A studio apartment feels enormous after a single hotel room. We are located in the 3rd arrondissment.
View from our window. We are on level 1 over the drive entrance to the complex. In our instructions there are many many comments about keeping the noise down, so you can imagine our surprise when the neighbours have a party that goes on until 3:30; when someone came to their door, went ballistic for about 2 mins and then everything went eerily quiet. We didn't hear anyone leave, quite bizarre. We overlook a hairdressers; there are hundreds of them and all seem to be for African-French. I'd estimate they make up about 40% of the population. Surprisingly there is next to no presence of either Asians or Indians.
We are in walking distance of many things. It isn't the most salubrious area, it is in the process of being brought upmarket (in a similar way to Fitzroy St.), so we've seen quite a bit of the homeless but after some initial hesitancy I am feeling quite safe as it is always busy. We've been out an about just after 11:30pm.
We queued for 90 mins in the cold and drizzle to walk the 400 steps to the top of the Notre Dame. It was on the to-do list, so we did. I thought the young obese girl behind me was going to die as she made so much noise climbing the stairs - I felt positively fit !!!!
We are close to the Pompidou Centre and also to many amazing pastry shops. I need to climb more stairs to get rid of some of these calories.
In 1986 we met Vincent, a French gentleman working with us in London. We went to his marriage, to Jocelyne, in 1989 in Paris. Like us, they have two boys. They took us to an amazing restaurant and then sight seeing. We went to Mount Genevieve (really a small hill) and the Sorbonne in the Latin Quarter and the Boulevard St Michel where they have carefully designed topless swimsuits (Peter Sarsstedt). Vincent has good English. Frank & I managed some French and Jocelyne managed some English. They spoilt us by taking us to a dessert café, that only serves desserts. A lovely evening.
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