Metro : Place de Clichy. 17th
arrondissement.
In the eastern half of the
17ème arrondissement, rue des Batignolles is considered the
center of the Village Batignolles, a quiet, old-fashioned village of
shops and residences starting at Boulevard des Batignolles to the south
and extending up to Place du Dr Felix Lobligeois. Just north of
the place, the craggy waterfalls and duck-ponds of the Romantic park,
square des Batignolles, recall its more famous neighbor to the
south, the English style Parc Monceau. It was from the park's
western end that Monet painted the train tracks running from the
southern Gare St-Lazare. To the west, restaurants and cafés line
rue des Dames, while shops stand on rue de Lévis. On the other
side of rue des Batignolles, at rue Lemercier between rue Clairaut and
rue des Moines, is a daily shopped here since WWII. La Cité des
Fleurs, 59-61, rue de la Jonquière, at the intersection with rue
des Epinettes, is a row of exquisite private homes and gardens that
look like they were lifted out of a Balzac novel. Designed in 1847,
this prototypical condominium required each owner to plant at least
three trees in the gardens. The Cimetière des Batignolles,
sandwiched between a noisy lycée and the car horns of the
Periphérique, is surprisingly serene given its surroundings.
Andre Breton, Paul Verlaine, and Benjamin Peret are buried here.
