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demand, especially by new arrivals to Paris. The standard
of living is high and housing is more spacious for property
of comparable prices in the city centre. Having a car is
essential, however, as not all services or shopping needs
can be found in every small town.
Look at elegant Neuilly-sur-Seine and its neighbour,
Levallois-Perret, at the western edges of the city. Try Boulogne-
Billancourt and its neighbour across the Seine, the charming,
affluent hill town of Saint-Cloud. Suresnes and Puteaux are
also home to many Anglophones, as is Courbevoie, beyond
La Defénse.
Just beyond Paris' western suburb of Neuilly-sur-
Seine rise 2,000 acres of modern skyscrapers—high-rise
residential blocks, France's largest shopping mall and miles
of landscaped, connecting walkways. This is La Défense, a
multi-use business/residential complex planned in the 1930s,
realised in the 1960s and 1970s and topped off in 1989 with
the construction of La Grande Arche, a 400-m high arch of
two hollow towers, connected at the top and larger than the
Cathedral of Notre-Dame.
Some 100,000 people work at La Défense, in the offices
of 800 of the world's most important corporations. Thirty
thousand people live here, in a pleasant, homogeneous area
close to some of the international schools. Housing is modern
and affordable, agreeably built around landscaped squares
and elevated walkways that hide the public transportation
systems below. The Quatre-Temps shopping centre holds
hundreds of shops and restaurants and the hypermarché
Auchan. In fact, all conveniences are here, including a variety
of cultural attractions, and central Paris is no farther than
a
métro
or RER ride away. If La Défense does not have the
traditional charms of the city centre, it has its advantages
worth considering.
If the south interests you, look at Issy-les Moulineaux— a
town of winding streets, its own town square and an
atmosphere more casual than some of its neighbours. Just
beyond, look too at Meudon, accessible by RER, prized both
by commuters into Paris and those who work in the industries
that border the Paris side of the Seine.
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