This single block in Montparnasse has it all: history, design, art, writers, photographers, models and World War II heroes... from photographer Lee Miller to Resistance leader Colonel Rol-Tanguy, from abolitionist Schoelcher to writer Anais Nin, and even my own near-miss with philosopher Simone de Beauvoir's apartment. For photos, please check out my website. Thanks as always to Bremner Fletcher for technical expertise and general know-how. The Improbable Walks theme music is performed by David Symons, New Orleans accordionist extraordinaire.

For the mad month of March, this episode focuses on a party hosted by writer Alexandre Dumas in 1833. Wine bottles by the hundreds, wall decor by Delacroix... it was a 9th arrondissement costume ball crammed into a small apartment, and it's well worth a walk-by nearly 200 years after the fabulous event. For photos, please check out my website. Thanks as always to Bremner Fletcher for technical expertise and general know-how. The Improbable Walks theme music is performed by David Symons, New Orleans accordionist extraordinaire.

In honor of the moody month of February, we visit Ile Saint-Louis, retracing Baudelaire's drug-induced dreams. Our route goes along the central main street, rue de Saint-Louis-en-l'Ile, from West to East. The first mansion on our route is the Hôtel de Lauzun - where Revolutionary "it girl" Thérésa Cabarrus Tallien lived. For photos, please check out my website. Thanks as always to Bremner Fletcher for technical expertise and general know-how. The Improbable Walks theme music is performed by David Symons, New Orleans accordionist extraordinaire.