Travel and Adventure by Various Travel Authors

By Richard Carroll

Magically enchanting and much loved, Paris, the urban empress of Europe, remains eternally young and amorous. Occasionally vain, always passionate, and with a long and turbulent history, the legendary city has a special flair for life that has captivated and inspired many of the world's most artistic talents.

After the Great War and during the 1920s and '30s, Paris was the place to be for artists, writers and the forward-thinking avant-garde looking to etch their mark. This included some 30,000 Americans, many clutching one-way tickets to the City of Lights.

The French franc was a colossal friend, the exchange rate a whopping 25 to 35 francs to the dollar, and Paris' free-flowing alcohol was a further attraction as long as hard-line Prohibition had the upper hand in the United States. Parisian nightlife, animated cabarets, free-thinking ladies and French wine were all treasures to behold.

On the vibrant Left Bank of Paris, in the Latin Quarter and Montparnasse, Ernest Hemingway and his wife Hadley, bespectacled James Joyce struggling to publish "Ulysses," and F. Scott Fitzgerald with his flamboyant wife Zelda, both giddy from the publication of "The Great Gatsby," had settled in along with Pablo Picasso and a memorable list of other authors and artists.

Bigger than life and significant to the literary and artistic scene, Gertrude Stein, writer, serious art collector, and a remarkable influence on writers and artists, cleverly tagged the exiles the "Lost Generation." She was backed by her jealous lover, Alice B. Toklas, who fiercely disliked Hemingway.

Mercifully, much of the great city has remained suspended in a timeless bubble, making it easy to relive the Lost Generation, to tread on the ancient stones that Hemingway and friends negotiated, sit at the same sidewalk cafes and restaurants, see the gardens, hotels, churches, cathedrals and lodgings that once upon a time were their stomping grounds.

The reflective adventure comes together with Oriel and Peter Caine's Paris Walking Tours, founded in 1994 and recommended by the Paris Tourist Office. The Caines, who are themselves esteemed authors and scholars, engage knowledgeable English-speaking guides whose contributions to the tour include appropriate humor and fascinating encyclopedic insights.

Following the guides through any of the two-hour walks — Hemingway's Paris, Writers of the Left Bank, the Village of Montmartre or Saint Germain-des-Pres — gives the sense of having moved through time, setting the stage for an irresistible melange of literary and artistic history.

A magnificent destination of monuments and striking architecture, each turn of a Parisian corner invites a celebration of the senses that embellishes the timeless link to Hemingway and to a city glowing with imperishable splendor and earthiness that can grab the heart and hang on for a lifetime.

Via a touch of imagination supported by the images of Woody Allen's award-winning film, "Midnight in Paris," and Hemingway's memoir recalling his life in Paris, "A Moveable Feast," one can envision his strolling along the narrow, winding cobblestone streets, Fitzgerald at his side, Zelda edging between them wildly dancing the tango and hoping for an open bar.

With Lost Generation thoughts flowing, a visitor might hear a bit of hot jazz and pass by Kiki, the classy lady of the night, a favorite artist's model, who never met a man she didn't like.

You might pick out Josephine Baker's bluesy voice floating through the night air from the intensely popular Folies Bergere, where Baker, a favorite of Hemingway, often performed in her adopted homeland with Chiquita, her pet Cheetah.

Gertrude Stein's home and salon at 27 rue de Fleurus, now a private residence, was once decorated with priceless Gauguin, Renoir, Matisse, Picasso and Cezanne paintings and was long noted as the most distinguished salon in all of Paris. This was an important gathering place for a coterie of famous artists, writers and trend-setters that included Hemingway and European royalty.

Sylvia Beach's Shakespeare and Company on rue l'Odeon, the only English-language bookstore on the Left Bank, was another celebrated gathering place. Writers could buy or borrow books there, and Hemingway was noted for often doing the latter.

The bookstore closed in 1941 during the German occupation of Paris and never reopened, but in 1951 another Shakespeare and Company opened in tribute to Beach. Steps from the Seine and the Notre Dame Cathedral, the bookstore, featured in "Midnight in Paris," buzzes with camera-toting visitors with a literary liking.

After experiencing the famed bookstore, it's astounding to walk past the Hemingways' old neighborhood on rue Mouffetard, where they rented their first apartment on the third floor at 74 rue du Cardinal Lemoine. A small women's clothing store on the ground floor is aptly named Under Hemingway's.

Along Boulevard du Montparnasse are a cluster of legendary cafes; La Rotonde, La Coupole, Le Dome and Le Select, home to Mickey, a 19-year-old cat. These are all within walking distance of one another, and they are as fashionable today as they were when they were the center of life in the 1920s with their people-watching sidewalk tables and churlish waiters.

Hemingway's preferred cafe, also on Montparnasse, was La Closerie des Lilas. He often sat in the corner with a cafe creme, writing some of his finest short stories and working on "The Sun Also Rises."

Incredibly, the bar retains its period ambience. This is confirmed by a framed black-and-white photo, circa 1920s. A small copper plaque inscribed with his name is embedded in the bar, along with a small photo of him above the bar. One can imagine Hemingway sitting here chatting with Fitzgerald and Joyce, while in the background Cole Porter is playing the piano to an audience of wistful lovers on the prowl.

Years later one of Hemingway's numerous haunts was the famed Ritz Hotel on rue Cambon, where his name is now honored with the intimate Hemingway Bar.

Parisians remark that the more Paris changes, the more it stays the same. For Hemingway, the City of Lights was an ageless enclave of beauty, style and history, and it's the place where, through much effort, he developed the distinctive writing style we still read today.

WHEN YOU GO

Visit Paris Walks at www.paris-walks.com or contact them at paris@paris-walks.com. Check the five-star Paris Sightseeing Pass, which offers visitors access to more than 60 top attractions, including the sightseeing bus, metro, a Seine cruise and other discounts: www.parispass.com.

Richard Carroll is a freelance travel writer. To read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

COPYRIGHT 2012 CREATORS.COM