The Seine River (“SEN”) flows from east to west, splitting the city into two sections: Rive Gauche (Left Bank) to the south and Rive Droite (Right Bank) to the north. Two islands in the Seine, Île de la Cité and neighboring Île St-Louis, are situated in the geographical center of the city. Central Paris is divided into 20 arrondissements (districts) that spiral clockwise outward from the center of the city, like the shell of an escargot. Each arrondissement is referred to by its number (e.g. the third, the sixteenth). In French, “third” is said troisième (TRWAZ-yem) and abbreviated “3ème”; “sixteenth” is seizième (SEZ-yem) and abbreviated “16ème.” The same goes for every arrondissement except the first, which is said premier (PREM-yay) and abbreviated 1er.
Although arrondissements are marked by official numerical divisions, Parisian neighborhoods often overlap more than one arrondissement. The Marais, for example, spans the 3 ème and 4 ème arrondissements. To ensure that our readers are branchés (literally, “plugged in,” or in-the-know), we have divided our coverage by neighborhood, which we subdivide into arrondissements where necessary. This is the structure that we use throughout the book.
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