In the footsteps of Georges Brassens: Montparnasse, Plaisance and Brancion

Starting point and access: Gare Montparnasse, Place Raoul Dautry.
- Metro – Lines 4, 6, 12, 13; Montparnasse-Bienvenüe station. Take Exit 1 (Porte Océane).
- Transilien – Line N (terminus). Take the ground-level exit onto the esplanade.
- Bus – Routes 28, 39, 58, 59, 82, 89, 91, 92, 94, 95, 96.

(S) From the esplanade, with your back to the station and facing the Montparnasse Tower, turn right. Walk past the Porte Aquitaine (list of towns served by the south-western branch of the TGV Atlantique) and cross Rue du Départ. Follow this street to the right (turning your back on the Montparnasse Tower).

After about fifty metres, turn left into Rue du Maine. After passing a square on your left, turn right into Rue de la Gaité. Follow the street to the end and turn left into Avenue du Maine. At the next junction, turn left into Rue Froidevaux. Immediately on your left, you’ll find an entrance to Montparnasse Cemetery (which can be visited but is not shown on the map).

(1) Cross Rue Froidevaux and follow it to the right. Take the^first right onto Rue Auguste Mie, then the^first left onto Rue Cels. At the end, turn right onto Rue Fermat. At the next junction, turn left onto Rue Daguerre. At the traffic lights, turn right onto Rue Gassendi. Cross Rue Liancourt and, at the corner by the Georges Brassens Library, turn right into Passage Tenaille.

You’ll come out onto Avenue du Maine; follow it to the left for a few dozen metres. At^{the first} pedestrian crossing (bus shelter), cross the avenue and follow it to the right for about a hundred metres. At the corner of a hotel, turn left into Passage de la Tour de Vanves.

(2) At the end, turn left into Rue Asseline and follow it to a junction. Then take the^second right, Rue du Château. After about fifty metres, turn left under a portico and follow Rue du Moulin des Lapins. Cross Place de la Garenne diagonally and continue along Rue Sainte-Léonie. At the end, turn left into Rue Pernety.

At the end, turn right into Rue Didot. Ignore Rue de Plaisance on your right and, just before a square with a large park on your left, turn right into Rue des Thermopyles (cobbled). Walk alongside Square Alberto Giacometti on your left. When Rue Bauer joins from the left, turn right then left, still on Rue des Thermopyles.

At the end, turn left into Rue Raymond Losserand. At number 100, turn left into Avenue Villemain. At the end, walk past Place Stéphane Piobetta on your right and you’ll reach Rue d’Alésia, opposite number 173. Then turn right at a sharp angle to follow Rue d’Alésia.

(3) Just past a giant photo of Georges Brassens on a wall and before a petrol station, turn into the tiny Impasse Florimont. Go right to the end of the cul-de-sac (even if a barrier is closed); No. 9, where Brassens lived, is on the left-hand side (with cats carved into the wall). Retrace your steps.

(3) As you come out of the cul-de-sac, turn right back onto Rue d’Alésia. At the traffic lights, cross Rue Raymond Losserand and follow it to the right. Take the^first left onto Rue du Moulin de la Vierge. Cross Rue Decrès and then Rue de l’Ouest in turn. Then take a tarmac-surfaced lane that runs past tall blocks of flats and makes a first turn right then left.

You’ll come out onto Rue Vercingétorix; follow it to the right. At the traffic lights, turn left onto Rue de Gergovie. Pass under a footbridge and then under the railway bridge coming from Montparnasse Station. Continue along Rue de la Procession until you reach Place Falguière. Go round the square on the left and carry on straight ahead along Rue de la Procession.

At the corner of No. 60, turn left, go through a gate and head towards the (modern) church of Notre-Dame de l’Arche d’Alliance. To visit the church, climb the stairs and then go back down the other side; otherwise, go straight on and pass under the church forecourt.

At the end of the path, cross a street and enter Square d’Alleray opposite, slightly to the left. Turn left immediately to go through a cylindrical opening. Cross a small garden to the right and pass under a porch. Then turn left, leaving a playground on your right. Turn left again to leave the square. Walk past the foot of a block of flats, go down a flight of steps and go through a small gate.

Then follow Rue Saint-Amand to the left. At the traffic lights, turn right onto Rue Labrouste. At the next set of traffic lights, carry on straight ahead. Take the^first right onto Rue Franquet. Cross Rue Rosenwald and, at the end of Rue Franquet, turn left onto Rue Santos-Dumont.

(5) At the three-way junction, turn right into Villa Santos-Dumont, a pretty, leafy cul-de-sac lined with beautiful houses. Retrace your steps.

(5) Turn right and continue along Rue Santos-Dumont (at No. 42, the former home of Georges Brassens). At the junction, head straight on along Rue de Villafranca. At the end, turn right onto Rue Fizeau. At the end, cross Rue Brancion and enter Parc Georges Brassens.

(6) Go straight on, passing the “Guignol” on your right, followed by a small playground. Then turn immediately left towards the bust of Brassens, clearly visible in the middle of a lawn. Next to a sculpture of a donkey with a cart, you’ll find two sets of steps – one on the left and one on the right – and two paths between them: follow the path on the left towards the Théâtre Monfort.

Walk past the theatre on your left, then turn right onto a footbridge. At the next junction, take the path furthest to the left. Pass an apiary on your right and walk alongside a vineyard on your right (note the old Petite Ceinture railway line below on the left). After the vineyard, turn left to reach the park exit.

(7) Immediately cross Place Romain Gary to the right. First turn right then left to cross Rue de Dantzig and head straight ahead into the Passage de la Petite Ceinture (gravel path). Pass under a painted archway. Further on, continue along a narrow tarmac path between two wire fences. Head slightly downhill, walk alongside a brick wall and go down a flight of steps.

First turn left then right to reach the Petite Ceinture in^{the 15th arrondissement}. Descend a series of metal staircases interspersed with wooden footbridges. At the bottom, cross the disused railway line and follow it to the left. Shortly after the disused Vaugirard station, turn right twice, then go down a large flight of steps on the left. You’ll emerge onto Rue de Vaugirard; follow it straight on to the left as far as the Porte de Versailles (E).

To get back home:
- Metro – Line 12 (immediate access).
- Tram – Line T3a (cross Boulevard Victor) or T2 (carry on past it and cross the whole of the square).
- Bus – Route 80.

A good pair of trainers is all you need for this urban walk. The time given is the actual walking time and does not include breaks or any stops to visit places of interest.

There are numerous bars, restaurants and shops along the route, offering plenty of opportunities to quench your thirst or grab a bite to eat.

The space is shared with many other users. You’ll come across regulated crossings (traffic lights, pedestrian crossings) which, for your own safety, you should follow.

Although street names are almost always signposted along the route, a map is always useful (at the very least, the one accompanying this description).

Opening hours of public spaces:
Georges Brassens Park:
- Opens: 8.00 am on weekdays, 9.00 am on Saturdays and Sundays.
- Closing times: 5.45 pm to 9.30 pm depending on the season. See detailed opening hours.
Petite Ceinture passage and Petite Ceinture in the 15th arrondissement:
- Opens: 9.00 am on weekdays; 9.30 am on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays.
- Closing times: 4.45 pm to 8.30 pm depending on the season. See detailed timetables.

The large number of metro and bus stations along the route means you can shorten the walk as you wish, depending on how much time you have or where your mood takes you.

Walk completed by the author on 19 February 2016.

In this section, the points of interest are of three types: (i) places associated with the life of Georges Brassens, (ii) places associated with his songs, the titles of which are in italics, and (iii) other key heritage sites.

Benches can be found here and there, and we know full well that they’ve been placed there for *Les amoureux des bancs publics*.

From Montparnasse Station (S) to Rue Asseline (2):
- At 20 Rue de la Gaité, Bobino, a music-hall where Brassens performed around fifteen times between 1953 and 1976.
- Rue Froidevaux runs alongside the Montparnasse Cemetery, the very same one where, in ‘La ballade des cimetières’,‘a stone’s throw from (his) house’, a‘well-dressed young man’ complained of having not a single grave to visit.
- At 38 Rue Gassendi, the 14th arrondissement’s Municipal Library, which Georges Brassens frequented assiduously during the 1940s and which now bears his name.
- Passage de la Tour de Vanves.

From Rue Asseline (2) to Impasse Florimont (4):
- Rue Raymond Losserand – ‘Le vieux Léon’, where the‘children of Rue de Vanves’ – the street’s former name – are mentioned.
- At 14 Avenue Villemain, the shopfront of a ‘bougnat’ ( a traditional coal merchant): a bar-restaurant and wood and coal shop (the establishment appears to be closed) – ‘Chanson pour l’Auvergnat’; ‘Brave Margot’; ‘Le nombril des femmes d’agents’; …
- Rue des Thermopyles, very flower-filled (in season) and featuring a few old houses.
- At 173 Rue d’Alésia, Brassens’s first home in Paris, in February 1940 (he was 19), staying with an aunt.

From Impasse Florimont (4) to Porte de Versailles (E):
- At 9 Impasse Florimont, the house where Brassens lived from 1944 to 1958, with Jeanne and Marcel. It was also in this cul-de-sac that Pierre Nicolas, Georges Brassens’s regular double-bass player, was born. Two plaques at the entrance to the cul-de-sac mark this coincidence.
- Rue Vercingétorix and Rue de Gergovie – ‘La ronde des jurons’ (The Round of Swear Words), evoking the ‘true-blue Gauls’ who‘followed the law of frank speech’.
- 42 Rue Santos Dumont, the house where Brassens lived from 1969 onwards.
- Georges Brassens Park.
- Former Petite Ceinture railway line.