Paris is having cold weather right now, and it's even supposed to snow today. I walked by the window to my closet and such a blast of cold air hit my bare legs that I pulled open the curtains to see if the window was open. It was shut, but down the long central opening and under the window, a biting draft still whistled through. Ah, Paris windows!
They look lovely. In my building, like other Haussmannien buildings that make up the classic image of Paris, most of the windows are actually doors. They are built for a temperate climate and don't work well in very hot, very windy, or very cold weather. They're not easy to keep open, or to keep shut!
In the summertime, when it's hot, you want to leave them open. Because you won't have air-conditioning. Unlike American cities, Paris has few insects and you don't need screens. What is so pleasant as a summer's day? But here the first problem arises. How do you keep the windows open? The bottoms of the windows are several inches above the floor, so you can't use a doorstop. The least breeze slams them shut. On a windy day, we resort to standing furniture around the windows on either side so they don't slam so hard they break.
In the winter, you have the opposite problem. It's hard to keep them shut tight. You can hear them rattling whenever there's a storm. Those big central openings on every window in a room leave a lot of chinks for freezing gusts to howl through. Luckily, really cold weather in Paris is rare.
"But here the first problem arises. How do you keep the windows open?"
In the summertime, we use a potted plant. The plant gets fresh air, and so do we! :)
(I recently started following your blog and am a big fan of your keen observations. Bundle up today, it is absolutely wicked outside!)
Posted by: academoiselle | 19 January 2013 at 10:52
Thank you! I just looked at your blog and it is a great one, hope you keep it up! (I've added it to my blogroll)
Posted by: Sedulia | 19 January 2013 at 12:45
We have the same issue with our windows. Some buildings/owners replace the old wooden ones with PVC ones that don't change the aspect of the building façase, and those new modern windows are also heavier so they don't get swung around in the breeze...but we don't have that on our building. In fact our bathroom window hasn't completely shut for years, which is ok in the summer, but in the windter taking a shower can sometimes be unpleasant with the draft.
Posted by: PreteMoiParis | 27 January 2013 at 13:48
That sounds like our bathroom window. It's never completely shut and it's also really hard to open...
Posted by: Sedulia | 28 January 2013 at 10:21