| After
World War II, Saint germain des Pres became synonymous with intellectual life
centred on bars and cafés. Philosophers, writers, actors and musicians
mingled in the cellar nightspots and brasseries, where existentialst philosophy
coexisted with American jazz.The area is now smarter that in the heyday of Jean-Paul
Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir, the enigmatic singer Juliette Grécot and
the new-wave film makers (such as Godard and Truffaut) However, the writers are
still around, enjoying the pleaures of sitting in Les Deux magots, Café
de Flore and other haunts, or in the Jardins du Luxembourg, just behind the Odeon
Theatre. |