| The fifteenth arrondissement is located in southwest | | | | "redeveloped" in the early 1970s but was saved and is |
| Paris on the Left Bank of the Seine River. Its land area | | | | still used as art studios. Only the exterior is available for |
| slightly exceeds 3.2 square miles (a tad over 8.5 | | | | general viewing and you should really stop by. The |
| square kilometers). It is the most populous of the | | | | Musée du Montparnasse (Montparnasse |
| twenty arrondissements, weighing in at over two | | | | Museum) on the site of the old canteen contains quite |
| hundred twenty five thousand residents and provides | | | | a collection from the Ruche's days of glory. It is just |
| almost one hundred fifty thousand jobs. | | | | over the border in the fourteenth arrondissement. |
| The Gare Montparnasse is one of six large Parisian | | | | Front de Seine (also known as Beaugrenelle) is a |
| railway stations. It first opened in 1840 and was | | | | mixed commercial and residential highrise development |
| expanded only a few years later. In 1895 a runaway | | | | along the Seine River. The complex includes about |
| train rode through a two foot (sixty centimeter) wall, | | | | twenty three-hundred feet (one-hundred meter) |
| left the premises, and toppled onto the street thirty | | | | buildings constructed around an elevated esplanade |
| feet (ten meters) below. The train finished this wild tour | | | | paved with frescoes that are only visible from the |
| on its nose, as shown on the cover of the Lean Into It | | | | upper floors. I know where I'd rather live. |
| album produced by the hard rock group Mr. Big. No | | | | Aquaboulevard is Europe's largest aquatic indoor |
| passengers were killed in this grand voyage, but | | | | recreational park. Water lovers will find waves, slides, |
| several were injured and a passerby was killed. | | | | and swimming pools. The site boasts tennis and |
| On August 25, 1944 the German military governor of | | | | squash courts, and a fitness center. If you are not in an |
| Paris, General von Choltitz, surrendered to the French | | | | athletic mood or have finished your workout there are |
| General Philippe Leclerc at the old Montparnasse train | | | | seven restaurants and a fourteen-screen movie |
| station. Happily enough von Cholitz disobeyed Adolf | | | | theater on site. Enjoy yourself. |
| Hitler's direct order to destroy the city as dramatized in | | | | The giant Palais des Sports (Sports Palace) hosts |
| the 1966 Franco-American movie Is Paris Burning?. | | | | hockey and basketball games as well as large-scale |
| This movie was disappointing at the box office, | | | | musicals and rock concerts. Don't confuse it with the |
| perhaps because it was hard to follow for those | | | | Palais Omnisports de Paris Bercy in the twelfth district |
| unfamiliar with the ins and outs of the French | | | | across Paris. Given Parisian traffic, if you go to the |
| Resistance. | | | | wrong one you'll probably miss your show. This 1960 |
| Twenty-five years later this historic station was torn | | | | building was used as a detention center in the Paris |
| down and replaced with the Tour Montparnasse | | | | massacre of 1961 during the Algerian War of |
| (Montparnasse Tower) at the time Europe's tallest | | | | Independence. |
| building. Two years after it was built skyscrapers were | | | | I have a confession to make. Until recently I was under |
| banned in central Paris, but... Do you remember Guy de | | | | the impression that Paris was home to a single still |
| Maupassant's joke about the Eiffel Tower restaurant | | | | functioning vineyard, one outside this district. Live and |
| (if not, see our article on the Seven Arrondissement | | | | learn. The village of Vaugirard was known for its |
| article)? They make the same joke about the | | | | wines, exported as far back as 1453 at the end of the |
| Montparnasse Tower. | | | | Hundred Years War. After 1786 when toll walls were |
| In 1995 the French urban climber, Alain "Spiderman" | | | | built around Paris the city residents crossed them on |
| Robert, climbed to the top of the building using only his | | | | Sundays and holidays to drink Vaugirard wine, eat |
| bare hands and feet and no safety devices | | | | strawberries and peas, and dance to the sound of |
| whatsoever. (Don't try this at home kids.) He started | | | | fiddles, musettes, and oboes. I'm reminded of the |
| his career at age twelve when he was accidentally | | | | Goose That Laid The Golden Egg when I read that |
| locked out of the family's eighth-floor apartment. Alain | | | | the money-grubbing winegrowers of Vaugirard |
| continued learning his trade in the French Alps. He has | | | | replaced their wines with a new stock that yielded |
| vertigo, a type of dizziness, from two accidents. And | | | | much more wine, but of a lower quality. The |
| yes, he has also climbed the Eiffel Tower as well as | | | | consumers weren't fooled for long and by 1810 |
| many other skyscrapers over the world. For a change | | | | Vaugirard saw its last vineyard. The last until 1985 |
| of pace he climbed the Golden Gate Bridge. | | | | when the Clos des Morillons vineyard in the Parc |
| La Ruche (The Beehive) is a weird-looking three-story | | | | Georges Brassens was replanted with seven hundred |
| circular structure that resembles a gigantic beehive | | | | Pinot Noir vines. Each vine yields on average about 2.2 |
| more than human living quarters. It was designed by | | | | pounds (one kilo) of grapes in September or October. |
| Gustave Eiffel as a temporary wine rotunda for the | | | | The following summer you can enjoy the wine, said to |
| Exposition Universelle (Universal Exposition) of 1900. | | | | be fairly good. |
| You know what other temporary building he designed. | | | | Of course you don't want to be in Paris without |
| The French sculptor Alfred Boucher had the building | | | | sampling fine French wine and food. In my article I |
| dismantled and re-erected as inexpensive artist studios | | | | Love French Wine and Food - A Burgundy |
| that attracted the usual group of hangers-on as well. | | | | Aligoté I reviewed such a wine and suggested a |
| Can you imagine living in Paris surrounded by artists | | | | sample menu: Start with Jambon Persillé (Ham in |
| and paying almost no rent? Admittedly La Ruche | | | | Parsleyed Aspic). For your second course savor |
| wasn't the Champs Elysées but not everyone's | | | | Rable de Lievre à la Piron (Saddle of Hare with |
| idea of Paris is the Champs Elysées. It wasn't far | | | | Shallots and White Wine). And as dessert indulge |
| from a famous canteen described in our companion | | | | yourself with Mousse au Chocolat (Chocolate |
| article on the fourteenth district. | | | | Mousse.) Your Parisian sommelier (wine steward) will |
| The list of its former residents includes many of the | | | | be happy to suggest appropriate wines to accompany |
| greatest painters and artists of the early Twentieth | | | | each course. |
| Century. This historic complex came close to being | | | | |