Chez nous

Today was the first day we did NOT do anything touristy or take any pictures (it was my first day of French class and Aaron's first day of telecommuting), so I will use this post to introduce you to our humble abode. We had thought that this apartment, at about 21 square meters (roughly 200 square feet) must be unusually small, even by Paris standards, but we were given a reality check when we had dinner with a high school classmate of mine on Sunday night. He's lived here for several years, has numerous French friends, and he reports that it's quite common for people in their 30s and 40s to still live in studio apartments in Paris because real estate is so insanely expensive here.

So here it is -- home sweet Parisian home.

Voulez-vous du flan?



Our main floor living area







Our tiny closet-like bathroom with a pocket door and a sink roughly the size of a sink on an airplane





Our sleeping loft (not quite tall enough to stand up straight)



A typical breakfast chez nous



Our building has the smallest elevator I have ever seen -- holds no more than two people unless you want to get really cozy! (What you're seeing in this picture is the glass elevator shaft.)



Unfortunately, our elevator has already broken once since we got here...and have I mentioned our apartment is on the 7th floor (really the 8th, since the ground floor is counted as floor zero)? Luckily, it was fixed within 24 hours, so we didn't have time to get too sick of tromping up the many flights of charming spiral staircase.