In an hour I’ll head over to the Pernety neighborhood in the 14th arrondissement to sign the lease on my new apartment. I’m super excited!
The apartment hunt had been going much better in the past week. I was able to get viewings for five apartments in the 10th, 11th, 12th and 14th arrondissements and submitted my rental dossier for all of them.
Tuesday evening I received an offer for one of the apartments I had visited in the 14th, which is the cute, relaxed and friendly neighborhood in the south end of Paris that I had liked so much a week or two ago.
And so Wednesday I accepted the offer. The plan is for me to get the key Nov. 1. Can’t wait!
The apartment is on the 5th floor American (the French call it the 4th floor since the ground floor is zero), and it has the classic 19th century decor with the high ceilings, the moldings and the parquet floor. It has a full kitchen and two bedrooms and gets lots of light from all the windows.
It overlooks a small square with a few restaurants and cafes and is just a short walk from two or three shopping streets with produce markets, wine shops, butchers, cheese shops, fish markets and little restaurants.
So I think it will be a lovely place to live!
And then my friend Sebastian has been visiting the last couple days. We met 25 years or so ago when I was living at the gay commune in southern Oregon. He had just gotten back to Paris from Italy where he was doing a photography residency, and now he’s on his way back home to Asheville, NC. It was wonderful to have a chance to catch up and hang out! We went to an exhibit at the Centre Pompidou called “Over the Rainbow,” which was about queer art and activism over the course of the 20th century. Wonderful stuff!
And then last night I went to the Palais Garnier to see three contemporary dance pieces by Marion Motin, Xie Xin, and Crystal Pite. All were amazing, and the one by Crystal Pite was just mind blowing.
So it’s been a pretty good week!
A Simple Life in Paris 
How fantastic! Your apartment looks lovely and those outings (and the weather!) look wonderful as well. So happy for you! (Can’t wait to visit in ’24!)
Thanks so much, Hillary! Yes, the weather has been wonderful, around 80 degrees. Today it turned cooler, so we’re heading into fall, but still marvelous!
YAYYYY!!! Sooo excited for the new apartment!!! 🥳
Oh, believe me, I am too! Can’t wait to able to cook things in a real kitchen!
Yay, glad you found a place! Looks perfect. Love following your blog! Thanks for sharing🩷
Thanks so much, Susie! And next time you and Brad make it over here, it would be so much fun to hang out!
Hello Bill,
I’m currently reading “Dearie: The Remarkable Life of Julia Child” by
Bob Spitz, which picks up speed when she and Paul move to Paris in 1948
and she discovers food, Sole Meuniere and the Rognons, and they stuff
themselves in little bistros, and decides to learn to cook, which she
was completely horrible at when they lived in D.C.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13531538-dearie
So you have a precursor 75 years ago!
Commune in So. Oregon? Wolf Creek? I was involved in setting up W.C. as
a gay male space in 1984 then bailed out some years later when it was
subverted by a bisexual woman who made it all genders.
I was planning on driving to Eugene to view an annular solar eclipse,
but the entire US in its path will be overcast so I’m not driving 300
miles to see it get dark and cold.
Here is a photo we took 10/1 at Sahale Dharma Buddies, and an audio of
birds at the cedar grove there.
Enjoy your new lease on life!
David K.
Hey David! Thanks so much! I will have to pick up that book as I am a huge Julia Child fan! And yes, the gay commune was Wolf Creek. 😁
I was in the room in SF 1984 when we founded Nomenus and when we bought the land at Wolf Creek later that year. What a storied history!
David K
Bill, your apartment is exquisite and perfect for you. Love exploring Paris vicariously through your excellent blog!
Thanks so much, Libby! And thanks for your recommendations! Can’t wait to see the Rothko!
A good week indeed! Excited for you, the place looks amazing. Will finally start to feel like home, I suspect. I’ve never been inside the Palais Garnier, how I imagined it!
Yes, very much looking forward to having a place I can call home after what will be three months of living in Airbnb’s. I’ve already started looking at stuff to equip the new kitchen. Can’t wait to make a gratin of kuri squash, which is everywhere right now and looking so beautiful!
So elegant! The apartment is, too 🙂
Lol! Yeah, the Palais Garnier is one of my little luxuries. I mean, the dance performances are just incredible, and then getting to experience them at the Palais Garnier in all its splendor just takes it to another level.