Security

Rick has been consistently enthusiastic about my plan to live in Paris.  But when we were down south we had a conversation with a friend from Paris, and she mentioned that pickpockets were prolific in Paris.  Rick woke me up in the middle of the night and said, "I'm worried about leaving you here alone." Which of course, started to make me nervous.

While we were staying in Caen, in Normandy, Rick really began to like that city, and he said, "I wish you were staying here. It's clean, not as big, and everyone's nice."

We hadn't spent any time at all in this area in  previous trips to Paris so didn't know it at all.  After we checked into our hotel near the Gare de Lyon, on the September 29, Rick and I walked up to Place de la Bastille to look for the apartment.  Since it is front and center on the Place, it was easy to find.  We decided to sit and have a beer (it was hot!) at one of the cafés just below the apartment.  It was très crowded (7p.m. on a Friday night) and I was getting the impression that Rick was not très impressed. In fact, he suggested a timed walk to Notre Dame so he would know how far away I was from his favorite arrondissement (neighborhood).

But once we were in the apartment and had spent some time perusing the neighborhood, he felt much better.
Let me show you why!

The reasons the keys are hanging from the door is..............if you leave and don't take the key, one of those five bolts will lock and you can't get back in. And according to Frederic, who checked us in, that is very, very bad.

So now Rick feels that I am very secure in my Parisian apartment.