PART I – Saint- Etienne
I’m loving Saint-Etienne. As I said in my last post, it is a medium sized city (about 174,000 people) in the Loire Department on the Central Massif. It is 60 kms from Lyon and two and a half hours from Geneva. Five hours by train to Paris. An hour by air. It has a vibrancy to it that Beziers lacks. Perhaps because there is a large student population.
It is quite green. It edges into the Forez Mountains, the gorges of the River Loire and the Pilat Regional National Park. It has a lower part and an upper part, somewhat like Cuenca.
John would have loved it. Lots of stuff with rails. Not just trams, but three train stations. And almost all the way from Lyon, there were huge numbers of multiple tracks, freight trains and rolling stock. Yeah, that’s what you call train cars when you live for fifty years with a train fanatic.
The one time I actually visited Lyon, John and I met up there.
I came up from Toulouse and he came from Canada to visit Mulhouse, the location of the French National Railway Museum. We had a great few days in Lyon together.
See, even sitting here in a city with no connection to John, I still make the connection to John. Dammit.
Although it was settled in medieval times, Saint-Etienne’s growth is due to the arms manufacturing industry that began as far back as the 1400s. In the 1600’s to this was added the manufacturing of ribbons and a type of heavy gilt embroidery known as passementerie. The kind that goes on fancy curtain pulls and military uniforms. https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passementerie
Not as incongruous as it sounds when you couple it with arms manufacturing and the proximity to Lyon, which was a great textile manufacturing centre.
By the late 19th century and into the 20th, bicycle manufacturing also became a mainstay and still exists in the city today. Saint-Etienne was also a hub for the mining industry. The School of Mining here occupies one of the old arms manufacturing buildings.
Many industrial towns and cities were and are, less than beautiful.
I wondered if that was why Saint-Etienne never appeared in articles and websites about the beauties of France, or where to live in France. Because it was scarred from its industrial years and lacked the grace and culture endemic to other parts of this country.
I was delighted to find that this is not the case.
As I mentioned in the last post, Saint-Etienne is trying to reposition itself as a City of Design. The actual Cité du Design (a sort of museum), has taken over an old arms manufacturing complex.
Indeed, many of the old manufacturing factories and offices have been converted to other uses. As you can see from the photo above, those 18th and 19th century buildings were proudly adorned with all the flourishes of fin de siècle architecture, despite their industrial purpose.
Cafés, markets, restaurants and boulangeries and patisseries abound here. You know I am all about the food.
Aside from all the fancy foods, they have my favourite cereal.
I fell in love with the antique and junk shops.
Who doesn’t want to live in a place you can buy a skeleton in a glass case?
Saint-Etienne has an opera https://opera.saint-etienne.fr/otse/. This month there is a Beethoven marathon among other performances. Tickets 10€ (less than $15 CDN).
In June there will be an actual opera – Verdi’s Macbeth. Tickets range from 10€ ($15 CDN) to 61€ ($90 CDN). Last time I checked in Ottawa or Toronto it was really difficult to find anything under $100.
Saint-Etienne, at least what I have seen of it, can hold its place in French culture.
PART II – Apartment Hunting: Two Possibles
But what of my quest for an apartment? I’m happy to report that several real estate agents have responded to my messages and I’ve seen two places, with three more to come.
Apartment Number One – Needs Work but the Possibilities!
The first does undoubtedly need work. But as I could probably buy it for 75,000 euros (about $110,000 Canadian) I have not ruled it out.
It is a fairly short walk to Centreville. It is also a two minute walk in the other direction to the trams and buses and one of Saint-Etienne’s three train stations.
The street the building is on is narrow and a little dark.
The area seemed rather run down by the standards of other areas in Saint-Etienne. But in fairness it was a cloudy day.
The nearby park was not as grand as some, but I’m sure on a sunny day when the trees are green, it would be more attractive.
The apartment building is 80 years old, although well kept inside.
The outside is rather dirty.
It has an elevator.
Although I haven’t mentioned it before, this is one of the difficulties of finding a suitable apartment in France. Many of the buildings, even 20th century ones five and six stories tall, do not have elevators. No wonder the French are fit.
The stairs are not too bad, if it came to it.
The apartment is about 960 square feet with three good sized bedrooms.
And this is why it is still on my radar:
It has a very long balcony. There are beautiful views from that balcony.
The balcony itself stretches the width of the apartment and can be accessed from both the living room and one of the bedrooms.
All the living areas have hardwood floors. The living area is huge and bright, with floor to ceiling windows.
The kitchen needs to be remodeled, but is large enough for a small table or bar and stools. The cupboards were old and rather rickety.
Downside aside from the age of the building and the unprepossessing exterior? Those cupboards are rickety. But while kitchen could perhaps wait for a renovation. The bathroom could not.
It’s not even useable as it is. It would have to be pulled out and entirely redone.
Another downside is that the condo fees are high at 300€ per month ($440 CDN), I presume because older buildings need more upkeep. I would have to check into things like when the electrical and plumbing in the building were last upgraded.
The biggest question is whether I am up for undertaking a renovation project. In a city where I know no one and speak the language only functionally well. On the other hand, I would get the fixtures I chose. Which would no doubt be the most expensive because I have an unerring instinct for falling in love with expensive things.
Apartment Number 2 – Better Condition, Views, But Costlier
On the cost of living issue, I got ten tickets, each good for unlimited travel for 90 minutes, for 13€. That works out to less than $2 CDN per trip. Or in my case. $1 per trip for the two round trips I have taken, as in each case, I was less than 90 minutes.
The bus was electric, clean quiet and level with the curb.
It took fifteen minutes from the centre of town to the apartment building. The bus stop was literally across the street.
The buses seemed to go about every ten minutes. And there is a good website that lets you plot your journey. The infrastructure in France is well ahead of that in Ecuador in such matters.
The building stands at the cusp of a lovely area with cafés, shops and grocery stores in the Centreville direction of the street, and an absolute mass of these enormous apartment buildings further uphill in the other direction of the street.
I was happy my building came before this area, thankfully, hidden by a curve in the road. .
The building I was to see has nine stories, and the exterior was much more spruce than the older one I saw.
I liked that the balconies are independent of each other. The surrounding trees are mature.
There were spring flowers blooming in the grass. The whole location felt quite human scaled.
The building is not new, but it is newer than the one I saw previously, and seems generally to be more cared for. The agent told me that the electrical system in the entire building had been replaced six months ago. This is all verifiable through the minutes of the condo association and other documents which have to be produced by the owner, by law, once an offer is made.
The entrance was very clean.
On the downside, there were four steps up from ground level entrance to post box level.
On the other hand yay, I could get mail if I lived in France. Ecuador no longer has a post office. And send postcards to my family without 16 stamps on them.
Another five steps to reach the elevator.
If I lost mobility, could I live there?
I was perplexed to note the elevator buttons said 1/2, 3/4 and so on. When the doors opened, there were six stairs to climb down to level 4 where this apartment is (and back up when leaving), and six to climb up to level 5. Weird.
So one more accessibility barrier. It’s fine for now. In fact it’s good exercise. But if I’m looking for an apartment to age in place, this is a factor.
The apartment is 85 square meters (914 square feet), so slightly smaller than the other one. It is also three bedrooms and has hardwood floors (in good condition, unlike the other apartment).
What you see when you enter the front door. Then you turn right and see this. I was hooked.
The second photo is looking back from the front of the living room towards the kitchen. It’s too big an area to get in one photo.
The balcony is smaller than in the previous apartment.
But the views are so lovely.
There is a school opposite and the agent told me that this makes the chances of another tall building going up and blocking the view to be almost nil. Maybe, maybe not. But for now – those views! They make the whole living space seem very open and free. Safe though, as there is a metal door that rolls down over them, if I were concerned about such things.
There are closets in each bedroom.
Not great closets it is true, but space to put stuff in nevertheless. Closets are also not common in France.
Bedrooms are always hard to get photos of because they aren’t huge, but certainly these three are all big enough for my purposes. Bigger than my guest bedroom in Cuenca.
The metal shutters over the window in what I was told was the largest bedroom are not functioning but I was assured that the current owner would fix them before sale. I assume the view from the shuttered bedroom is the same as from the kitchen balcony, as it is on the same side.
The views from the two bedrooms I could see out of are nice. The same as the big photo above.
There are two closets in the long hallway as well.
The kitchen is galley style.
Yes, there was a second, fully enclosed balcony off the kitchen. It was a little rough, but there were shelves. Two balconies in this apartment.The front one gets morning sun and the back one, afternoon sun. Brightens the kitchen some I expect.
That second balcony had some shelves. And a cat door…..
The floor in the kitchen.
It has a built in wall oven and a dishwasher, so I wouldn’t have to buy an oven. The dishwasher is just a bonus.
There is a built in hob or stove top in the counter top. The backsplash tile is ugly, but I could live with it if the budget did not allow for a remodel. There is a built in space for a microwave above that.
The sink is well placed and in decent shape. And it runs off to the right. I look for that ever since living in places like the ill-starred river apartment and my last house, where it ran off to the left and there was no place to put the dirty dishes in the other side. Of these small things is comfort built.
The cupboards look newish – within the last five to ten years I would say.
They were clean and seemed sturdy.
The floor tile is a little broken up but I could put down a jute runner if I didn’t want to fix that.
The counter top could bear replacing but it’s no worse than the one in my former house. I
It has a wood cutting board in the centre on one side. Lots of counter space and cupboards. Certainly more than in my present house. I forgot to ask where the hook up for the washing machine is.
Presumably either the open space under the counter or in the adjacent enclosed balcony.
The shower room is pretty new.
The vanity cupboards were similar to those in the kitchen – newish and worked well. A nice big sink.
The shower room even has a towel heater bar.
The shower itself was a decent size. The tiles have some mould.
I’d have to see if that could be removed with deep cleaning, or if they would need to be replaced.
The separate toilet cubicle made me laugh out loud. Very common to have the toilet in a separate room here, but this is the first one that looks like it was built to the tastes of the Little Mermaid!
Definitely a new toilet seat and paint needed in there.
Aside from the ugly wallpaper being torn down and fresh paint applied, there is no work that would absolutely have to be done.
The condo fee is either 220€ ($322 CDN) or 320€ ($470 CDN). The agent was speaking very rapid French and I didn’t really catch it all. I think possibly the condo fee is 220€ and the taxi fonciére(real estate tax) is 100€ per month – I heard 1200€ per year. Obviously I’d have to check that all out if I decide to make an offer.
Interestingly, the condo fee includes hot water and heat. The building is heated as a whole, and the hot water comes from a common source. You have control over the temperature in your own apartment and can use as much hot water as you like. Because in addition, each apartment is separately monitored somehow and at the end of the year there is a settling up. You either get some of your condo fee back, or you pay more. The agent couldn’t give me much of an idea about how much I might spend on those utilities or about electricity, because the former occupants were a family of five!
There is a hook up for internet in the apartment. The agent said that might run about $40 Canadian per month. Those cost analyzing websites tend to lump electricity, garbage, hot water and so on into ‘utilities’ costs so I’m somewhat in the dark as to what I might pay for electricity, given that the other utilities are covered by the condo fee. My best guess is $100 to $200 CDN per month. I will inquire on expat sites online.
Both the agent and my sister queried whether this apartment was too big for me. I don’t think so. I like having three bedrooms. One for me, one for my desk and one for the visitors I will hopefully get. Two of my grandchildren have already expressed enthusiasm about visiting me in France. And it is certainly much cheaper, faster and quicker to get here than Ecuador.
Progress – but now I have a real option, the difficult part is facing reality and making a decision. Light in that tunnel or the train approaching?
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