Villa Louis Pasteur: A Primer

I’ve had this post as a draft for quite a while. It’s been a few months since we left Paris, but I wanted to post a little primer to make day-to-day life at Villa Louis Pasteur, the faculty housing that was our home away from home in Paris, a little bit easier and a whole lot more enjoyable for other academics who will stay there in the future.

Most guests at Villa Louis Pasteur, we gathered, stay only for a few days. We were there for two months. Thus, we had time to become regulars at our favourite haunts. One of our favourite bakeries is the Artisan Boulanger, just down the street and around the corner, at 243 Rue Saint-Jacques:

His sourdough baguettes are out of this world, as are his croissants and brioches. He also makes killer fruit tarts and tarts salés for lunch. The bad news is that the boulangerie is closed on the weekends.

If caught without fresh baguette on a Saturday morning, you are generally out of luck. Later, perhaps around 1pm, you might try Chants de Ble on Rue Mouffetard (at Rue de la Abalete; ignore the signage for “Les Panetons” on this older photo from Google Maps):

For foodies, Rue Mouffetard is a sensory delight. Fromagers sell cheese that artisans make; fromageries sell their own creations. A fine culinary distinction, we learned. There are regional cheese specialties to discover (e.g. Mont D’Or from Franche-Comte) that cost a fortune back in Toronto, but are completely reasonable here. The wine is also much cheaper here than in Canada, and quite acceptable, even if you have limited selection to choose from at a mini mart or discount supermarket. Of course, you could visit a wine store or check out the wine specials at Monoprix (the French version of Target, but with a lovely food section). Be sure to get a Monoprix card to feel like a native. There is a certain satisfaction to be able to respond, “Oui,” when the cashier asks you for your membership card.

On Sundays, and on weekend evenings, our favourite boulangerie was L’Epi D’Or, on the corner opposite Val du Grace:

The baguettes are baked throughout the day. There is nothing quite like breaking into a warm, freshly-baked baguette on your way home. Tatiana garnered much attention for noshing on a piece of baguette in her stroller.

Eating baguettes or other baked goods on the way home is quite common in France, but forget about getting takeout coffee! Servers will give you a quizzical look if you ask for coffee to go. It is simply not done in Paris. You must sit at a cafe and savour your espresso in a china cup and saucer. None of this rushing about with a large double-double from Tim’s or a Grande latte from Starbucks in a paper cup with a leaky lid.

We ate a lot of baguette and cheese with far too much red wine. There are lots of attractions nearby, most within easy walking distance. The famous museums are, of course, the Louvre and perhaps Musee d’Orsay. But I would recommend checking out Musee nationale du Moyen Age for the incredible medieval tapestries and Centre Pompidou for the works by who’s who in modern art. One advantage of traveling with an infant is that you are invited to bypass the queue. The museums are surprisingly kid friendly and accessible. Tatiana especially loved the sculptures and stained glass, and we had fun spotting her favourite animals in paintings (e.g., dog, duck, and horse).

On a more practical note, after visiting famous attractions and cultural icons, we often shopped for groceries. This was a daily chore for me because we only had a bar fridge in which to store perishables, two stove-top burners (with no numbers or other indicators), a sink, one saucepan, one frying pan, and one dutch oven in our kitchenette. The closest supermarkets are the two Franprix locations across the street from each other on Saint Michel and Ed on Rue Pierre Nicole:

Unfortunately, we did not realize that the two Franprix locations were very different. The one on the west side, closer to the Jardin du Luxembourg, has a higher-end feel to it, with wider aisles (important when you have a toddler in an umbrella stroller who likes to touch everything), nicer displays and better wine selection. The east side one has things like drano and other household necessities, however! Ed is quite the supermarket experience. Loblaws shoppers beware! Ed is more like a no frills No Frills or bare bones Food Basics. Even the locals, the Parisiennes, are startled by the surly cashiers who bark at you for not weighing your own vegetables and affixing the appropriate price tag sticker on your produce. One cashier, a kindly sort, will continue to yell out the cost of the purchase as you dig through your coins to find the correct Euro coin. Eventually, exasperated, she will switch to English. Alas, the problem is not in comprehending the amount of the bill, but rather figuring out the value of the coins! She will pick out the right coins for you if you surrender your wallet to her. A kindly soul!

I will save the adventures of the French laundrette for another post. Having survived the French laundry experience has prepared me to figure out the Danish one, by the way..