  Substantial progress in the field of the Local Interstellar Medium has been
largely due to recent launches of space missions, mostly in the UV and X-ray
domains, but also to ground-based observations, mainly in high resolution
spectroscopy. However, a clear gap seems to remain between the wealth of new
data and the theoretical understanding. This paper gives an overview of some
observational aspects, with no attempt of completeness or doing justice to all
the people involved in the field. As progress rarely evolves in straight paths,
we can expect that our present picture of the solar system surroundings is not
definitive.
