Rear Window

Sometimes our apartment here in Paris reminds me of the Hitchcock film Rear Window.

We have windows on the front side of the apartment, from the lounge salon, main bedroom and bathroom, onto the street, Square de la tour Marbourg, and windows at the rear in the dining room, kitchen, second and third bedrooms looking onto a private park which is created by other apartments, the rear of a church and the access to the AUP (American University of Paris. I've set up my laptop on a small table in the dining room overlooking the private park and other apartments at the rear. Tonight is a warm evening and I have the window open. Not only the sounds of birds in the trees but the sounds of people about their evening’s business drifts in: someone is practising piano very competently; another guitar not so competently. The smell of dinners wafting in is very evocative...something with garlic....irresistible and reminds one in no uncertain way where we are. It arouses similar identification to the smells of roast dinner on a Sunday. Unidentifiable voices...people about their evening. I can see a lady with her windows wide open leaning on the sill watching the evening descend. The rear outlook is much more private now that the winter skeletons have been replaced with the green clothing of spring.

The front of the apartment also provides much entertainment. First thing in the morning we are aware of the joyous sounds of children playing in the yard of the school at the end of the square. Soon after 8 it goes quiet heralded by a long five second bell. Around 10am this same bell reactivates the playful sounds as it does again at lunch time and at the end of school at 3.30pm (sorry 15.30).

By 5pm the local pre teen boys have turned our cul de sac into an exciting velodrome. They tear around on their roll-a-blades winning Olympic medals at one time and practicing for hockey championships at another, and always ready to impress some of the local girls who turn up, but never allowed to participate. Later the soccer ball will provide more entertainment…..occasionally the handheld electronic game intrudes.

Meanwhile on the ground floor of the building opposite the local bridge club is in full swing from mid afternoon until early evening. No noise evidences this activity, but the otherwise shuttered windows are opened to let in the light, and one can see the tables of foursomes with North spelt out on the interior wall.

I am an unafflicted busy body.

Les visiteurs

Annie .... from Atlanta





















Clare ....from Byron Bay














Beeb ....from Sid-en-knee


















Jez & Jeremy ....en route to everywhere














Hans & Wali ....from Vienna

C'est capitalist

We arrived back in Paris on Sunday after 2 weeks away in Switzerland, Germany and Denmark. All of this is new territory for us both. The places visited included


Switzerland -Lausanne, Geneva,
Germany - Berlin, Hamburg, Lubeck, Bad Schwarthu
Denmark - Skjoltrup on the island of Falster, Copenhagen

We fly back into Charles de Gaul airport arriving at 8.15pm and we are aware that the result of the presidential election will be known by now. We have been warned that there may be strikes regardless of who wins and the streets will most certainly be crowded. There are taxis at the terminal - a good sign. Once we are on our way we enquire of the driver "Qui est le président ? " -
"Sarkozy, pehhhh c'est capitalist " he spits
We then get a lecture from which we get the general drift that he doesn't like Sarkozy. He informs us that the Place de la Concorde is a mess full of people, and I assume that this is his way of explaining in advance for taking a circuitous route.

I call the agent, to fine tune our rendezvous to pick up the apartment keys from her. She enquires "are you able to get through?" now I'm getting worried -
"What do you mean?" -
"The traffic in Paris is terrible" she informs me and I agree to call her when we are a few minutes from her maison.

We come off the freeway, across the périphérique and into the streets of the 17th. The traffic is very light, as you would expect for a Sunday evening. Maybe they're all in the center of Paris. I begin to recognise where we are; surely not. We are heading for Madeleine, which means we will be driving through Place de la Concorde. Up ahead flashing blue lights and a constant stream of young people celebrating. We are delayed at the traffic lights at Madeleine but only slightly. As we push through the crowd on the green light, waiting pedestrians beat the car; but it is all good hearted and we don't feel threatened. Crowd control in Place de la Concorde is well and truly in place and not withstanding that there is a concert in progress, and Sarkozy is due to appear there in about an hour, we drive through with unimpeded progress similar to that experienced on any day of the week. The international media are perched on their scaffold stages to utilise the concert as a backdrop and the huge screens in place give the impression of a crowd much bigger than reality.

We pick up the key and arrive at the apartment in good time with a fare less than our original arrival.

As for our sojourn, Switzerland was interesting but we would not be going out of our way to return to Lausanne nor Geneva. Montreaux was more interesting and might be a nice base for other excursions around this part of the country.

Berlin was wonderful and although we had 2½ days there we barely scratched the surface. The is much to see, particularly in the former eastern sector; exceptional museums, galleries and neighbourhoods. It has a very vibrant, young, creative community and is the magnet of current European creativity at the moment. Berlin will definitely be on future itineraries.



We did not see much of Hamburg having only one afternoon there. But what we saw was unexpectedly great.



We enjoyed Denmark, particularly our time with friends Pia and Peter Kaminsky at their summer house in Skjoltrup on the island of Falster. We get to see parts of Denmark not on the usual tourist route and relax for a couple of days in near perfect weather.

Copenhagen was fun and we feel we saw most of what we were interested in during our 2 days there.

Returning to Paris felt very much like returning home... our French home. Having a familiar apartment to come to is quite different to staying in a hotel or staying with friends, as nice as that is.