For people who are trying to get a feel for what’s on the market, just doing a few prospecting visits can therefore be useful, and highly revealing. I was once shown around an apartment by a man who looked like a strait-laced French physics teacher, but who was arm in arm with a young Asian ladyboy He seemed to be selling his lifestyle more than his apartment.
I fled another place because the people trying to sell it were an estranged couple who couldn’t even stand to look at each other, let alone negotiate a deal. I could almost hear their lawyers arguing about prices and dates above the echoing silence of their dead relationship.
On the other hand, I bought an apartment from an old shopkeeper who was complaining that the Marais was turning too trendy, and that traditional shops like his vacuum-cleaner store would soon be going out of business. He couldn’t wait to leave, and the price came tumbling down.
The moral of the story is that even if the apartments you visit are awful, at least you will have learnt something about Paris and how its citizens live. Not that I’d recommend viewing property as a tourist activity, of course. That would be too cruel to my fellow Parisians …
* This title is a shameless French property pun—la location means rental (location would be la situation). The joke is in totally the wrong place, because this chapter is about buying not renting, but it’s just more proof that in France puns crop up at the most inappropriate times.
** For an only slightly exaggerated account of that debacle, readers might like to look at the ‘Octobre’ chapter in A Year in the Merde.
*** For a full, translated list of the French vocabulary used in property ads, see the Scrapbook section of my website, www.stephenclarkewriter.com.
APPENDIX 1
ADDRESSES
VOILÀ THE ADDRESSES, PHONE numbers, websites, emails, etc.—les coordonnées as the Parisians would neatly say—of the cafés, restaurants, museums and other places of interest recommended in the book, chapter by chapter. If places occur in more than one chapter, they are listed at the first occurrence, unless they’re so important that they need mentioning more than once. If I give the address or location in the main body of the text, I haven’t listed it again here. And if I’ve missed any out, they’re on the internet.
Opening times and prices may have changed since I did the research for the book, so please check before going, to avoid disappointment and/or bankruptcy.
And please remember that, as I said in the chapters concerned, some of these places have been recommended not because they are centres of excellence but because they’re interesting from a sociological viewpoint. If you get ripped off, insulted or just plain disappointed there, please just put it down as a valid Parisian experience.
NB: Listings are in alphabetical order, and to make things simpler, I have ignored the le, la, l’ and les before names. I’ve also given the postcodes because they tell you which arrondissement the place is in, e.g. 75009 is the 9th arrondissement, 75020 is the 20th, etc.
1 Parisians
L’Antenne, 27 rue François Premier, 75008. Tel: 01 47 20 77 39. Métro: Franklin D. Roosevelt.
L’Avenue, 41 avenue Montaigne, 75008. Tel: 01 40 70 14 91. Métro: Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Bar Ourcq, 68 quai de la Loire, 75019. Tel: 01 42 40 12 26. Métros: Stalingrad, Laumiere.
Le Bonaparte, 42 rue Bonaparte, 75006. Tel: 01 43 26 42 81. Métro: Saint-Germain des Prés.
Café Charlot, 38 rue de Bretagne, 75003. Tel: 01 44 54 03 30. Métros: République, Filles du Calvaire.
Le Concorde, 239 boulevard Saint-Germain, 75007. Tel: 01 45 51 43 71. Métro: Assemblée Nationale.
La Coupole, 102 boulevard du Montparnasse, 75014. Tel: 01 43 20 14 20. Métro: Vavin.
Les Éditeurs, 4 carrefour de l’Odéon, 75006. Tel: 01 43 26 67 76. Métro: Odéon.
Enfants Rouges market, rue de Bretagne, 75003, entrances just opposite the Café Charlot (see above, in this chapter).
La Flèche d’Or, 102bis rue de Bagnolet, 75020. Tel: 01 44 64 01 02. Métro: Gambetta.
Les Gladines, 30 rue des Cinq Diamants, 75013. Tel: 01 45 80 70 10. Métros: Corvisart, Place d’ltalie.
La Grande Épicerie, 24 rue de Sèvres, 75007. Tel: 01 44 39 81 00. Métro: Sèvres–Babylone.
Mama Shelter Hotel, 109 rue de Bagnolet, 75020. Tel: 01 43 48 48 48. Métro: Gambetta.
Musée Marmottan, 2 rue Louis Boilly, 75016. Tel: 01 44 96 50 33. Métro: Muette. Website: www.marmottan.com. Open every day except Monday, 11 a.m.–6 p.m., and Tuesdays till 9 p.m.
Le Nemours, 2 place Colette, 75001. Tel: 01 42 61 42 16. Métro: Palais-Royal.
Le Pause Café, 41 rue de Charonne, 75011. Tel: 01 48 06 80 33. Métro: Ledru-Rollin.
2 Pavements
Hôtel Meurice, 228 rue de Rivoli, 75001. Tel: 01 44 58 10 10. Métro: Concorde.
Lycée Janson de Sailly, 106 rue de la Pompe, 75016. Métro: Rue de la Pompe.
Vespasienne, outside Prison de la Santé, boulevard Arago, 75014 Paris. Métros: Saint-Jacques, Denfert-Rochereau. Tel: As far as I know, pissoirs don’t have phones.
3 Water
Canal de l’Ourcq: boats from the Bassin de la Villette and the Parc de la Villette go up the canal to northern suburbs like Pantin, Bondy and Aulnay-sous-Bois. Every weekend from the end of May to the end of August. Saturdays 1 euro, Sundays 2 euros. A chance to see old industrial sites (renovated and very much not) and, sadly, homeless people’s camps. A piece of advice—don’t decide to get off at the terminus and find a cosy restaurant. There’s almost nowhere to eat and only poor neighbourhoods to
