been provided by: steves: the latin quarter is the core of the left bank, as the south side of the seine rivers has long been the city's university district. in fact, the university of paris, a leading university in medieval europe, was founded here in the 13th century. back then, the vernacular languages, like french and german, were crude, good enough to handle your basic needs. but for higher learning, academics like this guy spoke and corresponded in latin. until the 1800s, from sicily to sweden, latin was the language of europe's educated elite, and parisians called this university district "the latin quarter" because that's the language they heard on the streets. today, any remnant of that latin is buried by a touristy tabbouleh of ethnic restaurants. still, it remains a great place to get a feel for the tangled city, before the narrow lanes were replaced by wide, modern boulevards in the 19th century. the scholarly and artsy people of this quarter brewed up a new rage, paris's café scene. by the time of the revolution, the city's countless cafés were the haunt of politicians and philoso