Incongruity that jostles

In the touristy area near the base of the Eiffel Tower, regular life goes on.  The Avenue de la Bourdonnais may be home to many souvenir shops, but it is also the address for a large clump of municipal buildings that include a gymnasium, a library book depository, and, turning the corner on the Rue General Camou, a big high school named for Gustave Eiffel.

The Eiffel Tower last night, as we walked home.

In France, students must decide their vocational path fairly early, so high schools are specialized.  While logic would dictate that a school named for Gustave Eiffel would have a mission of preparing future engineers, that is not the case.  The focus of this school is professional training in the commercial and administrative sector, including the hospitality industry.

That early choice of career path might seem to stifle creativity and growth.  But this school has something called the "Opera Project," which is described as follows:

The opera project is a great adventure, where the pedagogical, human, educational and artistic converge to help students grow.

The first objective of this project is incongruity: to propose something that astonishes and detonates, that jostles, panics, forces to move. This is to make the high school team reshuffle the deck, to go against the grain of daily life where students are often stuck, to go to the opposite extreme of their comfort zone, to make them fall off the walls and break the glass ceiling.

The second objective is consideration: we take the time to watch our students attentively and we look at them with interest, giving them the feeling that they were chosen, that we set the bar very high, that they will have to reach up and out.

To educate is to raise, and the words take on their full meaning here. With these two objectives, the incongruity that jostles and the consideration that repairs, we will gradually generate desire, then pride and finally ambition. With the hope that they find or reinforce their motivation for schooling and studies.

While I have no way of knowing how well the Opera Project works, the cliché-filled description offered shows that at least somebody cares about teaching students how to think and set goals.

Rue Monttessuy

We dined on the Rue Monttessuy, just a block away from the Gustave Eiffel high school, at Firmin le Barbier.   We discovered this tiny bistrot last year, around the same time of the year, when we were seeking more highly rated bistrots that are open in the middle of August.

The dinner last night was delightful.  An extended Japanese family occupied two tables inside and one outside.  They were all having so much fun, being served a big steak dinner family style.  Gigi, the server, was of Chinese background, but she communicated very well with the family in English.

When the family left, we all exchanged farewells.  It is a very small bistrot, after all!

At last, when it was our time to go home, Gigi asked if they would see us again next year.  Clearly she paid attention to the data in my Lafourchette reservation.  She knew we'd dined there almost exactly one year ago.  I responded, "Peut etre la semaine prochaine"  (perhaps next week), and she was delighted.  So were the chef and sous chef, who were nearby, just behind the counter.

We all said goodbye to each other, and then Tom and I were out in the cool, damp evening air,  making our way toward the Champ de Mars and Eiffel Tower.  We crossed the Champ in the dying light, but the lawn was alive with groups of people picnicking. 

Today is the Feast of the Assumption.  I'm writing this at noontime, and the church bells are ringing.  Happy holiday!

Here are some photos from the superb dinner at Firmin le Barbier:

Starter courses were a pork and foie gras terrine, above,
and escargots in a yogurt-based soup, below.

A specialty of the house at Firmin le Barbier is Quenelle lyonnaise, champignons et nantua d'étrilles 
(soufflé-like seafood dumpling with a curry-like bechamel-based crayfish sauce and mushrooms).
We each thoroughly enjoyed the quenelles last night.

Raspberry sorbet and chocolate tart (above),
and creme brulée flavored with passion fruit (below).

Residential real estate, by arrondissement

Realtors are everywhere in Paris, just as they are in Sanibel.  Here, the realtors occupy storefront spaces and routinely advertise their listings by posting them in the windows.  Window shopping for real estate is possible; we do it frequently.  Very frequently.  After all, Tom and I renovated over 14 houses in our collective pasts.  We have owned five properties in Sanibel alone.  Paris always tempts us, but we've resisted the urge to buy so far.

Haussmannian uilding on the Rue Monttessuy.

As I was walking briskly along the Rue de Grenelle in the 7th arrondissement yesterday, my peripheral vision caught sight of a listing that grabbed my attention.  The building pictured was a classic Haussmannian, and it was located on Rue Monttessuy, in the northern reach of the 7th.

I turned around and headed up the Avenue de la Bourdonnais to check it out.

Along the way, I had to stop in front of a quaint bookshop located next to one of the souvenir shops that dot the commercial landscape in that area, which is very near the Eiffel Tower.  The bookshop, closed on Sunday, appears to be from another era, and its façade features a big section of a huge map of Paris that we've seen before -- in an apartment belonging to a couple friends in the 6th arrondissement.

Bookshop on the Avenue de la Bourdonnais.  The middle panel of the façade
features a copy of a section of a huge illustrated map of Paris from a bygone era.

This illustrated map is one of those birds-eye views, seemingly showing each individual building in the vast city.  The map illustrates a Paris of another era, before many of the surrounding villages were annexed to the metropolis in 1860.

Our friends who own one of these enormous maps are worried that something will happen to it, and that it is irreplaceable because they cannot find another one.  They've looked.  A few years ago, I looked, too.  I found nothing like it.

But this bookstore on the Avenue de la Bourdonnais seems to have had access to one.  Tom and I will try to visit the bookshop tomorrow afternoon, when we go to the American Library, nearby.  But we may find that the bookshop is closed until late August, as many enterprises are.  This is the slowest week of the year, the week of the Feast of the Assumption -- August 15.  I love this laid-back time, when Paris relaxes because the Parisians are away on vacation.

Plenty of places are open through August, however.  When I reached Avenue de Monttessuy, I saw that Firmin le Barbier, an excellent bistrot, is one of those places.  We will dine there soon.

I found the building with the apartment for sale, but there is no real estate for sale sign on it; that may be because the building's owners don't allow such signs.

Here's a translation of what the attractive listing states: 
Stone building, 4th floor with elevator.  Apartment of 54 square meters (581 square feet) of living space on a pretty interior courtyard.  Entryway.  Beautiful living room with hardwood floor and decorative moldings.  Southeastern exposure.  Equipped kitchen.  2 bedrooms.  Bathroom.  Toilet room.  Cabinets.  Basement storage room.  Very light and quiet.  Nearby businesses, schools, public transport.  Very good floor plan without wasted space.  Good condition.  Annual charges for the association 2229 euros.  Exclusive listing.

All listings are exclusive because there is no MLS (Multiple Listing Service) in France.  That makes house hunting a challenge.

Today's NYTimes has an article about househunting and real estate prices in Paris.  Don't believe it.  Tom and I read and discussed the assertions in this article, and we find many of them to be false.  The only example given in the article is a very odd one:  a houseboat.  No land at all!  Just a floating mobile home.

We do not think that real estate prices are rising dramatically in Paris.  If anything, last year we detected a bit of a decrease.  We also do not believe that half of the buyers in recent years have been foreigners.  We think that much of what is described in the article may be true of the 6th and 8th arrondissements, but not so true of the rest of Paris.

The place for sale on Rue Monttessuy alas is a bit too small for us.  We would probably need to have 80 to 90 square meters, partly because we are working at the computers for much of the day during most of the time that we're here.  Also because Tom is a light sleeper.  We need the elbow room, and the room to move around.  Plus, if we bought a place, I'd want to have a good kitchen -- what the French call a cuisine Americaine.  I do love to cook.

The place on Rue de Monttessuy is expensive for such a small apartment -- albeit, a 2-bedroom.  It is priced at 795,000 euros, which is 14,722 euros per square meter.

In the 15th, I am sure we could find an 80 square meter apartment for 800,000 euros, or 10,000 euros per square meter.

While this would be more expensive than the 19th arrondissement (8,000 euros per square meter), we would find the 15th to be more to our liking; we are left bank people.  Also, property taxes are lower in the 15th because of the size and amount of commercial and business properties that bolster the tax base.

Back of a truck parked by the Champ de Mars:  "Don't honk at me!  I am a butcher."

So, while the 7th is tempting, the costs there are higher and face it, with the Eiffel Tower and Les Invalides, the 7th has too many tourists.  The same is true of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 8th, and 18th (Montmartre).

That leaves the 16th, 17th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, 19th and 20th on the right bank.  But there is probably too much crime in the 19th, and 20th.  On the left bank, the 15th, 14th, and 13th arrondissements seem to us to be the most liveable.  And again, the 15th would be our first choice because of value and quality of life.

A table at Le Tipaza on Rue Saint Charles.

I know I will probably get some negative reactions from those who prefer other parts of Paris, but residential real estate is a very personal choice.  We like what we like.

Last night, we dined at Le Tipaza on Rue Saint Charles, in one of my preferred neighborhoods of the 15th.  The Rue Saint Charles is an old-fashioned, leafy commercial street.  On Tuesdays and Fridays, several blocks of this street offer an open-air market that is loaded with good values.

Crystal chandeliers light up Le Tipaza.

Le Tipaza offers good value, too, but with more than a touch of elegance.  There you can still find white linen tablecloths and real napkins.  The decorative, molded plaster walls are beautiful, as is the tile work.  Crystal chandeliers light the ceilings, and the service is impeccable.  Le Tipaza is always open on Sundays and holidays, too, so it is perfect for gatherings of family and friends on holidays and special occasions.

For hot evenings, we recommend dining way back in the restaurant, which is air conditioned.  But last night was cool, so we dined in the open front room of that convivial spot.  It was a lovely way to end the day.

Decorative plaster wall in Le Tipaza.

He had another life

August 21, 2018 -- "He had another life," the web site explains.  "He was a surgeon, who decided to put down the scalpel to dedicate his life to his passion for wine and food." 

So, Francis Firmin became a restaurateur of a tiny Parisian left-bank bistrot with a dozen little tables.  He found an experienced chef, Alexandre Vialatte.  Together, they improvise and create delicate and delicious dishes.

Long ago, before doctors were well educated,  surgery was performed by barbers.  Hence, the name of Francis's restaurant, Firmin le Barbier.  Chefs work well with knives, too.  So perhaps Francis's post-retirement career is a natural transition.

His bistrot is located at 20 rue de Monttessuy, very near the Eiffel Tower, in the 7th arrondissement.  That's a pleasant 35 to 40 minute stroll from our apartment.  I'd made a reservation on lafourchette.com because the restaurant's ratings are so high.

Quenelle at Firmin le Barbier.

When we arrived at the tiny place at 7:30PM, several tables were already occupied.  After studying the menu, we both decided to get the quenelle with Nantua sauce.  A quenelle is a soufflé-like dumpling; this one is served in a crawfish sauce with a Béchamel base.  That sauce is pretty much a crawfish bisque, and our quenelles were floating in it.  Surprisingly, a few tasty mushrooms were tossed in as well.  

Baba au limoncello

We love the quenelles at the Vagenende on the Boulevard Saint-Germain, but those are too copious.  The serving size is way too big at the Vagenende, and the dish is super rich.  At Firmin's place, the dish is sized right and isn't so heavy.

So we were able to have dessert:  a limoncello baba (sponge cake) for Tom, and a chocolate tart with a bit of lemon sorbet for me.  It was a fine dinner, and the service was very attentive.  We thanked Chef Alexandre profusely when we left.

On the way home, we arrived on the middle of the Champ de Mars just in time to see the Eiffel Tower twinkle.  I made a video of that for you: