Rue de l'échiquier

The last couple of times that the Professor has traveled to France he has rented an apartment for a week rather than stay in a hotel. After searching diligently, he found a small studio apartment for us to rent for our week in Paris. At one time it had been a boulangerie selling bread and pastry. The door was right on the sidewalk. The reviews from other renters were positive and so on the night of February 22, we found ourselves outside of door waiting for the landlord to meet us with keys.
The landlord had assured the Professor that even though we could see out of the top windows above the doors that no one from the apartments across the street could see in. We took him on faith but did keep the long heavy drapes closed until after we had showered and dressed.





Our stay in the apartment came very close to carnival or Mardi Gras time so the masks on the wall did not seem out of place. Even though they were a little on the scary side.


We had been forewarned that the loft had a very low ceiling. However, I am a short person and I imagined the ceiling to be too low for the Professor to stand up but not for me. Hah! After bumping my head on the ceiling a few times, I got the message and bent over further each time I went up or down the stairs.


This is a fascinating toilet. As you can tell the bathroom was small but was dominated by this modern object. The water to flush the the toilet came from the water recycled and collected from the sink. I don't think I used that much water washing my hands but the toilet never failed to flush.


Would we stay in this apartment again? Definitely a yes. The advantages of having a stove and a sink and a small refrigerator were enormous. We ate out several times, but it was wonderful to wake up and have fresh bread and jam or to munch on delicious French bread and cheese in the evening.