Our Garret Apartment & daily life in Paris

Paris: entrance to our Marais apartment
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Today we moved to our garret apartment at 10 rue Aubriot, near the Hotel de Ville metro station. From the Hotel Deville metro stop, facing north, we took the street in front the stop ( rue des Archives.) Then at the second narrow street we took a right and took ( rue Sainte Croix de la Bretonnerie) and then took the first street on our left, rue Aubriot. It is owned by Jim Tisserand. His home phone number is 01 43 74 30 04 and his cell phone is 06 70 73 81 85. (email: parisrent@noos.fr). http://www.an-apartment-in-paris.com/anglais.html Rue Aubriot is a one block long street between rue des Blancs/Manteaux on the north and rue Sainte-Croix/del la Bretonnerie, two blocks north of rue de Rivoli.

Fromage shoppe
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Our “pigeonnier” (dovecote, garret, attic) is up ninety-six (96!) well worn steps to the “fourth” floor! Back home in Chicago we walk up 41 steps to our third floor apartment. (41/3 = 13.6 stairs/floor) Applying that here, 96/13.6 = 7 floors, not 4 floors! Our view is of the inner "courtyard" of our building, surrounded by roofs, chimneys, windows and a church tower with a large bell. It is everything I had hoped it to be. Sunday, I tape recorded the "symphony" of the church bell mixed with surrounding bells from other churches. Each morning we awakened to the peal of that bell. The only thing missing is being able to lean out and see the street or a vista of Paris, preferably with the EiffelTower in view.

I have been shopping in different food shops: a Boulangerie [bakery] or Patisserie for out of this world croissants and to die for desserts, a fromage shop for dreamy creamy cheeses, a number of open-to-the street fruit and vegetable stand markets and meat markets.

View of the courtyard and church tower from our tiny window.
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Our single room has a small 24" diameter marble pedestal table and 2 chairs & a large wardrobe. I also includes two convertable couches. The bathroom has a shower, a sink & a toilet, hairdryer & a hidden safe that accommodated my camera equipment & a few other items. Linens & towels were provided. It cost a modest €390. It still cost this in September of 2006.

This tiny studio apartment is in a building built in 1705. About 80 years before the French Revolution! The Bastille was only about ten blocks from this spot. We can only imagine what July 14 must have been like on the streets right here! Not on the left bank, but here on the right bank across the river from el de cite with Notre-Dame on it. Imagine it, we can touch the buildings, see the details - brick and iron gates, door knockers, locks, carved wood and stone figurines that looked upon the action that day! This is the neighborhood of the last king of France. We walked streets & past mansions built in Medieval Times.

As the days went by we really feel like we live in Paris, living more like Paris residents, than tourists. As we get to know the neighborhood, S and I have been shopping in different food shops: a Boulangerie [bakery] or Patisserie for out of this world croissants and to die for desserts, a fromage shop for dreamy creamy cheeses, a number of open-to-the street fruit and vegetable stand markets and meat markets. I managed to grab a few shots of S in the process of shopping on rue Rambuteau as proof! The restaurants we eat in no tourist will ever discover. Maybe it is because it is November, but we rarely come across tourists, most everyone eating in the restaurants or shopping are Parisians, residents of the area. The photo is of madam is cutting a wedge of semi-soft Le Fournols cheese for S.