Living Small in Paris

We get to Paris once in a while by finding the cheapest fares, then living very small. This time our tickets were $668 from Phoenix to Paris. We found a tiny flat on the left bank with a serviceable kitchen, overlooking the oldest restaurant in Paris. It opened in 1646. Ben Franklin ate there. We didn't. We watched the crowds come and go and peeked in long enough to see that many of the tourists were eating french fries. Quelle domage!


We shop in the local markets and cook  food in the room -- rich country soup, pork and pumpkin stew. We do buy inimtiable French bread and a little French wine (five bucks a bottle).  We take no taxis and even avoid the Metro, preferring to walk everywhere with our eyes wide open, in the "most expensive city in Europe." Window shopping, we can see that a man's scarf could cost more than our whole trip and the price of a suit would be three month's rent.


Still, our experience of the Louvre, the d'Orsay, Notre Dame, the Seine, the bustling Sorbonne, and even that big iron tower -- just as rich as that of any visiting potentate, or maybe better.  Living small, you've got time, and you can come and go as you please.