Living in Paris For a long time we had a dream......

By Joëlle and François Le Gueut.

It was not until our old friend in oxford told us about panderjam that we felt like unfolding our dream: an old dream, indeed that came true thanks to the sale of our 150 years old house in saint martin du tertre, a little charming village 30 km from Paris, not far from Chantilly. That is where we have lived for 26 years with our 3 children .Children who one after another deserted our country life, a life which they did not find very exciting, not very rock and roll as they said. So it was that our house seemed us deserted and above all we realized that our eager interests centered on painting, music, literature and contemporary urban life more than on country life therefore we followed the children.

Then began the combatant's trip. Our dream was severely tried with the estate agents. We discovered the world of the real estate agencies, kept reading small ads from the real estate columns of newspapers, selecting flats because we could not afford a house in Paris. Great was our surprise with the prices! Prices which led us to the north-eastern part of Paris, area still accessible (to our purse) and rather astonishing because it is an island of greenery in the middle of an urban environment. At last we bought in the 19th district, the Buttes Chaumont exactly. Needless to say that we don't live in the same space as in our house in the country .Anew life opens to us Our south facing flat, in a 1930 building, overlooks an avenue edged with plane-trees leading (200m)to the parc of the Buttes Chaumont .No more gardening but enjoyable walks in the third greatest (25 ha ) of the 426 gardens in Paris (the first is parc de la villette and the second Jardin des tuileries) it is a very romantic park (created in 1867) with high cliffs, great trees, a 30 m waterfall an ironbridge which springs from a cliff to a pinacle crowned by a temple of the Sybil. Very near the park is also the bassin de la villette, the biggest stretch of water in Paris connecting the canal of ourcq (crossing a district where different cultures cohabit) with the canal saint martin. This pond welcomes counters for rivers cruises as well as film complex situated on both sides by the pond, a connection being assured by small electric boat "the bad mark for behavior " title of a jean Vigo picture .The canal saint martin offering a nice side walk goes into the seine river, opens to the Arsenal marina, a port which can accommodate more than 200 boats, with the Bastille in the background. All along the canal (sometimes continuing its route underground) footbridges and bridges allow the inhabitants and pedestrians to cross. They also give a nice global view of the canal course flown over by the seagulls, it looks like Amsterdam....

From the Bastille area we can enjoy strolling to the Marais to discover some of the most beautiful historic monuments of Paris: the hotels of the Renaissance built by the servants of the state ennobled by their charges where we can see the influence of Mansart representative of the French classicism and the Picasso museum installed in the hotel Salé (built in 1656) .Not very far from there rises the centre Beaubourg, a strange structure designed by Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers ,described as an "oil refinery" highly controversial at the beginning because of its external colored piping and red escalators. It houses a vast public library and the "musée national d'art moderne". To our great joy the museum has a rolling programme of temporary exhibitions and remains a very popular visitor's attraction. Around the museum many galleries promoting contemporary creation open our way of looking art. A little further across the seine is the rive gauche where we often bike ride because exploring Paris on wheels is now easier because the town offers a wide range of "pistes cyclables" and according of our mood we can enjoy the contrasting districts which give this rather little town that magical feel.

We are Parisians since May 2005 and feel ourselves restored to life. Our dream can unfold, there is so much to discover and to enjoy, specially the unforgettable smell of coffee escaping from the café downstairs.