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1 And much, much more

2 Our Contributors Karen Booth-Burns is our queen of French cuisine. A freelance food and travel writer, recipe developer and food stylist with a passion for local, seasonal ingredients. She has an award winning blog and runs a seasonal cookery school in SW France: lavenderandlovage Carol Drinkwater is a multi award-winning actress who is best known for her portrayal of Helen Herriot in the BBC television series All Creatures Great and Small. She is the author of twenty-one books, both fiction and non-fiction, and has achieved bestselling status, over a million copies sold worldwide with her quartet of memoirs set on her olive farm in the south of France. Peter Jones is our regular columnist. A writer and photographer with a French mother and a Welsh father, he brings a fresh insight to the world of travel writing. He is a freelance writer for newspapers and magazines. Dr Terry Marsh is a regular contributor to The Good Life France. He has written extensively for magazines and produced guidebooks for walkers in the French Pyrenees and the French Alps. He runs the France travel websites - francediscovered & lovefrenchfood Linda Matthieu is a regular contributor to The Good Life France. She's an American photographer living in France with her French husband. and is the Author of Secrets of a Paris Tour Guide. lindamathieu.com Duncan JD Smith is a historian and photographer. Since 2003 he has been exploring European cities and publishing his findings in the ground breaking Only In Guides. Visit for more details. Editor: Janine Marsh Deputy Editor: Lucy Pitts Editorial Assistant: Sandra Davis Creative Designer: Mark Allen Technical Support: Umbrella Web Solutions

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4 Poverty can be a positive thing for the city explorer. Whilst researching my book Only in Paris, a limited budget forced me to abandon dreams of living in Montmartre in favour of its Left Bank counterpart, Montparnasse. Any thoughts of having compromised culturally were quickly dispelled, however, when on my first day I happened upon the Cemetery of Montparnasse. Every bit as interesting as Montmartre s burial ground, the Cemetery of Montparnasse contains its own share of big name burials and uniquely is home to a 17th century windmill from when the area was arable land. The writers Baudelaire and Maupassant are here, and the philosophers Jean Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir. Serge Gainsbourg, the enfant terrible of French popular music, is a more recent arrival, with a grave that is usually adorned with cigarette packets. Of particular interest is the memorial marking the grave of French explorer Jules Dumont d Urville. In 1820, whilst serving in the French navy, Dumont joined a survey ship in the Mediterranean. It was there during a visit to the Greek island of Milo that he saw and sketched a newlyexcavated Classical statue. Realising it was something very special, Dumont urged his captain to purchase the statue. When the idea was rejected, Dumont showed his sketches to the French ambassador in Constantinople, from where a vessel was immediately dispatched and the statue secured. For his part in acquiring what became known as the Venus de Milo, Dumont was awarded the Légion d Honneur and promoted to Lieutenant. The statue is today one of the most popular exhibits in the Louvre and its likeness is carved on Dumont s grave.

5 Garden of the Observatory or Garden of Great Explorers Avenue de l Observatoire by the Boulevard de Montparnasse. So it is elsewhere in Montparnasse. For all the well-known wonders of Montmartre, there are equally interesting ones in Montparnasse and usually without the tourist throng. along the Boulevard du Montparnasse is Discover Arty Montparnasse A walk along the nearby Boulevard du Montparnasse is a case in point. Many of the artists attracted by the easy-going village life of Montmartre in the 1860s relocated to Montparnasse after the First World War, drawn by the area s cafés, cabarets and art schools. Modigliani, for example, once hawked his paintings from table to table at the venerable café Le Dôme, which overlooks what is now Place Pablo Picasso. Just around the corner at 14 Rue de la Grande Chaumière is a private art school that has scarcely changed in a century. Further

6 Most of Montparnasse is in the 14th Arrondissement (district) of Paris. The Jardin de Luxembourg lies on the border in the 6th Arrdondissement La Coupole, an Art Deco café-cumrestaurant with it's columns painted by artists including Chagall. Further still on Avenue du Maine is the artists colony Cité des Arts in a leafy, cobblestoned cul-de-sac. Here 30 artists studios were constructed using material salvaged from the Exposition Universelle de Paris de One of them was rented by Russian painter Marie Vassilieff, who ran a canteen for impoverished painters there, the studios are still in use today.

7 Win a copy of Onl brilliant book of s Left and right: streets in Montparnasse, a wealth of hidden beauty; below left the famous Moulin de la Vierge; below: the roof top public garden Atlantique which covers the Gare Montparnasse Roof top garden Montparnasse station A little to the south is the Gare Montparnasse, where the German military command relinquished Paris in 1944 (celebrated in a superb museum), and which today is home to the rooftop Jardin Atlantique. Further less well-known treasures lie beyond, including what is perhaps the city s most extraordinary church. The Église Notre-Dame-du-Travail at 59 Rue Vercingétorix appears unexceptional until one enters it. Built in 1901 and clearly influenced by the work of Gustave Eiffel, its nave is supported on a visible iron framework, installed it is said to make factory workers in the congregation feel at home! More likely the success of the Eiffel Tower had set a constructional trend. This tour of Montparnasse finishes farther along the street with the Moulin de la Vierge at number 105. Surprisingly for such a regular-looking street, this tiny bakery is an astonishing Belle Époque jewel, with mirrored walls and a glorious painted ceiling. The Pain au Raisins are excellent and if you ask nicely the baker might let you peek at the century-old cast iron oven in the cellar. My time in Montparnasse reiterated a valuable lesson in city travelling. By getting off the beaten track a more intimate experience can often be had and in so doing a more indelible memory taken away.

8 y in Paris, Duncan Smith's ecret Paris page 84 Living in Paris Montparnasse is on the edge of 6th, 7th, 14th and 15th arrondissements. The area is wellknown for its cinemas and theatres on the Boulevard du Montparnasse and La Gaité. There are great shops in Boulevard Raspail and Rue de Rennes with Beau Marché just 10 minutes away. There are three regular street markets in the area: Marché Raspail, the most glamorous and expensive on the Left Bank, where celebrities shop. Marché Edgar Quinet across the street from the Cementery of Montparnasse, an excellent market. Marché Port Royal/Val de Grace - said to be the friendliest market in the city! Paris property expert Dominique Petit picks three stunning properties for sale: 364,000 click here for more info In the centre of lovely Montmartre over-looking a famous square with a village vibe. Close to all the shops, cafes and restaurants - welcome to Paris! In the Latin Quarter: At the heart of the lively Mouffetard neighbourhood (5th), famous for its market. Recently renovated with great rooftop views. 468,000 click here for more info 848,000 click here for more info Paris 4th - Ile de la Cite island: Superbly located on the Quai aux Fleurs, overlooking the Seine and just behind Notre-Dame Cathedral. It doesn't get much better than this!