Boulangerie 2026!

Remodeling Hell

Bonjour Mes Amis and Happy 2026! I have missed you all and missed writing from Paris! I am now just arrived for another round at Le Cordon Bleu or LCB- as you all will remember— and cannot wait to fill you in on all the things that are going on in Boulangerie. I opted for boulangerie—or bread baking—as I was too scared to move on to the next round of cuisine ( meanest people ever) or pâtisserie ( which I have zero talent for). Hopefully, making bread will turn out to be my star turn!

I love Paris and I will always love Paris, but it is fair to say that I love it more when it is easy than difficult. I arrived a day ago and was greeted by this terrible sight. See below!

Mon Dieu!

Our entire apartment block is covered in scaffolding and workmen are nearly in my kitchen and living room with me. I was making coffee this morning in my bathrobe and two guys, who were literally two feet outside my window were just watching me (cause obviously they were not working). It was like they were in the kitchen with me. I felt a little guilty for being all comfy and cozy indoors, and briefly considered asking them if they wanted a hot refill, but then I got so annoyed by their hanging around that I just shut the shades. They will have to get their own coffee.

Too close for comfort

The French take their scaffolding very seriously and spend a lot of time just setting it up before doing any real work. You would think we are Notre Dame here with all the vans, workers not doing any work, and the constant yelling, smoking, and eating outside the window. According to our building manager this will be going on for an entire year —a complete refurbishment of the exterior of the building. According to this same manager—when you live in a “historic” building you are required to ”keep up” the exterior in an appropriate manner,—which, to the best of my understanding, signifies putting up miles of scaffolding, but not really doing any work.

In addition to the general annoyance of all our windows being covered with scaffolding—the bulk of the time there is also advertising in a giant vinyl sheet overlaying the windows as well. The building owners are making a killing renting the front of the building to luxury brands to line with advertising. This is what has been up since summer. Apparently Lacoste is the best we can do.

Just what you want covering your view

Our building is having a bit of a renaissance inside as well as out, and the entire floor above our apartment is being renovated. Sounds like a good thing right? But no, the noise from the jackhammering is just appalling, and in December when we were not here, there was a leak in the apartment above that was left unattended over a weekend and a portion of our kitchen ceiling ultimately collapsed! I am uber grateful I was not here as I am sure it was super scary when it happened.

Yikes!

Fortunately, all has been remediated and it is back to its former intact state. Hopefully, nothing else can go wrong for the next two months while I am here—Fingers are well and truly crossed.

On a final note, I am enclosing this real life Paris photo which just cracks me up. This toilet on the street was actually on the bridge between the Île de la Cité and the Île St. Louis, which is mostly residential, and I am wondering how in the world it got there and why no one else is even looking at it. If a toilet fell on the street right by you —wouldn’t you look? You know, like wow—there is a toilet just here in the crosswalk. I guess other people’s remodeling projects are having problems as well.

Not even a glance

Tomorrow my new course at LCB begins and I am signing off so I can dust off my uniform and sharpen my knives for this next adventure in Boulangerie!