Walking with Hemingway — The Self-Guided Literary Stroll

My Paris Stories

All of the sadness of the city came suddenly with the first cold rains of winter, and there were no more tops to the high white houses as you walked but only the wet blackness of the street and the closed doors of the small shops, the herb sellers, the stationery and the newspaper shops, the midwife—second class—and the hotel where Verlaine had died where I had a room on the top floor where I worked. It was either six or eight flights up to the top floor and it was very cold.
–Ernest Hemingway: A Moveable Feast

Place de la Contrescarpe with rue Cardinal Lemoine over to the left

This essay is a continuation of Wednesday’s podcast episode/video.

This essay will guide you along the exact walking route, but with maps, street names, metro stops, and my own photos to bring it all to life.

The Video

If you have not yet watched the video, you can do so here if you like.

The Walk

In the video, we walk through 1920s Paris in the footsteps of Ernest Hemingway in the area where he lived, guided by A Moveable Feast, Hemingway’s tender, late-in-life memoir of those early years. This is one of my all-time favourite books (my original orange-spine Penguin paperback is completely worn out after decades of use 🤭).

The walk takes us from Place Saint-Médard, up the full length of rue Mouffetard over Place de la Contrescarpe to rue Cardinal Lemoine where Hemingway lived with his first wife, Hadley. Then we continued up rue Cardinal Lemoine to rue Descartes where Hemingway rented a small room where he wrote short stories about his childhood and youth in Michigan. These would later become In Our Time (another of my most treasured books).

The Self-Guided Stroll

Here, as promised is an outline of the actual walk we took, step by step.

You can use this if you want to take this stroll next time you are in Paris. Be sure to really look around you and sit down at some of the lovely cafés along the way to fully breathe in the atmosphere (a guide to these cafés will follow in a later essay):

• Begin your journey at Place Saint-Médard
  To get here, take the Metro to Censier-Daubenton (Line 7), and walk to the southern end of rue Mouffetard.

• Now, stroll north along rue Mouffetard, the vibrant, bustling market street that Hemingway frequently wandered and describes in the very opening lines of A Moveable Feast.

• When you get to Place de la Contrescarpe, veer to the right to rue du Cardinal Lemoine where Hemingway lived in number 74.

• After that, follow rue du Cardinal Lemoine for a minute or so and then turn left onto rue Thouin.

• After a few steps, turn right onto rue Descartes where Hemingway rented the room at the top where he wrote his stories in number 39.
  The Cardinal Lemoine Metro station (Line 10) is conveniently located if you want leave the area at this point.
  But there is much more to explore here (again, more about this in a later essay 😉).

You Can Find and Download the Map of the Walk Here

The entire walk takes only about 15 minutes. But I would recommend setting aside a few hours, so you can enjoy a coffee (or two or three) in the many cafés and take photos, and really breathe it all in.

74 rue Cardinal Lemoine where Hemingway lived with his wife Hadley, and their son Bumpo.

📍 Places & Resources Mentioned

📚 Book:

• A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway

🗺 Hemingway's Paris (1921–1926):

1. Rue du Cardinal Lemoine (Home Address)

   • 74 Rue du Cardinal Lemoine, 75005 Paris

     🟡 Metro: Cardinal Lemoine (Line 10)

2. Place de la Contrescarpe (Local Square)

   • Place de la Contrescarpe, 75005 Paris

   • A few steps from Rue du Cardinal Lemoine

     🟡 Metro: Place Monge (Line 7)

3. Rue Mouffetard (Beloved Market Street)

   • The historic, bustling food market street mentioned in Hemingway’s book

   • Runs from Place Saint-Médard north toward Place de la Contrescarpe then changes into Rue Descartes

     🟡 Metro (southern end): Censier-Daubenton (Line 7)

4. 39 Rue Descartes (Hemingway’s Writing Room)

   • Location of his rented writing studio

   • This is where the French poet Paul Verlaine died, and the street is the continuation to the north of Rue Mouffetard

     🟡 Metro: Cardinal Lemoine (Line 10)

39 rue Descartes on an overcast day—this is where Hemingway worked.

Join the Conversation

I’d love to hear your thoughts! Have you ever been to the Rue Mouffetard area of Paris? Did you see the two buildings where Hemingway lived and worked? Feel free to share your reflections in the comments below!