A Post About Toast

I made toast this morning.

The smell unexpectedly took me back...

...to the grilled cheeses that I made for our lunch almost everyday in Paris.

I started to think about the funny "American Sandwich Bread" that I bought one day that tasted and looked just like Angelfood Cake! The slices were thick and bleach white with plenty of refined white flour and sugar. I would butter each side and slice thick slices of Gouda cheese for the inside. I grew to look forward to them because it was as close to a normal "American" routine that I could get at the time!

All of this reminiscing inspired the following tour of our Parisain apartment and neighborhood and daily life:

Here is the front door of the apartment building that leads to the street from the courtyard. It spills you directly out onto the sidewalk. The green cans on the right hand side are our recycling containers. There was a little lady that kept everything very clean.

Okay, here is another door. This one leads from the courtyard into the inside of the apartment building. On the right wall you can see the buzzers so that you can get buzzed in.

Here is the kitchen. That big white box hanging on the wall is the tankless water heater and next to that is the one cabinet. The white corner sticking into the left side of the picture is the washing machine.

Now for the bedroom that we all shared.

The funny bath that was in our bedroom. It had a sink and a shower. No toilet.

The bathroom in the entrance of the apartment. Just a toilet and the tiniest sink you will ever see.

The courtyard that led to the street.

A night streetview from our bedroom window. We were on the fourth floor.

Another night view from our window.

The museum that was across the street from us.

Some food that I made meals from.

Our tiny fridge. Look at the two burner stovetop above.

Our living/dining area. Look at those big windows!

Street view.

Notre Dame was so close to our apartment! We made many trips there.

Our street during the day.

Luke learned to crawl and pull up on furniture in our Paris apartment.

The meat store in our neighborhood that was closed for the entire month of July for holiday.

The little cut-out square behind me leads into the kitchen and the hallway you see on the left led to the halfbath and the entrance. The floor of the hallway was covered in rubber! So odd. The rest of the apartment was hardwood.

Luke slept in his peapod tent in our bedroom. To the left you can see the door way that led to the funny bathroom in our bedroom.

We didn't have room to bring the baby contraptions with us so we started out by feeding luke like this:

This is a good shot of the entry and that funny red rubber floor.

We each had our own feeding techniques.

Luke's kitchen sink bath. The window behind me with the lace curtain was floor to ceiling in size and opened up like French doors.

This photo reminds me of the lemony smell of our dish soap. It definitely smelled clean!

The microwavey looking thing was really our oven! The white racks on the wall to left left above the sink was the dish drying rack. At first it grossed me out and it was so dusty. By the end of our time there we were using it daily! The water drips from the dishes down into the sink.

One day we made a frozen pizza (we were missing "normal" food) and we didn't have a pizza cutter so we just pulled off pieces and ate them!

We did not have a t.v. or radio so I read TONS of books!

One of our first nights early on I tried to make chessey potato and sausage casserole. It ended up working out okay but it looked so different. I could not find any yellow cheese in Paris. Not in the market or in the grocery store. I didn't take any recipes with me so we just had to make do with what ever we could recognize or eat out on the go.

We didn't have many toys either but who needs toys when there is so much new stuff to explore?!

We had a washing machine but no dryer so we had to hang dry everything! The diapers were light enough to hand from the chandelier. I had to get creative...notice the wipes/washcloths hanging on the chair behind me. I hung big things like sheets and jeans from the tall curtain rods. This worked well, especially when the windows were open. It would only take half a day to dry a sheet or small towel. I wonder what the neighbors thought?

We quickly learned that all of the living quarters in Paris are small so people do not spend any time in them. Why would they when they could be dining in the open air on the streets until 2:00 or 4:00 AM?!

Luke on his "playmat" which was really just an old woven bedspread. All of his toys fit in one basket!

We were lucky enough to have wireless internet and we did bring one Baby Einstein DVD for Luke to watch but he didn't need that either.

Luke got his first tooth in Paris and he used his shoe as a teether. Who needs fancy teethers?

The Tour de France ended by our apartment!

Another courtyard shot. This one shows the mailbox area to the left and the cleaning closet.

Our courtyard had a tree. The first floor windows that you see opened into a custom leather shop. They would sometimes sit in our courtyard and eat lunch.

Luke next to the mailboxes.

Our apartment after a shopping spree!

We did eventually get this sack n' seat for meal times once he started crawling.

Here is our apartment on a hot day. You can see the dish closet to the left.

Lot's of yummy food everywhere you look!

We lived in the Marais district. It was very upscale and had the best Falafel place in Paris! I miss the Falafels.

Our neighborhood had scads of high end shopping.

One weekend there was a street performing fire breather.

Time to pack. We rearranged the furniture so many times!

Our last morning! Look at all of that natural light.

Bye bye Paris!