29 Rue de la Parcheminerie, Paris, France
The Latin Quarter is rife with narrow streets and even tighter alleys where you’ll find late-night cafés, Greek restaurants, creperies, wine bars, tiny luxury shops, big and bright chocolatiers, and somewhere in the warren of cobbles pathways you will come across the Abbey Bookshop. The little sliver of a street where it resides looks more like a service alley, but the flags and bookshelves out front give it away. If you’ve spotted it, then you’ve arrived at one of the best bookshops in the neighborhood, possibly even better than Shakespeare & Co., if used books are your thing.
Read more37 Rue de la Bucherie, Paris, France
You’ll find Shakespeare and Company in the shadow of Notre Dame cathedral, the two separated by the waters of the Seine lapping against stone quays. Above these are long green boxes on the parapet overlooking the river where old men resting on wooden chairs sell out of print pulp novels and magazines to passersby. Parisians weave their bikes through the traffic as police sirens wail in the distance before falling back into the soft bustle of endless human movement. In the small square beside the bookstore, tourists stand in line, coffee in hand, waiting to enter the famed shop, staring at the aging signage and bookshelves until the door opens and a member of the staff waves them in. As with most Parisian locations recognizable from films, television, and photographs, Shakespeare and Company has become as much a tourist landmark as a bookstore.
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