noël en France

Christmas ât chez Nicolle



 

Christmas in France. I am sitting in my apartment listening to Christmas music (in English) as I love the music from this holiday (commercial) and birth celebration (religious).

Things aren’t so different here for celebrating Christmas than they are in the States. In stores Christmas decorations started showing up in mid-November (since Thanksgiving isn’t celebrated here I can’t use that as a reference) and the various Christmas markets were set up at the beginning of December.

In Paris there are two fairly large Christmas markets, one at La Défense where about 300 market stalls are set up in the open area, and the second along both sides of the Champs Elysées between the Grand Palais and the Place de la Concorde with about 160 market stalls. Throughout France, as well as most of Europe, Christmas markets are set up and visited. In 2013 I went to a number of them along the Rhine River between Amsterdam (the Netherlands) and Strasbourg (France). This year I went to both La Défense and the Champs Elysées – each twice.

I found where the Christmas market stalls along the Rhine River had more commercial items such as tree ornaments (lots of them) here in Paris there were more handmade items such as leather goods (purses, tote bags, portfolios), soap and lavender from Provence, cheese, chocolate truffles (OMG!!!!!!!), jewelry and a lot of scarves – in silk, cashmere and fur. There were other non-handmade items such as drones and hover boards. And food … food … and more food. I have found I am quite partial to “gaufre avec chocolat noir et de la crème Chantilly” (waffles with dark chocolate and whipped cream).

Some general French Christmas traditions, as reported in The Local:

“Presents” – Obviously the French don't actually move Christmas Day around, but they are more flexible when it comes to giving presents. In the north of the country, gifts are offered to children on December 6th, the feast of St Nicolas. Many families prefer to exchange presents on Christmas Eve and others, who must have impressive willpower, do the giving and receiving on January 6th, the Feast of the Kings.

“Writing Santa Claus” – Letters from French kids to Father Christmas don't just disappear into dustbins or drawers in France. Since 1962, France has had a law that stipulates any letter to Santa must be responded to in the form of a postcard. The law has no doubt helped boost the myth of Santa Claus among France's children, although it's doubtful the postmen appreciate all the extra work.

“Shoes” – Whereas youngsters in Anglo countries hang Christmas stockings by the fireplace for Santa, in France, children leave out their shoes, hoping Père Nöel will fill them to the brim with little presents, sweets, fruit, nuts and anything else that will fit. Children with smaller feet must feel a bit short-changed.

“Meal” – Otherwise known as Le Reveillon, the big Christmas meal in French families will often take place late on Christmas Eve or even in the early hours of Christmas morning after midnight mass. The menu for the feast will vary depending on the region but turkey stuffed with chestnuts is a regular on tables, as well as goose, oysters and foie gras.

“Cake of Kings” – The French mark the 12th day Christmas or the feast of Epiphany, by scoffing down one final pastry - known as the galette des rois or "cake of kings". Inside the cake is hidden a charm known as a fève. Whoever finds it in their portion is a king or queen and wins the right to wear the crown and choose their partner. This ritual may sound daft, but it's still taken very seriously.

A few French regional traditions at Christmas, as reported in The Local:

“Night of the Chimera” – Christmas is celebrated in the form of a fantastical spectacle in the city of Le Mans in Brittany. In the summertime and again during the holiday period, images of angels, demons, dragons, and other strange creatures are projected onto historic monuments in the medieval neighborhood called Plantagenet City.

“Floating carols singers” – In the Little Venice of Colmar in northeastern France, children decked out in red Santa hats sing Christmas carols on boats along the canal. They make four stops throughout the city center, performing four or five songs each time to the audience gathered on the quays.

“Christmas Fire” – In Corsica, the yule log takes the form of a bonfire lit in front of the village church after the midnight mass on December 24th.Traditionally, it’s up to the children of the village to gather the logs and branches, all of which must come from the fields and the yards of the village. Once the fire has died out the next day, the villagers each take some of the still-warm cinders to put in their own fireplaces.

“13 Desserts” – One dessert is not nearly enough if you’re celebrating Christmas in Provence. It’s tradition to have thirteen dessert options after the Christmas meal, to be shared by everyone, symbolizing the sharing of Christ. These desserts traditionally include pastries, candied fruit, dried fruit, and nougat.

“Les Santons” – Nativity scenes are popular throughout France, but the people of Provence put their own unique spin on them with small, clay figurines called santons, or "little saints". These figures, traditionally handmade at home as a family, can be vegetable sellers, bakers, men selling chestnuts, local dignitaries, or other personalities from daily village life. These nativity scenes are supposed to be representative of the ideal Provencal village. Marseille holds an annual Santon Fair at the end of November to kick off the holiday season. (My note: every Christmas market has a huge stall with these village figurines.)

“Designer Christmas Trees” – In Paris, an annual exhibition of reimagined Christmas trees created by big names in fashion, design, and architecture, takes place this year at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées. The avant-garde trees have been designed in the past by artists such as Alexander McQueen, Chanel, Karl Lagerfeld, Jean Paul Gaultier, Dior, Louis Vuitton, and more. After the show, the trees are auctioned off and all proceeds go to charity.

“Corrida de Noel” – The Parisian suburb of Issy-les-Moulineaux brings a sportive atmosphere to the holidays with their annual Santa Claus race. Called the "Corrida de Noel" after its Brazilian counterpart, the race is accompanied by orchestras and shows. In 2014, more than 18,000 runners signed up for the race, which is organized by age levels and open to everyone. Unfortunately, this year's event has been cancelled due to security reasons following the terrorist attacks in Paris.

“Coquilles de Noel” – Since the 16th century, people of the Nord Pas-de-Calais region have been testing their arteries with a type of brioche, or sweet bun, filled with butter, sugar, and raisins. Bakers in the north churn out these pastries, made in the shape of coquilles or shells, every December. According to France 3, a document from 1579 states that the sweets were thrown to the people from the top of the belfry tower.

So, that’s what Christmas is like in France. For me? Thanks to a recent shipment from the United States of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese, I’ll be having a feast on Christmas Day of Mac and Cheese with diced ham, wine (I AM in France) – a nice 2012 Château Prieuré-Les-Tours Graves, and chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting.

And I end this blog with the most important message about this holiday:

Merry Christmas! “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord” Luke 2:11.

Happy New Year! I ask your prayers via this message: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men” Luke 2:14.

joyeux noël et bonne année

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13 novembre 2015 - Attaques Paris [Part 2]

The attacks started at 9:20pm at the Stade de France (stadium), which is in the suburb of Saint-Denis north of Paris proper. Three terrorists attempted to get into the stadium where a football (soccer) match was playing between Germany and France. They were unsuccessful and two blew themselves up at the entrance gates while the third blew himself up in front of a nearby café, killing an innocent bystander.

Almost simultaneously a second team of terrorists began their rampage in the streets of the 10^th and 11^th arrondissements, literally spraying gunfire at packed cafés and bars – those places where many innocents were killed are: Le Carillon, Le Petit Cambodge, Le Bonne Biere, Le Casa Nostra, and Le Belle Equipe. All of those places, as well as the areas in general, have a thriving evening business sustained by young adults just living life as young adult do. From there, one of the terrorists walked down Boulevard Voltaire and entered the Le Comptoir Voltaire and blew himself up (I’m not clear if he entered the café or blew himself up just outside it – his actions claimed one more innocents life).

And a third team of terrorists entered the Bataclan music venue where they immediately began killing people, then took hundreds hostage and continued their killing until the French version of SWAT got control of the building. Unfortunately, this wasn’t a quick operation and watching it unfold was very painful to me. The police had an almost unbelievable situation to confront against terrorists who willingly used massive gun power against them.

Below I’ve marked a map (yellow stars) showing the various locations where the attacks occurred within the city of Paris. I’ve also included a marker for the Châtelet metro station showing where my houseguest and I were earlier that evening. The distance between the Le Carillon Restaurant and the Le Comptoir Voltaire Café is 1.8 miles. The distance between the Châtelet metro station and the Bataclan music venue is 1.1 miles. Everything is within easy walking distance.

In the end, the three terrorists were dead at the music venue, as well as many concertgoers. The number I keep reading is 89 dead at the Bataclan, but that number hasn’t changed since it occurred and I have to believe (I hope I’m wrong) that some of the wounded didn’t make it. A couple of days after the attack I saw a photograph taken inside the Bataclan once the terrorists had been killed and the hostages freed. The picture was of the mosh pit in front of the stage – there were at least 20 (maybe even 40) bodies lying there. It was a very difficult picture to look at (which is the reason I can’t say how many bodies, as it was very disturbing to look at) knowing that not only are the families traumatized by their loved ones being killed (and I pray to God they never see that picture) but all of the first responders and law enforcement personnel have got to be affected by what they witnessed that night.

For me, slipping back into my ‘cop mode,’ the difficult part of this entire attack on Paris is thinking about the police officers. I know what I saw throughout my career and would not wish it on anyone – there are just some things that an officer will never forget seeing. And with this attack – thinking about the minimum of eight separate crime scenes, the personnel needed to process each crime scene, the multiple deaths at each crime scene (the café Le Belle Equipe alone had 19 people killed) as well as the numerous injured at each crime scene, taking witness statements … and it goes on and on.

I imagine that all law enforcement that night was pulled to those areas to assist – that would be like having NCPD, LMPD, Coronado PD, etc. coming to assist CVPD with crime scenes (because the law enforcement in each arrondissement, even though they are all the same type of law enforcement, works for that arrondissement only).

The next day, on Saturday, it was reported that all law enforcement personnel had all time off cancelled. I still can’t get my head around how the cops processed everything as well as trying to deal with the utter destruction of people they saw. The last count I’m aware of is 130 dead, 350 injured with 99 of those in critical condition.

Then taking a step back from the actually murders and attempt murders by the terrorists, the President of France, that Friday night, declared a State of Emergency. That allowed him to bring 1,500 soldiers into the streets of Paris (in addition to the hundreds already here stationed at the various tourist sites, monuments, Jewish schools, etc).  He also advised the residents of Paris to stay indoors with their doors locked as they were not sure if all the terrorists were accounted for (and in the end, they were not).

A State of Emergency is automatically for 12 days and among other things allows law enforcement broader powers to conduct interviews, searches, and arrests/holding of persons of interest. By the time the first weekend was over there had been 414 searches conducted in France with numerous persons detained and/or arrested and weapons seized – including a ROCKET LAUNCHER found in southern France. I believe the number of raids is now in the 800+ range and that’s just here in France … currently Belgium is conducting numerous raids in their country related to the Paris attack.

The President of France has since gone to the house/senate (I’m not sure what they are called here) to ask for the State of Emergency to be extended for 3 months, which received overwhelming support. I, too, support the extension as well as do everyone I’ve spoken to about it. With the raids done to date and the intelligence, weapons, etc. that they’ve gotten so far it just shows how integrated the terrorists have made themselves in France and I am all for any enforcement measures that will help root them out and stop further attacks in Paris or elsewhere. [I imagine that statement maybe unpopular with some of my blog readers – I will not apologize for my opinion. Please know that this blog is not a forum for argument on difference of opinions].

The raids lead into the incident in Saint-Denis – again, it is a suburb located north of Paris proper. It was a good lesson in things that can go wrong when, as law enforcement, you’re expecting one thing and something very different happens. As I understand it, a team of police went to conduct a raid on an apartment they had information occupants were associated with the mastermind of the Paris attacks. From that contact they went to a different apartment down the street. At that second apartment, they were originally not successful with breaking down the door as it had been reinforced, which surprised them as well as the barrage of gunfire they met when they tried to force the door open. Of course, we know this turned into a 4 hour standoff/gun battle (the police alone fired over 5,000 rounds during the gun battle) – but the end result is what I am very satisfied with: “they got the fucker” – the mastermind was killed.

I should take a moment here to explain that normally I’m apolitical – I pretty much hate politics and tune out when they are being discussed. I’m actually surprised with myself regarding my intense feelings about the Paris attacks but I’m being brutally honest here with my blog. I live here, I’m not 5,600 miles away – I live 3.6 miles away from “ground zero”.

So, what is life like now in Paris? On Saturday, the 14^th (the day after the attacks) the streets were virtually empty in my arrondissement and absolutely empty in the areas near the attacks. Many of the cafes and shops were open in my area but there were not people out and about. My visitor and I walked to the Eiffel Tower, it had been “closed indefinitely” the night before. I wanted to see it without all the tourists there – normally 20,000 people a day visit the Tower and when we were there, in the afternoon, there were only a couple of hundred people – at most – at the Tower and the adjoining Champ de Mars (park). I thought “she” looked sad – if a building of metal can actually “look sad”.  It was eerie walking through the Champ de Mars because normally on a weekend it is teeming with families and all kinds of children are running around playing and having fun. There were no families on Saturday.

On Sunday the 15^th, a friend I have here in Paris and I went to most of the areas attacked to pay respect to those who were killed. It was quite humbling to be there. There were thousands of people at the Place de la République – I estimate one to two thousand people there alone, and at each of the cafés/bars there were hundreds of more people doing the same thing – paying respect, saying prayers, leaving candles and flowers. The devastation that took place a scant two days before was incredible. The buildings walls and windows had bullet holes in them.

It made it real, knowing that people’s lives were shattered – instantly – for no understandable reason. These were truly innocent people, they had no associations with the terrorists and there was no personal conflict between the terrorist and them (not that any killing is justified – it’s just that in most cases there is an underlying reason, i.e. gang shootings, domestic violence, workplace violence) and yet the terrorists chose that time and space to wreak havoc.

As my friend and I walked to the Bataclan music venue we saw people running in a panic towards us. My friend was frightened and asked me if we should be running, too. I told her no – that it was probably just ‘herd mentality’ and until we knew that something had happened we should just stay put, as we were in a safe and secluded area. One of the runners stop next to us and we asked him what had happened. He answered that he didn’t know, just people started running so he ran too (hence, the ‘herd mentality’). We watched the police arrive. They first stopped people from walking down the street toward the Bataclan but within about 5 minutes did allow people to continue walking down the street. I told my friend that it was probably just a car backfiring but people are so sensitive and afraid right now that they are panicking at anything (including her). We never really found out what it was, I heard two different stories: firecrackers or a light bulb popped at a café.

As each day takes us further from the attacks things are returning to normal for the residents of Paris. During the three days of National mourning all monuments, tourist attractions, museums, street markets and schools were closed. All have since reopened.

The times I’ve taken the metro it seems that they are not quite as packed as usual – but that could be just me projecting that I think there’s a fear to use the metro. Somedays the cafés in my neighborhood are overflowing with people but then today when I walked by them they seemed empty. I think the Parisians are having a hard time dealing with the attack and are still a bit skittish about how life goes on.

I do know that they are determined to not let DAESH control their lives – they will not let them ‘win’ and the joy of life (joie de vie) that this City of Lights offers will not be dimmed, it’s just taking a day at a time to get back to not constantly thinking about what happened and when will it happen again (because I’m convinced it will – both here in France and in the United States).

There has only been one night that I had trouble dealing with all of this and that was just a night or two ago. I don’t know why it reared its ugly head but it did. For the most part I’ve been pretty calm about it and I know it’s because of my faith in God. I know that He looks over me and keeps me safe. He also knows when my time is up and I leave this earth. My life is His plan and I’m not afraid of death – so when I’m supposed to go, I’ll go – it’s not up to me, it’s up to Him. Knowing that and believing that has kept me grounded throughout this ordeal plus with my police background I’m not worried, I intend to continue living my life and “to hell with DAESH.”

I will admit, the hardest time I’ve had throughout these 10 days is when I Skyped with my dad and he cried and, in his own way, asked me to come home. He isn’t the only one who has asked me to come home or asked me if I’ve changed my mind about living here – and my answer is that I AM home, Paris is my home – this is where I live.

 

Liberté, égalité, fraternité

13 novembre 2015 - Attaques Paris [Part 1]

Paris is attacked. Friday, 13 November 2015. Scores of innocent people are either injured or killed. Why? It’s the age old reason of almost every war fought on earth – religion.

Today, the 10^th day after the attack and while I’m on my second, fairly large, glass of wine, I’m finally ready to write about my experience. I doubt this blog post will have my wry sense of humor (well, at least I think it’s humor) interspersed because there was nothing even remotely humorous about that night.

But to talk about it, I have to digress to set the stage as to the reason for my feelings and observations. Certainly I was heavily influenced due to my choice of career – one can’t be in law enforcement with her feet on the ground, without the everyday life of being a cop affecting my overall look on things, particularly life.

And then, on top of that, I spent over 20 years teaching “Community Policing and Problem Solving” at the Police Academy speaking directly about the way certain milestones in our country changed the direction of the nation as a whole. This, too, as you will see, added to my perspective of the Paris attacks on 13 November 2015.

Paradigms and paradigm shifts that affect an entire country don’t often occur. Most people won’t experience one in their life, a number of people will experience only one, and few people will experience more. Paradigms were part of the lessons I taught at the Police Academy. There, usually sat young adults – kids – who had little idea what their chosen career actually was, as the examples set by movies and television are about as far from the truth as one can get.

When I first started teaching in the academy the students were close to my age but after 20 years, well many of them could be my grandchildren and had only heard about the significant paradigm shifts our country went through in the 20^th and 21^st centuries: the stock market crash in 1929, the assassination of John F. Kennedy, and 9-11. Each of these incidents changed the way the United States behaved, an example is that before 9-11 the word “terrorist” was not in our law enforcement vernacular – now it’s past its “buzz word” stage and has become ingrained in how law enforcement does business.

I have lived through two of these paradigm shifts – JKF and 9-11. And I feel as though I’ve now lived through a third one – the attacks on Paris, just in a different country.

When 9-11 occurred, I was at a law enforcement conference in Long Beach and watched it unfold while in the hotel gym before that day’s conference began (which it never happened – it basically shut down).  I was 3,000 miles away but felt acutely connected to what was happening, mostly because I felt absolutely inept. Here I was trained, and had the personality, to go towards high risk incidents yet I was unable to help in New York. I felt as though I was failing in my duties. (At the time I was working with the FBI at the Regional Computer Forensic Laboratory and we did send a few people out to New York but I wasn’t one those who got to respond).

Then, 10 days ago Paris was attacked. Once again I felt an overwhelming need – yes need – to help but there was absolutely nothing I could do. Again, I felt inept. I don’t really know how to express how hard it is to have spent my career helping people (whether they wanted it or not) and then being in a position of not being able to help when everything is literally “going to hell.”

Friday the 13^th – since I’m still fairly new to the customs here, when the day started I wasn’t sure if that date had any creepy significance in France or not. The day started pretty normal and I was blessed to have an out-of-town friend staying with me.

We met British relatives of hers for lunch. It was a first meeting for most of our group. We ate at Chez Rene in the 5^th arrondissement, which is on the left bank. After lunch we walked across the Seine and across the Ile-Saint-Louis to the right bank. We meandered around just enjoying the afternoon until we decided that the rue de Rivoli was far too crowded and took a side street – rue de Halles, where we found a café, not too far from the Châtelet metro station, to drink some wine. This is in the 1^st arrondissement.

We left about 7:00pm because it had started to rain a bit and we had a baby with us. We all decided to take the Châtelet metro to our homes (opposite sides of Paris) and I’m thankful that God was watching over us because my visitor and I would have normally just gone on a walk-about to find what we could see in this wonderful City. Had we done so, there is a good possibility that we would have been in, near or close to “ground zero” when the attacks occurred.

The attacks occurred in the 10^th and 11^th arrondissement. I won’t explain the purpose of arrondissements this time but the City of Paris is broken into 20 arrondissements (think neighborhoods). They do not run linear but instead spiral like that of a snail (escargot) shell. The 10^th and 11^th arrondissements are next to each other and the 1^st arrondissement is very close. Everything is really in walking distance in Paris. All are on the right bank – meaning north of the Seine (see map below).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So my houseguest and I started back to the 15^th arrondissement (left bank) but didn’t go directly home, instead we stopped at a café for a small dinner and probably made it home around 9:00pm. It wasn’t long after that we were both in bed.
 

At about 10:30pm (Paris time) my houseguest got a text from the United States asking about the bombings. That was the first we knew the city was under attack. I turned on the TV to the two English channels (BBC World News and SkyNews) and brought up on my computer an English French newspaper (The Local) to follow the story.
 

What was most interesting about this is that my houseguest was texting with her husband who was watching in the United States and he was getting information before we were seeing it in France. I remember distinctly he telling us that there was a firefight going on between the terrorists and police from the roof of the Bataclan music venue. He had this information maybe 2 or 3 minutes before we saw it on the TV in France.
 

Now, I don’t know if it’s because I am limited to English speaking news channels and if I understood the French language better and followed on a French language news station if the information would have been more up-to-date or not. We stayed glued to the television until 4:00am on Saturday morning when exhaustion, and the lessening of text and email messages to us from everyone in the United States (which I thank you so very much for your concern – I tried to keep everyone apprised of the situation via Facebook updates throughout the night) finally drove us to get some sleep.
 

It was almost surreal during the hours watching the newscasts. First off, the wail of sirens never stopped – all night/morning long I could hear them out my window. Not the ones in the 10^th and 11^th arrondissements where the attacks occurred but within my arrondissement – my guess was they were going to the attack area for support. Seeing, on the television as the crime scene expanded – over and over again, the number of people killed increasing hour by hour, the scores of people injured and then, of course, the hostages at the Bataclan. Recognizing the coordination of the attacks whether via suicide bomber or gun fire.
 

(Part 2 to be posted in a couple of days)

 

 

Mathématiques et en sciences ou est-ce la science et les mathématiques ?

I give up!

Most of you know that when I set out to do something that I have a plan et (and) know how to get to where I want to be ... because of this trait I rarely have surprises - donc (so) you wouldn't be surprised to know that during my year getting ready to move to Paris I did a lot of research et (and) because of that my transition here has been quite easy - I feel like I'm at home (other than the language thing) ..... Well, apparently there was one area of research that I didn't do enough looking into - cooking, more specifically recipes ....

I brought with me my kitchen scale that shows ounces et (and) grams, so I figured I was set - I'd just use that little switch adjustment between the two et (and) I'd be set ..... Ha! WRONG ....

Donc (so), a couple of weeks ago I was sick - I had a cold et (and) was feeling puny, I decided I wanted comfort food donc (so) what is better than chocolate chip cookies .... Off to my favorite place I went (et [and] just where is that? ...... did you say "Monoprix"?) to get the ingredients et (and) of course that was a learning experience itself - (did you know that baking soda is not sold in the grocery store mais (means = but) instead is sold in the pharmacy?) .... once home I then had to convert my Nestle Toll House Cookie recipe to the metric measurements - easy, oui? Non (mean = no)!

This is what the converted (I thought) recipe looked like (using the premise that 1 ml = 1 gram):

 

158.51 ml butter, melted

473.18 ml packed brown sugar

2 large eggs (hey - this one was easy)

473.18 ml flour

4.92 ml baking soda

4.92 ml salt

9.85 ml vanilla

236.59 ml chocolate chips

 

et (and), since I didn't have any baking soda - I found that you can substitute baking powder - just use three times as much .....Needless to say, my cookies were an unmitigated disaster!!!!  (Good Lord - just looking at that recipe makes me break out in a sweat)

 

Donc (so), I realized I needed to do some research into how to convert recipes ..... et (and) OMG you have to know both science and math to do so ..... let me explain:

 

The first thing I learned is that millimeters (ml) are NOT the same as grams (g), hence my cookie disaster ..... a millimeter is "volume" (space) whereas a gram is "mass" (amount of matter) .... already my head is exploding - if I read that above description out of this context I'd believe I was reading about space - as in the sky, the moons, the sun, the solar system ....

 

Then I find this nice (ahem) set of directions regarding food conversion - keeping in mind the difference between "volume" (ml) et (and) "mass" (g):

 

water      1 ml = 1 g        (they are equal)

milk        1 ml = 1.03 g   (you have to multiply by 1.03)

butter     1 ml = 0.911 g  (multiply by 0.911)

flour       1 ml = 0.57 g    (multiply by 0.57)  

 

more proof of why my cookies were awful .....

 

Then the icing on the cake (figuratively - ha!) ..... I read the following for a conversion tool: "Use an online calculator ... A millimeter is the same as a cubic centimeter, so select 'cubic centimeter' and enter the volume in millimeters" ..... Nope, sorry, ain't gonna happen!!!!!!

 

You may have guessed by now that "science and math" are not my strong points, along with the fact that I'm way too lazy to sit down et (and) convert all my recipes .... MAIS (BUT) I am a very good problem solver - donc (so) I've since asked a friend to send to me U.S.A. measuring cups et (and) measuring spoons et (and) once I get them I'll be able to cook et (and) bake to my heart's content ...

 

(I'm thinking this metric system thing - even though everywhere else in the world it's used (et) and is considered easier than what the USA uses - may be an even steeper uphill battle for me than learning the French language)

 

Donc (so), as I first said in this post "I give up" - I did for a few days until my problem solving brain kicked in .....

 

Bon appétit!

 

Observations Aléatoires

Today (Sunday, September 27^th) was an interesting day in Paris. It was declared as “Paris sans voiture” (Paris without cars) day, with the encouragement to get out and walk or ride bikes without worrying about vehicle traffic. I walked to the Arc de Triomphe so that I could walk down the Champs Élysées to the Louvre. This boulevard (Champs Élysées) is 8 lanes wide, and at about the cross street of rue Balzac the entire Champs Élysées was closed for pedestrian and bicycle traffic only. There were 10,000’s of people out walking the Champs Élysées – it was awesome; I walked down the middle of the boulevard the entire way. The photograph below is on Champs Élysées facing towards the Arc de Triomphe (I actually walked the opposite way – I did not take this photograph I borrowed it from the BBC website).

 

 Paris sans voiture jour - 27 September 2015 -Champs Élysées

 

 

Below are just random comments on some observations I’ve had during my 27 days here (yikes, I’ve almost been here a month – on one hand it’s like where did time fly, on the other it’s like I’ve lived here forever):

 

Laundry (again): D’accord (means = okay) I didn’t want to make my last post about laundry (clothes – not money) any longer than it was but I always knew I’d be writing a part 2 and here it is …. Donc (means = so; I’m subtly teaching you French – ha!) in my research for moving here I had read that the French iron their sheets and of course my reaction to that was they’ve got to be out of their friggin’ minds, this IS the 21^st century …. And then when I signed my lease for the apartment, part of the things required when vacating is that the sheets must be IRONED (their capitalization, I’m just repeating what the contract stated) … and again I thought, this is really weird who in bloody-hell does that (see, I’m becoming multi-lingual ….) therefore I decided that there was no way on God’s green earth (or should that saying be changed to God's brown earth?) that I’d be ironing sheets, until the time I vacate my apartment …. Ha! The joke was on me …. When I had made that decision I hadn’t yet met my washer/dryer (aka: “the monster”) …. I’m guessing because of the way the monster works (as mentioned in my previous post) in sucking out the water to dry clothes – well my tea towels (kitchen towels) and my sheets came out all wadded together and no amount of smoothing them with my hands did any good at trying to push out the wrinkles ….. so guess what I now do ….yep you got that right, I feel like a friggin’ scullery maid from Downton Abbey (okay, I know that a scullery maid was in the kitchen but I like the sound of it and I don’t know what the maid who did the laundry was called) and I too now iron my tea towels, duvet and pillow cases, and I have to admit ironed sheets feel wonderful when you climb into them for the first time!

Paying in cash: In 1360 the French monetary system was started with what they called the Franc, which stayed the countries monetary unit (with a few updates over the centuries) until 2002 when the Euro bills and coins were introduced and the Franc was retired during a two month time period. The Euro, which I’m sure you know, is the monetary unit used by those countries in the EU (European Union) so that a like money is used by all those countries (but a country does not have to change to the Euro to be in the EU – a prime example of that is England). Using the Euro is quite simple because it’s just like the US monetary system – we have 100 pennies (.01 cents) to the dollar, the Euro is 100 cents (.01 cents) to the euro. Donc (so), the bills are: 500 euro, 200 euro, 100 euro, 50 euro, 20 euro, 10 euro, and 5 euro (notice there is not a 1 euro bill) …. The coins are: 2 euro (would be like a 2 dollar bill in the US), 1 euro (like a 1 dollar bill in the US or a dollar coin), .50 cent euro, .20 cent euro, .10 cent euro, .05 cent euro, .02 cent euro and .01 cent euro …. (Warning alert – the following involves math) … Now, the reason I bring this up is don’t even think of trying to do creative thinking when paying for something – let me explain: Si (means = if) I purchased something in the US for $1.77 I most likely would give them two $1.00 bills and two pennies ($2.02) so that I was given back .25 cents ….. makes sense, oui? Oh good lord, don’t even try to do that with a French cashier – I had such a purchase for 1,77 euro and gave the cashier a 2 euro coin and two .01 cent euros (2,02 euros – in Europe a comma is used to signify the place holder for the cents to follow and as the number gets bigger – ie: 10,000.00 US – the period is used – ie: 10.000,00 euro) thinking that the cashier would give me back .20 cent euro and .5 cent euro … Oh my God, you’d think that I had green skin and two little antenna sticking out of the top of my head … the cashier looked at me with a shocked look on his face, pushed the two .01 cent euros back at me and then proceeded to give me one .20 cent euro and three .01 cent euros ….. I learned my lesson, just give them whatever is closest to the dollar by rounding up and let them give me back the change … and dang it, those little .01 cent euros are small little buggers! (Aimee L. – you and your cash register brain would go batty over here!)

Sunglasses: I’ve noticed that generally French people don’t wear sunglasses. Particularly interesting because there are glasses shops (prescription) everywhere! Although today in that mass of people there were a lot of sunglass wearers - so maybe they only wear sunglasses on the weekends because they sure don't wear them during the week!

Homeless: Something I never saw in Chula Vista or San Diego – but it seems almost every homeless person here has a puppy. They either sit on the sidewalk or lay on the side walk with their puppy strategically placed so that you see it. I’m of two minds – (the compassionate me) that everybody needs somebody/thing (ie: animal) to love and I’m glad that they have the ability to do that … my other mind (the cynical me, which I’m afraid is more where I’m leaning) is that it is nothing but a ‘sales ploy’ – to make people seeing the puppies think ‘ooh, how does that puppy get it’s food, I’ll give him some money to make sure the puppy doesn’t suffer’ and that just keeps the circle going round and round – put out puppy, get money …. And then I wonder, what in the heck happens once the puppy grows into a dog? (I have yet to see a grown dog with a homeless person, only puppies)… Does it get abandoned and then another puppy is procured to wrench at people’s hearts?

 

Et (means = and) then I came up with a third option – (this is just me thinking crazy) that the pet shops use the homeless people to sell their dogs – when somebody sees a puppy with a homeless person that they want to buy the dog from them to “give it a good home” so it is sold, with the homeless person getting a percentage of the money, and another puppy to sell [please note, I have absolutely no evidence of this – as a matter of fact I’ve never even seen a pet shop in Paris, this is just my mind wandering and conjuring up scenarios] … but something interesting just hit the news (saw it posted on Facebook, so you know it’s a hot topic … LOL) … in Lille, France there was just an incident where an animal rights activist forcibly took a puppy away from a homeless person which has raised the ire of the masses in France …. It was caught on video (of course) and the homeless man is crying for his dog …. I don’t know if that was the right thing to do or the wrong thing to do …

Food: It took me about a week but it finally dawned on me that I haven’t seen any celery …. D’accord (okay), a ‘grape’ in French is a ‘raisin’ … and a ‘raisin’ in French is ‘raisin sec’ (dried raisin) … an ‘apple’ in French is a ‘pomme’ … and a ‘potato’ in French is a ‘pomme de terre’ (apple of the earth) ….. et (and) I always thought that eating prunes was for old people but apparently I’ve been eating them all my life – a ‘plum’ in French is a ‘prune rouge’ (red prune) … and a ‘prune’ in French is ‘pruneau’ …. Just a little play on words here ….

Ainsi, quelques-uns de mes observations à ce jour

Je ne launder pas d'argent

Bank Account. Having opened a number of them throughout my life, those two words should not cause a shutter to move through one’s body and they don’t if you’re in America. Bank Account in France – well, that is this blogs story.

It’s always best to do research before you send your life into an upheaval. And I did. Months ago I joined an English-speaking French “ex-patriot” website which covers every topic you can imagine, giving insight as to how things are done “in France” (and believe me, every day is a new learning experience!). One of the topics was about bank accounts. I learned that it is pretty much mandatory to have one because one’s rent, utilities, mobile phone – just about anything you pay on a monthly basis – is automatically withdrawn from your account. I also learned that it is difficult for Americans to open a bank account in France due to the recent FACTA (Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act) rules. In addition I learned that if you live in France you cannot be denied a bank account and after the third time you are refused an account, then the 4^th bank you go to is obligated to accept you. So, knowing all this I expected to have to ask for “letters of refusal” and eventually find a bank that would accept me.

Now, banks are very different here than in the US. You may have an account at well-known bank (as an example, think of Bank of America) but each branch is considered its own bank – so, there’s nothing ‘corporate’ about it. You might be accepted as a client at one branch but not another. The ‘Directeur’ of each office is the decision maker on everything. And, you are expected to do your banking in the neighborhood where you live. Of course, there are a number of different banks in each neighborhood.

The closest bank to my apartment is literally (once I get outside my building) 30 seconds away – walking, so of course that’s where I wanted to bank (and I am). I must have had luck on my side because I wasn’t refused an account at my first choice bank.

Of all the bank accounts I’ve opened in the US it was pretty easy – fill out the application, give them money to deposit into the account and off you go. Not so in France! France is very concerned about money laundering. And then the US enacting FACTA has caused a large strain on all foreign countries (they have to report to the US Federal Government all US citizens who have bank accounts in their country, and how much money is in the accounts). So, you don’t just go to a bank and open an account, not in France, no sir, ain’t gonna happen! It took 4 separate appointments (rendez-vous) for me to actually get my account set up and active.

Rendez-vous 1: I went to the bank the second or third day I was in France, knowing it would take some time to get ‘approved’ to have an account (and also thinking I’d have to shop many banks). I met with the ‘Sous Directeur’ (Assistant Director) because he speaks English (normally you have to meet the ‘Directeur’, so I’m guessing he only speaks French, or maybe just wasn’t there that day (I’ve never met him). This meeting is just a “meet and greet” for the Sous Directeur to get to know you a little, why you want a bank account and to give you some ideas of the types of accounts offered. That meeting done, we made another rendez-vous for two days later.

Rendez-vous 2: Again, I met with the Sous Directeur – the bank wants to get to know their clients. I gave him copies of my passport, my visa, my rental contract with my landlords, my US bank accounts, and my pension statements. This time the application was filled out – with him asking questions and typing directly into his computer program. I’m thinking “great, I can get the large amount of cash (euros) I brought over into my account and won’t have to worry about how I’m going to pay my landlord for October – I’m doing this in plenty of time”. Ha! Slam on the brakes. After he asks all the questions, etc. he then tells me that my application has to be ‘approved’ and it will take a couple of days (it’s a Wednesday that I’m there) so he’ll contact me – he hopes by Friday. If not, it won’t be until the next Tuesday because the bank is closed on Sunday and Monday (it’s open on Saturdays).  Of course I don’t get notified until that next Tuesday that I’ve been ‘approved’.

Rendez-vous 3: I’m pretty sure THIS time I can deposit my money into the bank since I’ve been approved and I’m all excited, so off to the bank I go to meet with the Sous Directeur again. (I have to tell you, he is the nicest of gentlemen). Now we’re sitting in his office and he’s explaining the options I have regarding my account since I’m a “Premier Customer” (woohoo).

The first question he asks is what balance I want for ‘over draft’ protection. I explain to him that I don’t do business that way and I won’t need any type of ‘over draft’ option. He tells me it’s not an option and he’ll set mine at 3,000 euros. Okay-dokey.

Next, we discussed the debit card. It’s already been explained to me that banks do not issue credit cards in France. Actually, credit cards are not available in France except for specific businesses/stores (i.e.: Kohls, Sears, Texaco). Banks issue debit cards for general use and ATM use.

So, he asks me do I want to set up the debits from my account to accumulate throughout the month and are all paid on the same day of the month (the 5^th) or do I want my debits to be immediately withdrawn from my account when I use the card. I imagine my mouth was hanging to the floor with that question – all I could think about is the dirt-bag people I spent my career chasing who committed fraud, thinking OMG what a scam – I could get a debit card, chose the option to have them all just be ‘pending’ on my account until the appointed date for withdrawal, spend to my heart’s content (well, depending on the type of account you have there is a limit on spending per month – mine is 8,000 euros, not counting against me any automatic payouts such as my rent, mobile phone, etc) and then just disappear! I of course selected to have my debits be immediately withdrawn from my account.

So with the account specific questions answered he now prints out the contracts which we both sign. I ask him if he will now take my money to deposit into the account and he says “No”. I have to wait for the bank to send my checks and debit card, as I can’t activate my account until I’ve received my debit card and use an ATM to activate the account. WTF, I have a bank account with a zero balance! And they won’t take my money!!!!

He also explained to me that in France banks in general won’t take deposits, cash or checks. If you want to make a deposit you have to ‘justify’ where the money came from through some type of paperwork to prove that the money is ‘legal’ and that you’re not laundering money. As he was telling me this I was thinking how in the heck do I prove the 2,500 euros in cash I have is legitimate – then remembered I could show him my August US bank statements showing me withdrawing that money, phew! He told me that because he had gotten to know me, the bank would this one time only accept my cash money to deposit into my account (but not on that day – remember my account hadn’t yet been activated!).

I ask him how long I have to wait for the checks and debit card, which are sent directly to the bank, and he tells me that I need to be patient – maybe a week. And in addition, I have to wait until I receive in the mail at my apartment the PIN for my debit card. Of course I’m notified a little over a week later that the bank has my checks and debit card, but I had yet to receive the PIN. Ugh.

As an aside, when you have a bank account in France it automatically gives you insurance (different levels dependent upon the type of account you have), so my bank insures me for many types of traveling claims, such as lost or delayed luggage, returning me to Paris should I get injured in some type of accident outside of where I live, replacing my passport if it is lost or stolen. Weird!

Rendez-vous 4: Okay, so today (17 September 2015 – about two weeks from my first rendez-vous) I’m on my fourth trip to meet with the Sous Directeur – and at this point I realize that they really do “know their customers” since I don’t even have to ring to get let into the bank, by now the receptionist recognizes me (no walking into a bank, you have to ring the buzzer) and she buzzes me in. Long story short – I sign for the checks, I sign for the debit card. I use the ATM machine and finally deposit my cash. I use the ATM machine to withdraw 20 euro to make sure I know how to use it correctly. And off and running I go.

I won’t even go into detail on what I needed to access my account online. I had to wait for another letter from the bank with a different PIN (it was in my mail today, coincidently), create a ‘memorable’ question for the website, a password, two security questions … then on my mobile I was required to download the banks app, create a different confidential code for that …. And to log into the online account from either my desktop PC or via my mobile I have to, via my mobile, request a time limit ID code number to enter for access. Good God!!! I have so many notes written down about this I have no idea how I’m going to remember everything.

So, that’s banking in France.

 

Dieu merci pour Google Translate

So, it took me a week to try to wash clothes because the washer/dryer scared me to death. The microwave also was a complete mystery but I did use that right way – not necessarily correctly, but it worked.

I had an instruction manual for the microwave, in …. guess …… French, huh – really?, ha!, (many of the other appliances had manuals in multiple languages – so that made it much easier for me) and there was no instruction manual for the washer/dryer, they kept the registration paperwork but for some reason not the instruction manual.

Let me start with the microwave. The face of the microwave is not user friendly and it had various picture buttons that no matter how hard I pushed on them (you know, how when you’re in a foreign country and they don’t understand what you’re saying so you repeat yourself – only louder!) they seemed to do nothing. I ended up using Google Translate for every single line in the manual, just so I could figure out how I was supposed to use it.

Microwave (click on picture for larger view) 

 

Come to find out that first you have to tell the microwave what temperature you want it to cook at (what???????????), then you set the time for cooking, in increments of 20 seconds. And the picture buttons don’t do anything – instead you have to memorize what each is (ie: poultry) and their position (1 – 10) and if you want to use the ‘pre-set’ heat/cooking times then enter that pre-set number …. where you ask? At this point I have no idea, so far I’ve only got down the temperature and manual time entry functions.

Okay, now for the scariest machine I’ve ever encountered. Just looking at all the choices was enough to wish I’d brought enough clothes for a year without having to do any laundry – but can you imagine toting 365 pairs of underwear across the Atlantic. Knowing my luck, if I had it would be the one time Customs would pick me to search the luggage, open up the suitcase – see all those ‘unders’ and wonder if there was a black market for underwear! But no, I only brought 10 pair so I had to figure out how to use “the monster”.

 

Washer/Dryer Combo (click on picture for larger view)

First let me explain – in Europe the most common type of washer and dryer is the COMBO washer/dryer (saves space, duh!), so that’s what I have – you put in your clothes and it washes them, once that is done the washer turns into a dryer … it’s the weirdest thing I’ve ever experienced, that and it takes FOREVER to do one load of laundry, normally (depending of course on your settings) it takes 3 ½ to 4 hours for one load of laundry. I asked a girl I know here if she did laundry every day just to stay caught up and she said “yes” … ugh! No more having a clean the house/laundry day … instead I get laundry day/night every day of the week (or close too).

My washer/dryer holds 5 kilos (using the wash/dry function) or 6 kilos (wash only function) of laundry (yes, it weighs the clothes) – which in my mind sounds like a lot … ha! 1 queen size bottom sheet and 2 pillow cases, or – if you cram as much in as you can, 1 duvet, 1 bath towel and 2 tea towels. So you see why it takes every day to do laundry, both the time it takes and the amount the washer/dryer holds.

So, back to the story … here I’m trying to figure out what all the different settings mean (well, I did recognize the word ‘pause’ [yes, the English word] and ‘froid’ [cold]) and really don’t want to lug my laptop into the bathroom (where the washer/dryer resides) to use Google Translate – anyway I may be able to translate each setting but it still doesn’t tell me HOW to USE “the monster”. I try Googling (is that a word?) the make and model of “the monster” and you’ve probably already guessed, with my luck, the manufacture hasn’t made that particular model’s manual available online. Ugh! I looked for other manuals where the control panel looked similar to my model and read them but still felt a bit lost (understatement). So back to Google I go and instead of looking for a manual I just put in the make and model and get a number of hits for You Tube videos. I found that a company in England (yippee – English!!!!!!!!) seems to like to provide videos for various appliances and how to use them. Phew! If not for that video I think I’d be out buying ‘unders’ for the next few months until I found someone to help me.

With all that said, I have found that the French are really into conservation – of all kinds – and these types of washer/dryers do that in a number of ways: 1) saves space (remember, my apartment is only 538 square feet and I know a girl who is living in one just over 100 square feet), 2) water – it weighs the clothes and from that determines how much water it will use and adjusts as needed during the cycles, and 3) electricity – well, I can’t think of how it saves that since it takes a couple of hours to ‘dry’ a load but you do have other options, as example, of only drying until damp (for ironing) … but it’s weird to know it’s drying, then it stops spinning because it has to dump the water it’s sucked out of the load, then it starts spinning dry again.

The thing I learned from all this – is that I’m a bit dumbfounded on how people, before ‘the Internet’ and especially Google Translate, took leaps of faith to move to another country without speaking their language and made it using only a dictionary. I cannot imagine having to need to translate the microwave instruction manual one word at a time, or being able to translate the words on “the monster”, but still not knowing how to actually operate it!

Chaque nouvelle aventure est une expérience d'apprentissage

 

Oh la la, l'excitation de mes premiers jours

So, I left San Diego on Monday 8/31 at 0800 hours, waking up at 0400 hours to get there on time since I had extra luggage to check in (and pay for … ugh), and I arrived in Paris at about 0810 hours on Tuesday 9/1, the layover at Dallas/Fort Worth was delayed about 30 minutes. Going through Customs was easy, got the entry stamp for my visa (which is very important) and spent more time waiting for my luggage then going through Customs. My driver was waiting for me and it took about an hour to get from the airport to my apartment.

The landlords were outside on the curb when we pulled up. What a cute little old couple – they can’t be more than 5'4" and are as nice as can be. I just wanted to keep hugging them. He only speaks a little English and would prefer to speak French, she speaks English quite well. They were so sweet, they left me a fresh fruit basket and a box of chocolate! (You'd think they knew me - ha!) The apartment looks exactly like the photographs I had seen, so that was a relief. It’s about 50 square meters (538 square feet) and has two bedrooms. Surprisingly it doesn’t feel small (most of the time). I got everything put away the day I arrived. That first night I slept for 14 hours, I guess I was both physically and mentally exhausted.

I’ve received quite a few emails asking me where the pictures are – I’ve laughed at every one of them (that of course was a loving laugh). It’s not like I’ve done any sight-seeing yet! It’s amazing (at least to me) how much needs to be done to make an apartment a home, especially when it comes to filling the pantry. The first day I got here I knew I needed to go to the market for food. So off I went to Monoprix – it’s like a cross between Wal-Mart and Target (Wal-Mart quality, Target prices) but way smaller. So here I am thinking this is a piece of cake – I bought ham, cheese, bread – what else do you need for sandwiches – as well as a few other things (eggs, juice, etc.) … So I get home and for dinner I’m going to make a sandwich – get out the ham, cheese, bread …. hmmmmmmmmmmm – oh, there’s nothing to put on the bread – no mayonnaise, no mustard, nothing … so I eat the ham and the cheese.

Needless to say, everyday I’ve been here I’ve been to the Monoprix – right now my life revolves around it … you should try it sometime – it’s really hard to think of everything you need to stock a kitchen …. And you also have to take into account that you have to carry (via walking) everything you buy to your apartment! A funny story about my grocery shopping – I needed washing machine soap, I’m standing looking in the correct area, but because my French just isn’t that good I can’t tell the difference between dishwasher soap and laundry soap – everything here is in those plastic pre-sized packets so all the boxes look the same ….. I had to have a friend go with me one day to tell me the difference ….

So, you wanted pictures of my exciting life in Paris – well, here it is - this is where my life is revolving at the moment – Monoprix!

On my second day here the Street Market was held (in my arrondissment it is every Wednesday and Sunday) – so I’m there to shop for meat and vegetables (I still had a lot of fruit left in the basket I was given) …. Now this is the stuff that I’m going to have to change my way of thinking about … to me, meat comes on a yellow tray covered in plastic wrap …. so looking at some of the meat that still had scales (most of the fish had not been filleted) and feathers – ick! Also, to see the meat sitting out in the open (yes, it was on ice) goes so against the grain for me … but I took a venture and bought one chicken breast (yep, that’s me being adventurous) … I also bought 2 onions, 5 mushrooms, 3 tomatoes, and a head of lettuce. "Hey big spender"! I should tell you that my refrigerator is pretty small, it’s the kind you find in work places that fit under the counter, so no Costco buying for me. I’ll be going to the Street Market on Sunday for more fresh meat, fruit and vegetable shopping … I have to admit the fruit I’ve been eating is delicious – I’m not normally a big fruit eater but man oh man, I crave it here – and so far I've eaten all kinds of fruit that I normally wouldn’t …. (I’m trying, you know "when in Rome …. ")

There is a flower shop about 1 minute from my apartment - I went there to get flowers because she had a special of a ‘bottle’ (bunch) for 2 Euros. I went in and ‘Bonjour-ed’ her and she responded back to me – I have no idea what she said and must of had the ‘deer in the headlights’ look because she switched to English … I told her "no, no – I’m trying to learn French" and she responded "Well, I want to practice my English" …. Guess who won that battle? I told her that we’ll have to trade off back and forth – one time English, the next time French … so now when I pass the shop I pop my head in and say to her "Bonjour, Madam" … I’m hoping she’ll get used to seeing me so that I can go to her shop when she’s not busy and practice my French (and I say, ha! what French?) ….

And speaking of French, today (my fourth day here) I actually used it and was understood and not corrected in what I said (the French have no qualms about correcting you if you say something incorrectly – which I like, that way I learn) …. I’ve pretty much got "Je ne parle pas français, parle vous anglais" down (I don’t speak French, do you speak English) and I’m doing better in getting it out in one sentence without stumbling over the words (ha! practice DOES make perfect …haha) … then in a cafe this morning I said to the waiter "Je voudrais du thé verte" (I would like some green tea ….. you never, never, never say "I want …." that is considered rude) and he answered me back in French (well kind of) he said "Croissant?" I said "oui" and he walked away …. I’m feeling pretty good that I had actually spoken French … until he returned with my tea and said "here’s your green tea" in English …. LOL LOL, so maybe I wasn’t that good and was feeling a bit too cocky ….. but my last phrase for the day went over well …. "Je dois un rendez-vous avec M. Desvignes" (I have an appointment with Mr. Desvignes) … this I said to the receptionist at the bank and she completely understood me – told me in French she’d let him know I was waiting …. Woo hoo …..  Oh la, la - BOY DO I HAVE A WAY TO GO …

You may already know that my apartment is about a 5 – 7 minute walk to la tour Eiffel (the Eiffel Tower) – I’m wanting to get back into my exercise routine, so this morning I went from my apartment to the École Militaire (Military School) which is an anchor at one end of the Champ de Mars (Field of Mar) then walked/jogged up one side of the Champ de Mars to la tour Eiffel then back down the other side of the Champ de Mars, and then back to my apartment. I tell you this for the people who want to look at a map to ‘see’ the area that I live in …. It’s kind of surreal that I’m using la tour Eiffel as a point of my exercise routine, when it’s such a famous landmark – it’s kind of weird to see other people (French) just passing it by like it’s no big (no pun intended) deal, every time I see it, it kind of takes my breath away ....

And one last story … my apartment building has 133 steps to get from the ground floor to the top floor … in Europe the first floor is what we’d consider the 2nd floor, as they count the street level/bottom floor as zero or ‘ground’, then the next floor up is the first floor, etc. So to the French my building has six floors – to me there are 7 floors …. Additionally, many of the older buildings don’t have elevators so people have to go up and down the stairs, carrying groceries, etc …. (I’m on the ground floor so I’m lucky in that – the drawback is that my view is of the street … my building does have an elevator – Paris law is if a building is remodeled for any reason they must install an elevator, so eventually – I imagine – all the apartment buildings will have an elevator …. Two of the girls I know here – neither of their apartments have elevators … one lives on the 4th floor (5th for us) and the other on the top floor – she has 109 steps to her apartment) ….Now you’re wondering why in the heck I counted the steps (oh lordy my knees were hurting and I was breathing heavily) … I’m trying to figure out what kind of exercise I can do when it’s raining out, so I thought I’d "do stairs" …. I’m either going to die doing them or my legs are going to get better toned …. Woohoo!

À bientôt (I’ll let you figure out that one)