They call it the unloved tower. It has the best views in Paris because, at 209 meters (686 feet), it is the city’s tallest skyscraper, but also, as Parisians like to joke, because from the top you cannot see its own ugliness on the horizon. The Montparnasse Tower, which remains one of Paris’s most distinctive buildings despite its unpopularity, has been stuck in a real estate limbo for months. An ambitious renovation project, first conceived a decade ago and whose initial works were due to begin this autumn, was rejected by a majority of the building’s owners because of its steep cost: €800 million (about $910 million)

Seguir leyendo

A little over a month ago, at a high school on the outskirts of Paris, a group of students blocked their school to protest the condition of the facilities and the lack of teachers. Within days, students from other schools joined in, first in Paris and then across the country, complaining of leaks in classrooms and even cockroaches, and of walls that are cracking. They are cold in the winter and hot in the spring. That image of public schools — long considered a pillar of the French Republic, but gradually falling apart — also illustrates the economic decline of recent years.

Seguir leyendo