Segway

Our apartment has a Segway in it that belongs to the owner. We’re afraid to touch it. It looks so cool, like you could ride around in Paris on it but we can’t. Still it’s cool.

oldest tree in Paris

This is Robinier, the oldest, but maybe not the prettiest tree. Planted in 1603, it is near St. Julien-le-Pauvre, just a few blocks from our apartment.

-B

maps and wayfinding

Our apartment is on rue Perdue on the map. Now named rue Maître Albert. According to our landlord (a philosopher) the street is named for Albertus Magnus, St. Thomas Aquinas’ teacher. The building shows clearly on the Turgot map, it’s in the bend of the street. We can see that the building has a central courtyard. It is easy to find the street (and the apartment) by tracing a straight line from the back of Notre Dame to the bank of the Seine, and then following the only crooked street which is rue Maître Albert.

The room that the boys sleep in has wallpaper taken from this map, and Notre Dame is at the foot of Max’s bed. It is a bit confusing because on the Turgot map north is not at the top, so the left bank looks like it is on the right.

Max enjoys looking at the maps as well as the Eyewitness Travel Guides to plan his trips. He likes Barcelona.

-B

apartment location found

While looking at the “plan de paris” wallpaper my grandma has, I located our apartment on the 1739 map. Even more interesting she has a book of prints of the real map of Paris by Turgot. It should be fun to look back at the old map after we’ve been there in the city.

-A

more maps

I found the apartment on Google Earth and put a marker on it. Then I tilted it so I could see the three-dimensional buildings that had been drawn on it. Notre Dame looks like a cell from The Hunchback of Notre Dame II. Only one building sticks up in Beaubourg, the Pompidou Centre, I think. As for the apartment, the courtyard is visible, but along with many other buildings it is flattened.

-B