Rue du Bac

 

Q: How Many Existentialists Does It Take To Change A Light Bulb?

A: Two. One to unscrew the bulb and the other to write a 10,000-word treatise on the authenticity of the action. 

Did you know that ‘treatise’ is a French word?

 If you stay in this fabulously located, brilliantly decorated apartment, you’re a stone’s throw away from the scene where some of France’s most legendary art and philosophy movements were conceived. A short walk will get you to Les Deux Magots and its rival Café de Flore, where Simone de Beauvoir, Albert Camus, and Jean-Paul Sartre hung out in the 1920’s and whipped up surrealism and existentialism out of sheer logic… and perhaps repeat encounters with the bottle.  

After the dark sobriety of our Existentialist friends, you’ll want some lighter fare.  So consider turning to the Impressionists, those masters of light, at the wonderful Musée d’Orsay.   There’s a heartening story of architectural preservation that goes with this museum.

Originally a train station, this Beaux Arts treasure on the Seine was completed just in time for the 1900 World’s Fair.  A little ways down the river, another iron newcomer for the Fair, the Eiffel Tower, was built with materials trained up from the Southwest of France arriving at the Gare d’Orsay.  However, unlike Gustav Eiffel, the station’s architects had made a fatal design flaw – the platforms were too short to accommodate the much bigger trains that came into being soon after its completion.  By 1939, the lovely station was consigned to short suburban runs out of Paris’s southern end, after which it became the set for several films and home to a small theater company.

By 1970 the winds of change were blowing, even in France, and permission was officially granted to demolish the building to make room for a new hotel, ugliness de rigeur.   Happily for Paris and its preservationists, Jacques Duhamel, then Minister of Cultural Affairs, stepped up to the plate and put plans in motion to safeguard the building as a historic landmark, and eventually build a museum within its walls. This speaks volumes for the sense of preservation that’s at the heart of Paris, unlike the U.S., where so much of the past is erased by the new, convenient, and usually far less architecturally worthy.

Sixteen years later, in 1986, the Musée d’Orsay opened, housing its robust and precious collection of impressionism and post-impressionism. An Italian woman architect, Gaë Aulenti, had won the interior design contract – and, unlike I.M. Pei’s pyramid at the Louvre, the somewhat feminine reinvention of the Gare d’Orsay instantly and universally won the heart of Paris. (Let’s not forget that the Louvre, which is a short walk over the river from here, is itself a reused palace.)

There are so many things to see and do in this wonderful part of Paris, the Rive Gauche, or left bank.  This apartment is truly a gateway to the best of Paris.

The Apartment

 

THE APARTMENT

You enter this tasteful one-bedroom apartment from white-façaded, boutique-lined rue du Bac – your door faces St. Germain church -- by taking the elevator to the 4th floor.  Stepping into the space, you are immediately aware of the quiet afforded by its view onto a beautiful private courtyard.  Street noises have vanished.  You are ready to enter the world of true Parisians.

The living space is lined with bookshelves, flooded with sunshine, and decorated with impeccable French taste.  There’s a fully equipped kitchen to prepare your artisanal culinary treasures from the Parisian markets, and a sunny dining table on which to enjoy them.

The bedroom houses a comfortable double bed in supreme quiet, and the bath is beautifully tiled and très français.

This apartment is a perfect place to relax between forays into the most exciting parts of Paris.

Amenities

Rates

On an all-inclusive weekly basis, Rue du Bac rents for 1,800.00 €.

Stay Length

For stays up to 4 nights, concierge fees of 15% apply

For stays of 5 nights and longer, concierge fees of 15% are waived

Minimum Stay Policy

We have a minimum stay policy of 3 nights. You are welcome to stay less than 3 nights but please note that you will be invoiced on a 3-night basis.

For the Christmas and New Year season (Dec 22nd-Jan 2nd), the minimum stay is 4 nights. Shorter stays are welcome, but will be invoiced on a 4-night basis.

If you wish to know the exact rental amount for your specific stay please use our "Calendar and online reservations" tool below to search for availabilities and rates.

The district

 

LINKS TO THE DISTRICT

The St. Germain district is perhaps the heart of literary Paris.  How many city cafés do you know that sponsor a literary award?  And yet, that is what Les Deux Magots and Café de Flore did in the 1930’s and 1940’s, in friendly competition with one another but determined to keep their clientele in friendly competition too.

http://www.cafe-de-flore.com/  http://www.lesdeuxmagots.fr/

Being this close, you must not miss the Musée d’Orsay:  http://www.musee-orsay.fr/en/home.html

And the Louvre beckons, along with the Tuileries Gardens:

http://www.louvre.fr/en

Here’s the official website of the Mairie (Mayor’s office) of Paris, listing the events in the Tuileries and nearby:  http://mairie01.paris.fr/mairie01/jsp/site/Portal.jsp

Don’t miss the magical tea and pastry shop Ladurée, which has a shop in St. Germain and boasts the best macarons in Paris:  http://www.laduree.fr/fr/fabricant/produits/macarons

Map

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