For two weeks I’ve been wandering the streets of the 7th district.
If you’ve not heard of it before, it’s an extremely elegant, opulent, posh part of town, home to sprawling tree-lined avenues, embassy buildings, and of course, the Eiffel Tower.
In my enormous ranking of the best arrondissements for tourists, I ranked the 7eme in second place, because there’s so much to find. Museums, restaurants, the river… the list is endless.
Me, I never really explored the area so much, partly because I live on the other side of town, and partly because there can be too many tourists here. But suddenly all the tourists have gone, due to the pandemic of course, and everything has changed.
To make things even more interesting, for two weeks I’ve been fortunate enough to be living just seconds away from the Eiffel Tower thanks to the generosity of Paris Perfect rentals. They’ve let me stay in one of their homes (more on this below) and this means I can call a luxury apartment my home, but I also get the extreme pleasure of exploring the seventh arrondissement every day without all the tourists.
It has been incredible so far, a really intriguing and historic time for Paris. Lunches on the grass of the Champ de Mars with hardly anyone in sight. Ambling down roads, often right in the middle of them, without pesky cars. Admiring the incredible door on Avenue Rapp without a selfie stick poking my eyeball out. Strolling around the Eiffel Tower without the hustlers trying to pinch my wallet or sell me key rings.
Here are a collection of images I’ve taken from the past week. I’ll be sharing loads more on Instagram and Facebook over the next week too, so be sure to follow there!
The seventh arrondissement, meanwhile, is also home to Leah Walker, a Texan who works as the social media manager for Paris Perfect where I’m staying. I invited her on the podcast to talk about the district, her favourite streets, and how apartment rental companies are operating without any customers.
Here are some pictures from where I’m staying for the week. It’s the Bergerac apartment and you can find more about it here.
And here’s today’s episode again (below). Oh yes, and if you think you recognize Leah’s voice, she was on the show in February 2019 talking about luxury travel in Paris.
For many more pics and videos from the seventh and beyond, follow me on Instagram now. Or become a member via Patreon if you want to help take The Earful to new heights.