Paris is divided into 20 arrondisements, beginning in the center with the 1st at the Louvre Museum, and continuing clockwise in a spiral, ending at the peripherique--the thoroughfare that surrounds Paris . (You can view our apartment by inserting "Cherche Midi 1" into Google. That site also features a video with a tour of the apartment.) My favorite areas in Paris are the 5th and 6th arrondisements, both of which are on the left bank. To understand the difference between left and right banks (rive gauche and rive droite), think of the map of Paris as being split roughly in half by the river Seine. If you place your right hand above the river and your left hand below the river, your right hand is on the right bank and your left is on the left bank. The 5th and 6th arrondisements make up the Latin Quarter, which is directly across the Seine from the Notre Dame Cathedral. Back in the 12 century, students studied Latin with the monks there. At some point the monks became disgruntled for some reason and moved across the river to teach Latin, and that area has been known as the Quartier Latin ever since. The Sorbonne (University of Paris) is also located in this area, so it is still an area where one finds lots of students.
