Secret Paris Alleyway - Left Bank

Located in the 6th district of Paris, close to Odeon Metro is a secret passage.
Most tourists and other visitors of the Quartier Latin, would walk up (or down) the Rue Saint André des Arts, and would miss giving a second glance to the narrow passageway called Cour du Commerce Saint André.
One entrance to this partly covered narrow street is from Rue Saint André des Arts, the other one is from Boulevard Saint Germain. the small street or alleyway has an of 18th century atmosphere, is covered by centuries- old cobble-stones, has a lot of charm and a number of historical references.

The first experiments with the guillotine (on sheep) took place in this building (no. 9).
The oldest still existing Paris café, Le Procope – opened in 1686 - , (OK for a coffee, but I would not recommend eating there) has its backdoor entry here. Among its regular visitors you can mention Racine, Molière, Voltaire, Diderot, Balzac, Napoleon and his marshals, George Sand, Victor Hugo, Oscar Wilde, Thomas Jefferson … Benjamin Franklin (who is said to have “fine-tuned” the American constitution here)… a lot of ancient times’ actors (the old Comédie Française was just across the street) .. and the Revolutionary Robespierre, Marat, Danton….and Guillotin. Marat also printed the Revolutionary newspaper “L”Ami du Peulple” in this street (no. 8) and Danton had his home at no. 20 which corresponds to a part of the street which disappeared with the construction of Boulevard Saint Germain. Danton’s statue now stands where his house used to be.
Director Vincent Minnelli filmed here, set off the alleyway, for his musical, Gigi. Take a peek and see if you can recognize whose home it was in the movie.