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The first stop on the Ratatouille film trail in Paris is the
famous Eiffel Tower, which was designed by Gustave
Eiffel and has become the monumental symbol and well known landmark in France.
Having had well over two hundred million visitors since it first opened, virtually
everyone in the World has heard of the Eiffel Tower and this is how Remy realised he had
ended up in Paris. In the film you will see
him gazing from the rooftops in awe at the City of Lights along with this Paris landmark.
Remy's family also arrive in Paris and settle in the sewers beneath the city, but for
Remy, he wants to live above ground and pursue his dream of becoming a great chef like his
idol.
Yet the second stop on the Paris film trail is a
visit to the sewers. Yes you read correctly, you can actually have a tour of the
Paris sewers and learn about how drainage first started in Paris, through to their
construction and what they are like today! The Paris Sewers Museum is also called
the Mus?e des Egouts and is located on the Left Bank
of the River Seine but with the museum entrance only being
a ticket booth on ground level, you have to look out for it or you could quite easily miss
it.
In the movie, Remy is trying to escape from the tyrant chef called Skinner and he ends up
jumping from bridge to bridge and boat to boat along the River Seine until eventually the
horrible chef fall into the water.
And yes, you have guessed it, you take a walk along the River Seine viewing the sites as
you go like the Petit Palais, the Palais de Tokyo and The Louvre to name but a few. You will even
get to see some lovely yachts that are moored at the Arsenal basin, which have been dug
from the moats of the former Bastille
fortress.
Now we cannot forget about the bridges that span the River Seine and there are actually
over thirty bridges with the oldest being the Pont Neuf, which was first constructed in
the 1600's. There were quite a few bridges that featured in Ratatouille, which
included the Pont St Michel and the Pont au Double, but you can also visit more recent
additions such as the Charles de Gaulle bridge and it was along the banks of the River
Seine that Remy's life changed for the better.
Remy's family and especially his father were totally against him living above ground and
pursuing his dream of becoming a chef and he took Remy to see the shop called Aurouze,
known as the Exterminator shop, which did shock Remy, but didn't stop him.
The shop itself has always specialised in pest control and does still exist even though it
was originally founded back in1872. Called the Julien Aurouze & Co and located
on Rue des Halles close to Hotel de Ville,
it has a very traditional and old fashioned style frontage. But being one of the
more unusual shops in Paris, it still supplies numerous gadgets and other products for
getting rid of unwanted pests.
In the Ratatouille movie there was a restaurant called Gusteau that was home to the most
famous chef in Paris and at one time had been the ultimate dining experience. It is
here that you see Remy pursuing his dream of becoming a great chef, just like his hero
Gusteau.
However, you will not actually find any restaurants
in Paris that are named Gusteau, but the film restaurant was inspired by the famous
haute cuisine restaurant called the Tour
d'Argent, which is probably one of the most famous restaurants throughout France if
not in the World.
This marvellous restaurant with views of the Notre Dame
Cathedral, the River Seine and the Eiffel Tower in the distance has been an
inspiration to many and has seen many celebrity diners and royalty over the years and this
is the last stop on the Ratatouille film trail in Paris.
There is a lot more information, pictures and anecdotes that are mentioned on the little
guide available from the Tourist Information Centres, but we would not want to spoil your
fun prior to this unusual way of seeing Paris.
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