My digs and neighborhood

Posted 8/5/2014

I've gotten a few requests to put pictures of my apartment and street on here, so I will oblige, though I only have a few.

The bedroom area and bathroom of the apartment were upstairs in a loft area.  This is looking down from the loft:

Very bright and comfy!  The kitchen would be at the bottom of the photo, behind the table at right.  The big armchair opened up into a small bed, which my guests found quite comfortable.

I was on the top floor.  You can see the flowers on the balcony in th photo below.  (Claire, my landlady, said she enjoyed looking up to see them when see passed by the apartment on occasion.)  So the balcony with the flowers, and the little window next to it, would be for my apartment; the next big window is the neighbor's.  (I saw him only once or twice.  The only neighbor problem I had was his cigar smoking; the smell would creep under my door from the hallway.  After the first couple of weeks, I kept a rolled up dishtowel stuffed into the opening under the door, and that did the trick.)

One of the windows on the first floor (what we would call the second) had a collection of what looked like small garden gnomes in it, which you can see in the photo.  I never knew which neighbor that went with.  People would greet each other in the hallways and entrance, but I never got to know anyone else in the building.

 

Here is the street (Rue Tournefort), although this is looking from the direction opposite to that from which I normally approached the building.  You can't really see the building here, but it would be up on the left.  The building with the small dome that you can see in the distance is the church St. Etienne du Mont.

This is a nearby cafe, with a view of the Pantheon, where I ate several times with my various companions.  The waiters, one in particular who always recognized me, treated us very well -- and the food was good!
Cafes like this one that served all afternoon were handy, because many restaurants don't open until 7 pm or later.

A couple of sights that I passed frequently when walking north, towards the river:  a wall with a painting of a tree and a poem about the tree, and a few of a series of posters about women in the sciences that were posted near various educational institutions.  There were 144 in all.  Unfortunately, a few of them were rudely defaced, probably by young guys who thought it was hilarious, but most of them were left alone, and hopefully all of them were inspirational to young girls and women.

I'm pretty sure this is the Institute Auguste Comte, which had a nice courtyard normally open to the public.
I learned that when you see a little dark green (I think) sign with the words "Mairie de Paris" on it, that meant you were at a public space -- it wasn't always obvious otherwise.

I also got in the habit of scanning buildings for plaques indicating what prominent person(s) lived there at one time.  There are quite a few of them in Paris! (though, surprisingly, not at Julia Child's apartment).

I think that wraps up the blog!  Until my next visit to Paris... a bientot!