Paris Journal 2010 – Barbara Joy Cooley Home: barbarajoycooley.com

Photos and thoughts about Paris

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Progress is still being made. Tom sent out many of the new readings for the new edition of Back to the Lake, according to the plan and method that we devised together, and today he’s sending the rest to the publisher. Then we’re off to Munich tomorrow morning. When the work day was over yesterday, we went for a walk in the heart of the 15^th, doing a little bit of shopping along the way. The first stop was the CD shop down the rue du Commerce near the St. John the Baptist of Grenelle church. I went through the bargain bin with Tom’s help. He’s already been there two or three times to buy CDs, so this was sort of my turn. I did most of the selecting, ending up with 9 CDs at the rate of 3 for 10 euros. Later in the evening, I discovered that at least one of them, the B.B. King, is a double CD. This is such a bargain! We went on to the neighborhood park, Square Saint-Lambert, where we found plenty of evidence of a good rate of fecundity. Families in the 15^th are doing their best to be sure there are future workers paying into Securité Sociale. Tom wanted to see the Square Vergennes again, so after sitting for several minutes on a park bench in the Square Saint-Lambert, we ambled on to the corner of the park where the children’s merry-go-round was colorfully operating, and out the gate there to cross over in front of the seafood restaurant (closed for vacation) and the local public library to the elegant square where the city hall (mairie) for the 15^th arrondissement presides. We sat on a bench there, just a bit before 6PM, and watched as lots of people went into the mairie to do business such as applying for marriage licenses, registering births, taking steps in the endless process of attaining French citizenship, paying local rental taxes, etc. While many things close for a few hours in the middle of the day here, that is made up for by the fact that they stay open until 7:30 or 8PM so that working people can take care of personal business at places like the mairie. While the mairie for the 15^th arrondissement is not one of the oldest in Paris, it is old enough, dating back to the the 1870s, and its design is stately, elegant, and pleasing. The architect was Désiré Louis Henri Devrez (1824-1896). (Click here for a few historical tidbits about the 15^th.) Just beyond the square in front of the mairie is the park called the Place Adolphe Chérioux, named for a 19^th century municipal leader in the 15^th. Walking through the length of this park is to walk most definitely up hill, to the rue Vaugirard. Tom had been insisting that the Square Vergennes was off of the rue Lecourbe, on the other side of the mairie, but I insisted that it was off of the rue Vaugirard. I won out, and that’s good because I was right. We crossed the busy rue Vaugirard, the longest street in Paris, and turned to the left. The entrance to the Square Vergennes is not beautiful, and it is right across from the very modern Hotel de la Police. But once you get through the archway on the side of a somewhat-ugly bank building, you are in the Square Vergennes, which is not a square at all, but a quaint limited-access L-shaped street. It is quiet, and quaint. A metal bar blocks vehicle access to the street. You have to have a code or key card to raise the bar and drive in there. But pedestrians have no difficulty. Straight ahead, at the corner of the L, is a fascinating modern building dating back to 1932 that housed the workshop of Louis Barillet, a master glass-worker. It is now a museum and school, and at the moment, it is closed for vacation. On the left as you approach the workshop is a row of townhouses, charming as can be, also dating back to the 1920s and 1930s, I’d say. There is one in particular that I’d love to own. If you turn to the right in front of the workshop, the short length of the L also has some residential row houses, and the garden walls of some older apartments just beyond. This end of the street in particular is leafy, shady, and cool. I think some of the old cobblestones may remain there, but unfortunately, most of Square Vergennes has been paved over, very badly, and potholes are repaired in the cheapest manner possible. I think the residents/owners on that street are probably responsible for maintaining the private street’s surface themselves. If the City of Paris were caring for it, it would most likely be in much better condition. The good aspect of this is that it is impossible to speed down this narrow, bumpy lane. After visiting the Square Vergennes, we went back out on the noisy rue Vaugirard and noticed that the street that ran down the side of the Hotel de la Police building actually appears to be charming. We decided to explore it. It is the rue du Général-Beuret, named for Georges Beuret (1803-1859), who was killed at the battle of Montebello. This street runs along at an angle to most of the other streets in the area, so that it forms a triangular Place du Général-Beuret at the northeastern end of it. On the rue du Général-Beuret, we found an intriguing apartment building built in 1912, about the same year as the building in which we’re now staying. But this building on Beuret is distinctively Art Deco, which ours is not. I love its porte cochère entryway, and the big sunflowers carved into the top of it. The street is so narrow that it was hard to get a good angle at which to photograph the building, but I did what I could. Also on this street we found a two-star hotel that has rooms for less than 100 euros per night. I think the suite was only about 130 euros. The street is narrow and quiet, and the note on the front of the hotel indicates that some rooms face the garden in the back. This Hotel Délos Vaugirard, at 7 rue du Général-Beuret, (Tel. 01 56 56 63 90) appears to be clean and well-maintained. Next door, at number 5, is the Restaurant Indien Al Punjab (Tel. 01 48 28 48 38), which also appears to be clean and perhaps good. We’ll have to try it sometime. We continued to the end of the rue, to the Place du Général-Beuret, which is shady and graced in the middle by a Wallace fountain. Continuing on to the rue Cambronne, we spotted a very attractive fromagerie called Androuet on the other side. We crossed, and went in to buy some Salers cheese. When we exited, we immediately started nibbling on the cheese, because we were hungry. Turning left on the rue Lecourbe, I tried to find an attractive housewares store we’d seen not long ago, but it turns out to be in the other direction. We went on up to the Place Étienne Pernet instead, where Tom went into one of our favorite fruit-and-vegetable shops to buy a container of strawberries. Back at the apartment, we had just a few bites of strawberries and cheese, just enough to ward off the hunger pains, and decided to go eat at our “neighborhood pub,” Le Commerce Café. Charles the server greeted us as “mes amis” (my friends) and gave us a very nice little table near the front, across from the Place du Commerce park. The man who makes pizza dough saw us and said bonsoir, too. Tom ordered one of the daily specials listed on the blackboard, the noix de veau, which came with a generous helping of the homemade puréed potatoes. His food was very good, but it was too copious. He covertly put some of the veal into his napkin, folded it up, and took it home. Doggie bags are nonexistent in Paris, except at Ralph Lauren’s restaurant in his boutique over in the 6^th arrondissement. I ordered the filets de bar, sea bass, with the big, homemade, hand-cut non-greasy fries. I asked for some béarnaise sauce on the side. That was no problem at all, according to Charles. The sea bass was superb, grilled perfectly. It tasted very much like the sea bass at Traders on Sanibel, but it was just a smaller fish (thank heavens). The dinner was exactly what I wanted – a sort of French version of fish and chips. Tom and I marvel at how good this café is, for an ordinary brasserie. Someone in the kitchen really knows what he/she is doing, and the variety on the menu makes the place function much like Doc Ford’s on Sanibel, where there is something for everyone. Hence, the clientele is a wonderful mix of families, young urban professionals, old people, blue-collar types, a very few tourists, and some rustic French people who seem to be from the countryside. I just love it. And if you dine early (7:30 or 8PM), it is amazing how quickly the food arrives at your table at Le Commerce Café. This aspect of the place is not very French, but if you are extremely hungry, it is important. At home later on, we listened to the music of Stan Kenton, and just a little bit of B. B. King. Sign my guestbook. View my guestbook. Note: For addresses & phone numbers of restaurants in this journal, click here.

Friday, August 20, 2010 The Square Saint-Lambert, above and below. The Place du Général-Beuret, with its Wallace fountain. 1912 Art Deco building on the rue du Général-Beuret. Below are sunflowers carved into its stone at the top. Note that there is also a nice terrace at the top of this building – you can see some of its hollyhocks and other plants peeking over the edge. Lamp in the square in front of the mairie (town hall) of the 15^th arrondissement. ← Previous Next →