries are still being made here according to the tradition of Jean Gobelin started in 1443..

We walk through a little park Square René Gall, then up the stairs to the rue Courvisart, cross the Bd Auguste Blanqui and we are in for a steep climb. We ascend the Butte-aux-Cailles (Quail Hill)

It is a hill 64m (200ft) high and called after the Caille family who settled here in 1543. It was incorporated into Paris in 1860. Because of its high position it was ideal for windmills, a number of streets names still remind us of that. The mills have gone now. There are quite of number of apartment buildings from the 1960s, but the most attractive part is the rue de la Butte aux Cailles with its restaurants and bookshops. We too, have lunch here.

We descend again and finally arrive at the Rue Auguste Lançon. At the end of this street we get to the Cité Florale.Rue des Iris (source: Paris à Pied)

This is a housing development from 1928 on top of a filled lake. It is full of flowers and plants with pittoresque streets, all named after flowers.

Then we get to the final destination of our walk: the Parc Montsouris.

This part, too, was constructed at the end of the 19th century on insistance of Napoleon III, who wanted to complement the Bois de Boulogne and the Bois de Vincennes with a big park in the North (Butte-Chaumont) and one in the South. The park is 16 ha (39 acres) big and stretches partly over the RER station Cité Universitair.

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