Our time in Paris has come to an end. It's time to get back to the greatest city in the world (Toronto). As has become customary around here, I'd like to summarize some of my anecdotal observations from the trip. Here goes:

The first one is an obvious one. Paris has transformed itself into a cycling city. Bold planning moves have explicitly prioritized biking, and you can feel it everywhere you go, including outside of the Périphérique. Young and old, families and individuals, everyone seems to cycle in Paris. In parallel to this, it feels like there has been a noticeable reduction in vehicular traffic. Many of the smaller streets around Paris almost feel like they've been pedestrianized. But in fact, it's just because there are so few cars.
Because of this change, I asked an Uber driver this past week if traffic has gotten worse and if it has generally gotten harder to drive in Paris. His response was absolutely. So I then asked him how Parisians generally feel about all of the changes and all of the new cycling lanes. The first part of his answer didn't surprise me. He said people who live in Paris love it because it's now easier to get around and they don't need to own a car. It's more efficient. But people who drive into the city or pass through it don't like it. Fair. However, as somebody who drives for a living, the second part of his answer did surprise me. He said, the changes needed to be done — bikes are a more efficient form of transport and they have greatly reduced pollution within the city. I thought this was quite an enlightened and selfless response.
The geography of Paris is changing. Parisians used to think of their city as only existing within the boundaries of the Boulevard Périphérique. (This is technically the boundary of Paris proper, but there is also the Métropole du Grand Paris, which encompasses the greater urban region.) New investments in transit, new developments, and pioneering urbanists are changing this mental model. A New Paris has arrived. And its modal split seems to be skewed toward non-car forms of mobility, to the point that younger Parisians don’t even seem to bother getting a driver’s license.
Anecdotally, I also noticed a big uptick in running, in the number of gyms/fitness studios in the city, and in the number of people walking around in athleisure wear. I view this as North American culture creeping in. Historically, my understanding is that running — and getting sweaty in public — was considered a bit of a faux pas. But at one point this week, I saw a parade of people running in and out of a Drip and doing laps down a busy street filled with cafés. Clearly, attitudes have changed.
Paris is, of course, well known for its cafés and terraces. But I would like to emphasize how beneficial these spaces are for the city. Every terrace comes equipped with a large awning that extends out into the street and creates a kind of outdoor room. These rooms then fill up with an endless supply of people facing outward, adding life, conversation, and eyes on the street. It's a wonderful way to create urban vibrancy, and you really feel the difference on streets where they don't exist. More cities need to figure out how to replicate this simple formula.
Food is different in Paris (and in Europe more broadly). There is real concern over the quality of ingredients and what we put in our bodies. We touched on this briefly, here. The difference is that you feel as if you can eat whatever you want, and the end result is that you feel satisfied, not gross. You also don't feel as if you've just ingested a sodium bomb.
On this trip, Bianca and I spent a lot of time exploring the 9ème, 10ème (where we were staying), and 11ème arrondissements, with regular trips south to Le Marais. We've now been to Paris enough that we're starting to figure out which areas we like the most. (If you have a favorite area, please leave it in the comments section below.)
Finally, I would like to end by saying that the trains in Paris are something they should be proud of. When we come to Paris, we always take the train into the city and, on this trip, we took the metro on a number of occasions to get out to places like Pantin and Boulogne. Not once did we wait more than a minute or two for a train. In fact, even during off-peak times, the maximum headway between trains seemed to be 4 minutes. With this at your doorstep, and with all the new cycling infrastructure that has been introduced, I guess it's no wonder that many Parisians couldn't care less about driving.

Until next time, Paris.

September 12, 2025

What it's like to stay in a Paris aparthotel

We are staying in an aparthotel in Paris. We decided on this type of accommodation for a few reasons. One, we wanted a kitchen so that we could prepare meals. Two, we wanted to be able to do laundry, given that this is the last leg of our trip and we almost exclusively travel with carry-ons. And three, we wanted a workspace area.

The options for these criteria are generally aparthotels, serviced apartments, and Airbnb rentals. But we struggled to find a suitable Airbnb that was reasonably priced and didn't feel lived in. So we ended up booking a place from Edgar Suites, which has a really nice portfolio of properties across Paris and other cities in France.

My view is that we will see more of these kinds of properties as cities systematically work to restrict — and sometimes ban — Airbnb. And so a fourth reason I wanted to stay here was to do some market research.

Here's what I can tell you about our stay.

The check-in process was entirely digital. The night before check-in, I received an email with a code for the building, a one-time code for our apartment (for initial validation), and a go-forward code once our check-in had been validated. Everything worked seamlessly.

There weren't many pictures of our exact suite online, so, to be honest, we weren't 100% sure what we were getting. But we knew it was going to be compact. In Paris real-estate speak, it's a two-piece apartment. That means there are two rooms: a living/kitchen area and a bedroom. The bedroom is a generous 3m x 3.5m. And the street-facing window has a nice ledge that can be used for doing one's makeup or as a place for brazen pigeons to land.

The bathroom is a good size (about 1.5m x 2m), and there's also a separate water closet (toilet room). These are extremely common throughout Europe no matter how small the apartment might be. In Canada, these are far less common and only really appear in the top-end of the market. I certainly think they're a nice feature, but I personally wouldn't sacrifice in other areas of a small space just to have it.

The kitchen is more of a kitchenette. Its linear dimension is just under 1 meter (or 3'3"). We've made some fairly elaborate meals in this kitchen, but it certainly requires some jockeying around. It's nice not having to eat every meal out, especially if you're also trying to work.

Opposite the kitchen is banquette seating and a table for everything. It's the dining table, the work table, and the kitchen prep table. It also folds up against the wall if you'd like to have exactly one incremental person come over and sit in this room. Outside of the kitchen/living area is the building's courtyard (see here for plans of the building).

For those of you who also like to nerd out about dimensions, it's about 5.8m in its longest direction, which means that's the separation distance between our kitchen and our neighbor's bed. So even though this is a small space, it is a dual-aspect apartment. The toilet room also has a window opening up onto this courtyard space.

Finally, the laundry facilities are located in the basement of the building. There are two washing machines and one dryer. We've done multiple loads and they've been great. There's also a small gym on the main floor, which I would add to the list of highly desirable amenities for an aparthotel, or any hotel for that matter.

Overall, we've been very happy with our stay. My only comments would be that a larger living space would be needed for longer stays, there's a surprising lack of conveniently placed outlets in the apartment (one of my part-time jobs is charging devices), and better bathroom products would be a nice upgrade. My wife has taught me that desirable bathroom products, including body lotion, are a huge value-add in hospitality.

If any of you have stayed in a great aparthotel or serviced apartment, please share a link in the comments section below. I am betting that they will only become more common for longer stays, family travel, remote work, and people who are less tethered to one place.

September 9, 2025

We just checked into our single-stair building

We just checked into our "aparthotel" in Paris. This is the last leg of our trip, and one that will incorporate some work-related meetings.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I plan on doing a comprehensive review of our accommodations, since this is a real estate asset class that I'm increasingly interested in. But before doing that, I'd first like to "live" here for a few days. So in the interim, here's a photo of the fire safety plan for our building that some of you may find interesting:

The building has 6 floors (remember, in Europe, you typically need to add 1 to the top floor to capture the ground level). The vide space in the middle of the floor plate is actually a courtyard that is open on one side. So graphically, these drawings aren't entirely accurate. But the two things that are most noteworthy to me are the small floor plate (only 2-3 rooms per floor) and the single exit stair.

As many of you know, this would not be allowed in Canada.

September 15, 2025

A few observations about Paris (second edition)

The first one is an obvious one. Paris has transformed itself into a cycling city. Bold planning moves have explicitly prioritized biking, and you can feel it everywhere you go, including outside of the Périphérique. Young and old, families and individuals, everyone seems to cycle in Paris. In parallel to this, it feels like there has been a noticeable reduction in vehicular traffic. Many of the smaller streets around Paris almost feel like they've been pedestrianized. But in fact, it's just because there are so few cars.
Because of this change, I asked an Uber driver this past week if traffic has gotten worse and if it has generally gotten harder to drive in Paris. His response was absolutely. So I then asked him how Parisians generally feel about all of the changes and all of the new cycling lanes. The first part of his answer didn't surprise me. He said people who live in Paris love it because it's now easier to get around and they don't need to own a car. It's more efficient. But people who drive into the city or pass through it don't like it. Fair. However, as somebody who drives for a living, the second part of his answer did surprise me. He said, the changes needed to be done — bikes are a more efficient form of transport and they have greatly reduced pollution within the city. I thought this was quite an enlightened and selfless response.
The geography of Paris is changing. Parisians used to think of their city as only existing within the boundaries of the Boulevard Périphérique. (This is technically the boundary of Paris proper, but there is also the Métropole du Grand Paris, which encompasses the greater urban region.) New investments in transit, new developments, and pioneering urbanists are changing this mental model. A New Paris has arrived. And its modal split seems to be skewed toward non-car forms of mobility, to the point that younger Parisians don’t even seem to bother getting a driver’s license.
Anecdotally, I also noticed a big uptick in running, in the number of gyms/fitness studios in the city, and in the number of people walking around in athleisure wear. I view this as North American culture creeping in. Historically, my understanding is that running — and getting sweaty in public — was considered a bit of a faux pas. But at one point this week, I saw a parade of people running in and out of a Drip and doing laps down a busy street filled with cafés. Clearly, attitudes have changed.
Paris is, of course, well known for its cafés and terraces. But I would like to emphasize how beneficial these spaces are for the city. Every terrace comes equipped with a large awning that extends out into the street and creates a kind of outdoor room. These rooms then fill up with an endless supply of people facing outward, adding life, conversation, and eyes on the street. It's a wonderful way to create urban vibrancy, and you really feel the difference on streets where they don't exist. More cities need to figure out how to replicate this simple formula.
Food is different in Paris (and in Europe more broadly). There is real concern over the quality of ingredients and what we put in our bodies. We touched on this briefly, here. The difference is that you feel as if you can eat whatever you want, and the end result is that you feel satisfied, not gross. You also don't feel as if you've just ingested a sodium bomb.
On this trip, Bianca and I spent a lot of time exploring the 9ème, 10ème (where we were staying), and 11ème arrondissements, with regular trips south to Le Marais. We've now been to Paris enough that we're starting to figure out which areas we like the most. (If you have a favorite area, please leave it in the comments section below.)
Finally, I would like to end by saying that the trains in Paris are something they should be proud of. When we come to Paris, we always take the train into the city and, on this trip, we took the metro on a number of occasions to get out to places like Pantin and Boulogne. Not once did we wait more than a minute or two for a train. In fact, even during off-peak times, the maximum headway between trains seemed to be 4 minutes. With this at your doorstep, and with all the new cycling infrastructure that has been introduced, I guess it's no wonder that many Parisians couldn't care less about driving.