Peeking inside

I've always been really curious about what might lie behind all those huge carriageway doors, or portes cochères, that stand in the façades of so many Paris houses and buildings. Since they are normally shut and locked, it's a real treat to find one open, leaving the courtyard visible to passersby. Here's the Google Maps street view looking up the Rue des Lions-Saint-Paul toward the Rue Saint-Paul:

It looks like hundreds or thousands of other short, narrow streets in the city. But imagine walking down such a very narrow street lined four- or five-story buildings and parked cars, without a single street tree, and then seeing this through an open doorway:

Wouldn't it be paradise to live in a place like this in the middle of Paris? It's just steps from the Bastille, the Place des Vosges, the Rue des Rosiers, the Seine, and the Ile Saint-Louis. Notre-Dame, the Latin Quarter, and Les Halles are within easy walking distance. Here's a wider view from the sidewalk outside:

And when you step into the courtyard from the street, or emerge from the door of your apartment building, you find yourself in this green space, as if you were out in the country somewhere. There aren't many such private green spaces in Paris. I'd move in tomorrow... if I could afford to.