The View From Our Apartment

The BYU Apartment where we live is in a great location in Paris in the 7th Arrondissement.  There is usually something interesting going on outside our window.  And of course, the best part is being able to see the top of the Eiffel Tower from the living room window and Kate's bedroom window.

Eiffel Tower Peeking Through the Leaves

View of Eiffel Tower Sparkling from Kate's Bedroom

The Eiffel Tower is definitely something we will miss.  We also have a great view of demonstrations and marches going down our street from or towards the Champ de Mars and the Eiffel Tower.  A couple of weeks ago we watched a march for autism awareness and a demonstration against Kabila, the President of the Democratic Republic of Congo, within minutes of each other.

Police Leading Autism Awareness March

Autism March

As soon as the autism marchers left, the riot police came from the direction of the Champ de Mars in their vans and lined up for crowd control during the demonstration against Kabila.  We assumed the demonstrators wanted him to resign as President. 

Riot Police Lined Up and Their Vans

The demonstration was a lot smaller than the autism march but drew more gendarmes.  I think there were more riot police than demonstrators!

"Kabila's Credit is Exhausted"

Riot Police Following the Kabila Demonstration with their Vans

In February we watched workers change the light bulbs in the street lamps outside our window.  Now we know how that is done.

Cherry Picker

Changing the Lights

And just this week a homeless person moved into the phone booth right below our window by the métro entrance.  It's a good thing it's a double phone booth so a phone was available for the guy on the right.  We saw someone drop off a pastry for the homeless man today and it looks like he had some old baguettes, too.

Phone Booth Homeless Shelter

I'm sure we'll go through Eiffel Tower withdrawal when we get home next week.  But we look forward to seeing our friends and family.