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Paris
The 7th district hosts the government, the Parliament and the
Eiffel Tower.
As always, let's start with the
map:
8th 1st
_--------------------__ La Se
/ _-------------------___`---__ine
./.- P.Alma """ A.Nat\---___`--.__
/ / """ \\ ---___`--
16th / / """ \\ Orsay /---
/ /"" """ \\ /
/ /Eiff T. """ \`_ /
/ / """""" """ -_`-_ /
/ /\ """"" Invalides `-_`___
/ / \ """"" `--- Bd.St-Germain
/ \ Ec.Mil /
/ \ / 6th
\ /
\ /
15th \ /
\ /
\ _ /
\_- \ /
\_/
Everything in italics on the map is outside the
district. Parks and lawns are indicated with series of double quotes (""").
Population was 56,985 in 1990 (8th least populated district), and
land area is 4.09 km2 (9th largest district). The 7th
district is the most expensive district in Paris, and the most boring
to live in. It contains only one movie theater (in a Japanese
pagoda, near the Invalides), no theater as far as I know and no night
club. To find an open grocery at 12 pm is probably as difficult as to
find wood on the Eiffel Tower. If you plan to live in Paris, try
somewhere else.
Along the Seine
The Eiffel Tower has been noded by several
people, including me, so I don't need to describe it. The
Champ-de-Mars is a very long field which extends from the Tower to
the Ecole Militaire, the largest barracks in Paris.
Walking north-east along the Seine, you'll get to Pont
de l'Alma. Diana died on the other end of the bridge, in the
8th district. On this side, you may visit the
Sewer Museum, where you will dream about going farther and visiting
the Paris catacombs.
From Pont de l'Alma, you should go and see Jules Lavirotte's Art
Nouveau building at 29, avenue Rapp. It's not as beautiful as Guimard's houses in the 16th district, but the ornaments of
flowers and animals burst with strange symbols. Go and see it.
East of Pont de l'Alma, the Hôtel des Invalides
points its beautiful dome to the sky. It was built by Napoleon for
his soldiers and hosts the Museum of the Army now. From the Invalides
to the Seine, the Parisians gather together on a long lawn from the
first sunny days of May in order to get their suntan ready for the
summer holidays.
Then you'll get the Assemblée
Nationale, the most important Chamber of the
Parliament, facing Place de la Concorde. It's less beautiful inside than the Senate in the
6th district.
Further on the east, a former train station hosts the
Musée d'Orsay. Not only the museum contains a very
rich collection of late 19th century art (particularly
Impressionism), but the building is very beautiful and deserves to
be visited for itself.
Getting back to the center of the district, you'll cross a desert
area where you will see more French national flags than human beings:
most of the government departments have their offices between rue
Saint-Dominique and rue de Varenne. The Prime Minister has the
largest private garden of Paris here in Hôtel Matignon (not to be
confused with avenue Matignon in the 8th district).
Not all the buildings are used by the government. If you have read
Marcel Proust's In Search of Lost Time, then have a walk in these
streets and imagine dinners and balls in these mansions 100 years ago:
this is what Proust called the faubourg Saint-Germain.