An apartment in the 11th arrondissement

Our new home is in the 11th, wedged between the trendy Marais district to the west and the working class, ethnic neighborhoods of Belleville and Menilmontant to the north and east.

We've been here not yet two days and already it feels like home. In fact we like the view out of our fourth-floor window much better than our last apartment on rue Poliveau in the 5th arr. It seems much more residential I suppose. We are located on a short tiny street just off of rue Parmentier (Antoine Parmentier brought the potato to France and he is of course buried in Pere Lachaise) and a stone's throw from a lovely little park (Square Gardetta). And the piece de resistance is that we are only a 10-minute walk from Pere Lachaise! (photos, above: our front door is just before the Pressing sign; below: that's our place the last row of windows at the top.)

The building and surrounding area is very quiet, with an amazing view of so many other folks going about their daily lives.
We're within an easy walk to just about everything one could want or need: supermarche (Franprix and Monoprix are two of the biggest names here), the enormous Belleville open air market, stretching for what seems like forever along Boulevard Menilmontant, is Tuesdays and Fridays and about 15 minutes from our apartment. A large stretch of that boulevard is also packed with Middle Eastern shops and restaurants as well; lots of new things to explore. The Bastille is maybe a 20 minute walk and of course the metro lines are easily within 10 minutes (no problem for Susie getting to Pascal's shop for sure).

The apartment itself is a large two-bedroom space with a great kitchen, and filled with books and music and hi-speed internet access. Pretty much heaven for us. We're renting from the same young woman we rented from on our last trip here and she has been terrific about helping us find our way through the maze of living in the 11th, with suggestions and tips galore to get us up and running on living here. Thanks Drea!

Up next, our first day here! Stay tuned!

Wish you were here,

Steve