Paris Journal 2014 – Barbara Joy Cooley Home: barbarajoycooley.com
Find me on Facebook 2013
Paris Journal ← Previous Next
→ << Back to the beginning
|
The reconstruction of the Beaugrenelle shopping district is complete – well, almost complete. The re-do of the Monoprix store at Beaugrenelle is still underway. After years of horrifying construction mess and chaos, relative order has returned to that quarter of the 15th. We can now, once again, walk out to the Allée des Cygnes without navigating a construction zone complete with huge pits, displaced sidewalks, plywood fences, broken pavement, and lots of very heavy equipment. Now Beaugrenelle is all sleek and shiny and new. Will it stay that way? I’m sure when the previous Beaugrenelle commercial center was completed in the late 1970s, people thought it was pretty sleek, too. The 70s Beaugrenelle deteriorated rapidly, and by 2000, most of it was shabby, with lots of vacant space. Maintenance is the key, I think, and if tax laws favor depreciation, then there’s a risk of rapid deterioration once again. We’ll wait and see what happens this time. The new Beaugrenelle commercial center consists of three sections, called pôles. The two larger pôles, called Panoramic and Magnetic (yes, the English words are used; don’t ask me why), are opposite each other on the rue Linois, connected by a snazzy skywalk. The smallest of the pôles, called City, is across from the tip of the triangular Magnetic, at the intersection of the rue Linois and the rue des Quatre Freres Peignot. City is the section that we see first when we walk to the Beaugrenelle center from our apartment. City sticks its nose into the Place Charles Michels. Darty, an electronics and appliance store, was our destination. Our friend Roy had told us that it had returned to its Beaugrenelle location, after years of being temporarily relocated nearby. We stayed on the right side of the rue Linois, expecting Darty to be exactly where it had been before, which would have been in Panoramic. But no, there it was, across the street, in Magnetic. We crossed. When we entered, we discovered that the store was mostly in the basement level of the complex, just as the Saint Germain Darty store is located. I let my instinct guide me to the area with computer cables and headphones; the signs in Darty were not helpful. A sales clerk appeared before me. She smiled. That was the first time anyone who works for Darty has ever smiled at me. She adeptly showed me the wall where the Ethernet cables were displayed. I selected a 10-meter cable and went back to find Tom perusing the earbuds and headphones. Audiophile that he is, he finally chose a nice set of Sennheiser headphones and we were ready to find the cashier. I navigated toward what looked like the obvious queue for a set of cashier stations. But Tom was reading the signs a little too literally. In French, the signs above that area said “Cashier Returns.” So he thought that place was only for returning items. Then he realized that the signs meant Cashier and Returns. What a difference a conjunction here or a preposition there can make! When we paid and were ready to go, the cashier SMILED and wished us a good evening. Two smiles in one visit to Darty! I was shocked. We left Magnetic and turned back toward City. I’d made a reservation at Le Café du Commerce for dinner. We’d have just enough time to return to the apartment, deposit our purchases, and freshen up for dinner. We’ll be going back to Beaugrenelle
to explore. There are so many stores
at Beaugrenelle now; it must be the happening shopping center of the
moment. Stores include: Hollister, Zara,
Adidas, Lacoste, Marks&Spencer, Sephora, Lévi's, H&M, Micromania,
Yves Rocher, Mango, Tally Weijl,
Guerlain, IKKS, Bose, Michael Kors, Desigual, Darty, Fnac, Uniqlo,
Tommy Hilfiger, La Grande Récré, American Vintage,
G-Star, Geox, Jeff De Bruges, Nike, Petit Bateau,
Esprit, L'Occitane en Provence, Camaïeu, Orange, Du Bruit dans la Cuisine,
Sandro, Maje, Kusmi Tea, Yellow Korner, and Eleven
Paris. At the end of Magnetic, overlooking the Seine, is an attractive new brasserie called Eclectic (another English word). Supposedly, there are ten bars/lounges/restaurants overlooking the Seine at Beaugrenelle. I wonder if we’ll ever find them all? To replace a cinema that was demolished, Beaugrenelle now includes a multiplex cinema with 10 theatres and a spacious lobby. The post office of former times has also been replaced with a new one. The total cost of this commercial center project? 450 million euros. As big as it is, this commercial center is only the third largest in Paris. But its grand size sparked hostility among many of the residents of the quarter. “Gigantisme,” they call it. For its sustainable development features, the Beaugrenelle center has received a double environmental certification from BREEAM (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method). It has the biggest vegetated roof in Paris – 7,000 square meters. 800 square meters of that will be a shared garden. Later, at the restaurant, the friendly maître d’hotel directed us up the stairs to the second floor (what we’d call the third floor). Rarely does this resto have this top level in operation. “Must be a busy night,” I thought. Indeed it was. The big dining room off to one side of the main floor had some special event/group that would periodically erupt into loud applause and cheers. The group’s program also included some loud music, so we were pleased to be seated upstairs where we couldn’t hear them so well. Our table was on the right side of the top level, which gave us a view of our apartment building through the glass atrium ceiling and through the branches of the tree in our building’s courtyard. I think we’ve only been seated in that area one other time in all these years. The server and head waiter were familiar. They’ve been working at that restaurant for decades, I think. We started our mini-feast by sharing an order of six escargots. Buttery, garlicy, savory, and not overcooked. Fantastic! For the main courses, I ordered the little pork shoulder roast, which was a special of the day, and Tom had the chicken supreme. It was all delicious. Then came a shared baba au rhum. Le Café du Commerce has the best baba au rhum we’ve experienced. I love how they plunk down the entire bottle of rum on the table, even if we don’t use much of it at all. It’s the thought that counts. Yes, a spirit of generosity is apparent at the Commerce. The folks there really do want us to have an enjoyable dinner – it isn’t just about making money. Le Café du Commerce is about hospitality. |
Saturday, July 12, 2014
Skywalk
that connects Magnetic and Panoramic at Beaugrenelle.
The
crosswalk leading to the point of the Magnetic section of the Beaugrenelle center.
The
florist shop that used to occupy the space outside of the Beaugrenelle
Monoprix has now been taken over by the Monoprix seafood department.
Looking
through the glass ceiling of the restaurant and the tree in our courtyard at
the top of our apartment building.
Chicken
supreme (above) and pork shoulder roast with grilled zucchini and potatoes au
gratin (below) at Le Café du Commerce.
|
