[TonyV]

If you're still being bothered by nighttime noise, I would highly recommend getting a white noise generator. I have a little one that sits on my night table (made by Homedic) that allows me to choose background noises of various frequencies (e.g. waterfall is a lower pitch than rainfall). Most of the sounds just sound like monotonous static; I don't care for the ones that sound like crashing waves, crickets or a babbling brook, though they might have their uses for relaxation rather than trying to sleep.

I've been using this machine since the mid '90s and please believe me that it is a sanity saver. My current location has a lot of traffic noise, and I sleep like a baby with my machine set to the "white noise" setting. My previous location was a basement apartment with an early riser above me who had two dogs that woke up full of energy and scampered all over the hardwood floors. Without my little Sound Spa, I'd have gone bonkers living there. It really allows you to take control of your own environment instead of trying to change things outside your home (which is nearly always an exercise in frustration and futility).

The reason these work so well and don't keep you awake is that your brain tunes out the sound, but it effectively creates a wall of sound through which outside noises can't penetrate.

About Paris...

A) for a city of its size and stature, it has a shockingly boring nightlife. The streets are pretty dead at night compared to Toronto. Things stay pretty quiet, except for...

B) I found sleeping in Paris a lot harder than here. I don't know how many people know of those european ambulances... but they are just awful. I've never been woken up by helicopters, but those ambulances that have the piercing two-tone drone that echos throughout the city almost made an insomniac of me. I took a lot of getting used to.

Back in summer, I went to the pharmacy and got foam earplugs and they're a big help. The pharmacist said the plugs were "flying off the shelves" because of the noise from helicopters. The route of those medical ambulance 'copters is directly over my house.

The noise is only an issue in summer when some windows are open. In winter, I haven't been woken up much, because the windows are only open a crack to let a bit of fresh air in... but recently I had the flu and got up at 4 a.m., went to the kitchen to prepare some medicine and one of those 'copters flew over. The rotors shook the crockery in the cupboards ... it's akin to living beside a rail line.

I've lived all over, tolerated all sorts of noise: sirens, streetcars, partying -- that's all just fine, I get to sleep. But those 'copter rotors aren't darlings, they vibrate things in the house like crazy, sometimes. Of course the guys (emphasize guys) who design these things go for the noisiest solutions they can devise ... I believe it's a testosterone thing.

Thanks for responding.