October 2006 City of Light...

So we have finally figured out how to set up our space to share with you our experience of Europe, France and Paris. Although it's now October, we will go back in time a little bit to tell you about a few of the aspects of our arrival and settling in from August onwards and to share with you a few of the pictures we've taken so far. Hopefully, from this point on, we can begin to post shorter entries about our day-to-day life as well as a few photos.

Since this is the first time we (Denise and Brian) have done a blog it's likely to sound a bit more like a family letter or postcard, but as we go along we'll aim for some slightly more profound observations and interesting reading...

Moving in... We were lucky to be able to move directly into our permanent apartment on arrival for only the second time in six postings. Like anything, our apartment comes with certain "avantages et inconvenients". We are in a 100 year old Haussmann building on the fifth floor complete with cage elevator (charming, but very impractical), marble (non-functioning) fireplaces (seven!), 12-foot ceilings, and the gargoyle you see on the left...

We thought that the cage elevator, which holds barely two adults and a dog, and the fact that we're five flights up might present a few challenges to the movers when our shipment arrived. We should have realized that moving into buildings with cage elevators and lots of stairs is an everyday occurrence in Paris. No problem...they just drive-up with a small truck that has a conveyor-belt-elevator thingy on the top and with a couple of guys at the bottom and a couple at the top - presto....our boxes were magically transported directly into our apartment. We've included a couple of photos of the inside of the apartment too...

Shopping... As you can imagine, the food here is amazing. The smell of baking baguettes greets us each time we leave our apartment as we have a boulangerie right next door. Moby really loves Paris - with all of the outdoor cafés, bits of dropped food litter the sidewalks. He keeps his head down when he's being walked so as not to miss anything. We keep our heads down when we're walking him so as not to step in anything! (Actually, the city of Paris seems to be cracking down on Parisiens who do not 'scoop' after their dogs and the city is much cleaner than we had anticipated.)

Back to the food... Everything is of such a tremendously high quality (and calories!). However, it has taken 'us' some time to get used to not jumping in the car, driving to Loblaws and loading up a grocery cart once or twice a week. Shopping is a serious business here and can take a good part of each day (or so it sometimes seems!) Although we don't shop everyday as some French do, we certainly buy baguettes at least once per day (after all, you can't eat a baguette that is even a few hours old!) We also try to buy our produce at one of the local outdoor street markets (the one pictured here is about a ten minute walk from our apartment), our cheese at the fromagerie and our meat at the boucherie. You can see why it takes so long!

Before our arrival, I had visions of carrying a basket to do my shopping (okay, and wearing a beret too). However, Brian had a different idea! He arrived about ten days before us and proudly presented me with a ... bundle buggy. Of course, in Paris they're called 'marché pousette' and are used when you need to buy too many heavy things to carry. Unlike at home, where they're often only used by 'older' people, here they are used by young and old alike. (Even Hayley agrees to pull it occasionally.)

Driving... We've driven in Tokyo and New Delhi, but we'll admit that driving in Paris is a two-person job - one to navigate and the other to drive. Since the traffic moves at a fairly fast pace (although the posted speed on the autoroute is 130 kms, it seems that is the minimum speed) it's impossible to concentrate on driving and simultaneously deciding which direction you should be going... So far, Denise has been behind the wheel and Brian has been doing the navigating (more a question of Denise's (lack of) navigational abilities than Brian's driving).

Of course, driving here is exactly as you probably imagined - chaotic and hair raising and that's just driving out of our parking spot! Actually, the metro is so convenient that our car will probably only leave our parking spot on weekends (and away from Paris!) So far, we have had one brief foray into the countryside when we drove to the Loire Valley two Sundays ago. We had a lovely day, which was almost ruined by the horrific traffic we encountered when we returned to Paris. We didn't know that about half of Paris leaves the city each weekend for their country homes. Everyone returns late afternoon or early evening, which causes some pretty amazing traffic congestion for a Sunday night.

However, parking in Paris is actually more of a challenge than driving...If you are lucky enough to find a parking spot, you're likely to find the cars in front and behind your car have parked right up against your bumper. When we first arrived, I stared in amazement at these 'arrangements' wondering how on earth the person in the middle would ever remove their car from such a tight spot. When I witnessed for the first time how they do get their cars out, I decided we wouldn't be parking our car anywhere in Paris! Basically, the car in the middle simply pushes against the car in the front and then does the same to the car in the back until they can manoeuvre out. I guess they don't call 'em bumpers for nothin'...

Despite its quirks, Paris is a city that seems to function pretty efficiently. Garbage is picked up daily and a crew of street cleaners move about the city each morning sweeping and washing the pavement (much to Moby's disgust!) So, apart from the everpresent sound of angry horns and the constant annoyance of having cigarette smoke blown in your face, it's not a bad place to live...

Well, this is only our first entry. Check back next week! Love to hear from you all!