The western edge of the 15e arrondissement fronts the Seine from the Eiffel Tower to beyond Pont du Garigliano, bristling with office blocks and miniature skyscrapers. The most recent addition to the river-front skyline is the glass Maison de la Culture du Japon à Paris, at 101 quai Branly (Tues–Sat noon–7pm; Thurs till 8pm; www.mcjp.asso.fr; M° Bir-Hakeim), a symbol of prosperous Franco–Japanese relations which contains a cinema, library, exhibition-space and opportunity to take part in a Japanese tea ceremony (Wed 3pm & 4pm; book two weeks in advance on 01.44.37.95.00; €7). Just off Pont de Bir-Hakeim, at the beginning of boulevard de Grenelle, in a rather undignified enclosure sandwiched by high-rise buildings, a plaque commemorates the notorious rafle du Vel d'Hiv, the Nazi and French-aided round-up of 13,152 Parisian Jews in July 1942. Nine thousand of them, including four thousand children, were interned here at the now-vanished cycle track for a week before being carted off to Auschwitz. Only thirty adults survived.The quaysides are pretty inaccessible, but one place to walk is the Allée des Cygnes, a narrow island in midstream joining the Pont de Grenelle and the double-decker road and rail bridge, Pont de Bir-Hakeim. It's a strange place – one of Samuel Beckett's favourites – with just birds, trees and a path to walk along, and, at the downstream end, a scaled-down version of the Statue of Liberty. This was one of the four preliminary models constructed between 1874 and 1884 by sculptor Auguste Bartholdi, with the help of Gustave Eiffel, before the finished article (originally intended for Alexandria in Egypt) was presented to New York. Contemporary photos show the final version, assembled in Bartholdi's rue de Chazelles workshop, towering over the houses of the 17e like a bizarre female King Kong.
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