1994 — our first Paris apartment

The first time we ever stayed in a rented vacation apartment in Paris was in September 1994. In 1993, we had stayed in a gîte rural for the first time, in Provence, but the only photo of that place we can find right now is one Walt posted on his blog a few years ago. There have to be slides somewhere...

Here's what the 1994 Paris apartment looked like. It was a studio located on the Île Saint-Louis, in the very center of Paris. It was on a low floor in an old apartment building, so it wasn't very light or airy. That didn't matter, because we were out and about all day long every day anyway. The place was quiet and comfortable for having an evening meal and getting a good night's sleep.

As you can see, the apartment came with a colorful rug and bedspread, exposed stone walls, and exposed ceiling beams. The dining room set was functional. And the best thing the apartment had, compared to a hotel room, was a kitchen. That was a luxury. Since I had lived in Paris between 1979 and 1982, and since I like to cook, it was fun to be able to go shopping for food and have both breakfast and dinner in "our" apartment. For the noon meal, we were out wandering the city, and we could have a light lunch in a café or restaurant. The two advantages of that were (1) lunchtime meals in Paris restaurants are less expensive than evening meals, and (2) when you have a kitchen with an apartment you can really enjoy shopping in supermarkets and open-air markets across the city.

In other words, you feel like you live there when you have a rented apartment. You're not a tourist in the same way you would be in a hotel room. You can relax in the evening, have dinner in, and be ready to get busy sightseeing and shopping the next day. I'm not sure I remember how much we paid per night or per week for the 1994 apartment, but I'm sure staying there cost us less than paying for a hotel room, expensive hotel breakfasts, and two restaurant meals per day. 

There I am in the kitchen, either cooking or cleaning up. I remember one meal we had: I had bought a very dry, hard goat cheese in a shop on the rue Montorgueil. I grated it and made a creamy goat cheese sauce to have with pasta, followed by a green salad with grated goat cheese on top. We invited friends in for dinner, and we all really enjoyed the meal.

The friends I just mentioned were Americans that we knew, or at least already Walt knew, from California. They had rented an apartment over in the Latin Quarter, near the place Monge (great open-air market there). What did we do in the daytime? Well, one  day we rented a car and with our friends drove up to Beauvais to see the famous cathedral there. We also went to Noyons and to Laon (two more cathedrals). We had a picnic lunch that day because we didn't want to spend time in a restaurant when we could be out sightseeing (lunch is often a two- or even three-hour affair in France).

At least once in 1994, Walt and I went up to the rooftop terrace café at the Samaritaine department store. The store no longer exists. We used to enjoy going there back in 1981-82, when we first met and became friends. I'm sure I took this photo from up there. It shows the western tip of the Île de la Cité, on which sits...

...la cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris. Notre Dame was only a few steps from our rental apartment on that trip. We were so lucky in those days when it came to trips to Paris and other places in France. In 1988, I had an all-expenses-paid work trip to Grenoble, right before Thanksgiving, so Walt flew over to spend the long weekend with me in Paris. It was our first trip back to France since 1982. In October 1989 I returned to Grenoble for another work junket, and Walt flew over and met me there. We rent a car and drove around the south and southwest of France for a week, ending up in Paris for a day or two at the end of the trip. In January 1991, Walt had an expenses-paid work trip to Paris, so I tagged along and entertained myself in Paris while he worked. And in 1992, we had accumulated enough airline miles for free flights from SF to Paris, so it was Paris again for us. Plus a driving trip through Normandy and Brittany. The 1993 trip I mentioned above was to celebrate our 10th anniversary of living together — more than 25 years ago! On those trips we stayed in hotels...