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.
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