Living in Paris

August 11, 2016 -- The apartment where we stay in Paris is typical of the apartments found in mid-19^th century through early 20^th century Parisian apartment buildings.  While the building is a bit late to be called “Haussmannian,” it certainly has most of the prominent Haussmannian features: stone façade with carvings, balconies with iron railings, French-door windows, high ceilings, fancy crown moldings, fireplaces, small kitchen, toilet room separate from the bathroom, etc.

Hay sculpture near the Eiffel Tower.

Back in the old days, most apartments like this would also have a chambre de bonne – a maid’s room – on the top floor.  The owners of this apartment did not have a chambre de bonne – until this year.  Somehow, they were able to buy one from one of the other owners in the building.

Ceilings are not high on the top level, where these servants’ quarters are located.  The rooms are small.  There is a shared toilet room which has – gasp! – a Turkish toilet!  Another padlocked door nearby hopefully leads to a slightly more modern shared bathroom.  It is all a mystery to us.

The chambre de bonne which is now associated with this apartment has a sink, and it has a nice view of the Eiffel Tower.  The owners left the key out for us so we could take a peek at their acquisition.  It is cute, but it is difficult to imagine living in such a small space.  Nevertheless, people do.  Tom says he has seen rooms like this offered for sale for 100,000 euros!

Flowers in the Place du Commerce

Theoretically, it is possible to put a shower and a toilet in a chambre de bonne like this.  That would be a tight squeeze, and every square inch would have to be used efficiently.   Once you see a chambre de bonne like this, it is easier to see why Parisian hotel rooms tend to be so small.

Tomorrow evening, we are meeting friends who will be staying at the Westin, up on the rue de Rivoli.  That’s a posh hotel, and the rooms aren’t so small there.  One of these friends works for Starwood hotels, and so she gets a nice discount at the Paris Westin.

They’ll be jet lagged tomorrow, so I suggested we simply eat at the Westin’s restaurant, Le First, where I can get a 30 percent discount via Lafourchette.com.  Le First is a fine dining place, with a good chef (David Real), so this should be fun.  We had planned to dine there once before, a few years ago, but something came up and I had to cancel those plans. 

Last night’s dinner was a good value, at La Table D’Hubert.  The food wasn’t quite as good as we remembered, but the price was right.  And the welcome we received from Hubert was lovely; he remembered us, and seated us at our regular table.  One reason we were originally attracted to La Table D’Hubert is that it is in the exact location where we dined at Aux Trois Chevrons, many years ago.  That restaurant was owned by Chef Serge Bonis, who is a friend of Jean Paul, a retired French restaurateur who lives now on Sanibel Island, not far from where we live.

I ran into Jean Paul last month at the Santiva General Store, where he had just eaten lunch. (He also likes to eat at the Lazy Flamingo.)  I sat down to talk with him for a while.  He misses France, and Paris in particular, very much.  We talked about places, avenues, parks, and other aspects of Paris.  We oohed and aahed with fond memories.  He said he would perhaps visit Paris in October.  I hope that he does.  Giving up Paris would hurt.