Settling in

It’s a beautiful, nearly fall-like Wednesday morning here in Paris, and what a great day to celebrate Susan’s birthday! I just returned from a quick trip to our neighborhood boulangerie (bakery) where I picked up a few things for breakfast: butter croissants, apple (“pomme”) turnovers (which has more of an applesauce-like filling than say chunks of apples), and chocolate croissants.(photo: Jardin des Plantes.)

And speaking of “pomme” it is curious that the word for potatoes here is “pomme du terre”, translated, I suppose as “apple of the earth.”

So the first two days in our new home in Paris are behind us. Remarkably we have accomplished pretty much everything we needed to do to get settled in here.

Tuesday was another beautiful morning, although rain was predicted and in this case didn’t fail the predictions. The weather alternated between a gorgeous blue sky filled with clouds rapidly scudding from west to east and dark clouds, heavy with rain which seemed all too willing to release the water directly over our apartment – but then back to the blue sky. Dramatic to be sure but actually much appreciated after the stifling heat of Florence, a heat made even more oppressive by a relentless sun that would drive people to plan their walking route based on where they could acquire the maximum amount of shade.

In Paris so far the weather has been anything but oppressive and the wonderful breezes and cool temps are a curiousl signal that we have indeed changed worlds from south to north. Everything we have had to do has to be done by foot so we count ourselves fortunate indeed to have had such accommodating weather.

Our first two objectives on Tuesday were to unload our glass bottles in the recycle bin on Avenue Des Gobelins and to acquire our monthly Metro passes (Carte D’Orange). So after coffee we showered, dressed and packed up our glass bottles – those which had accumulated in the apartment for some time it would seem – and headed up Rue Fer a Moulin to Avenue Des Gobelins where we located the glass recycle point. (Later in the day we found a recycle station even closer, down our street, Rue Poliveau, going the other direction.)


After we dropped our glass off we walked down Avenue Des Gobelins to Place D’Italia, one of the larger “Places” (a big roundabout actually where perhaps as many as seven or eight streets come together in the center). Anyway, we found the Metro entrance – one of the cool art deco signs lead the way to the stairs - walked down and in less than ten minutes had our new cards. Note that while we had the foresight to bring photos with us we didn’t need them in order to actually purchase the passes; they would be required only if we intended to use the passes at once. The passes are good for one month (and easily renewed) on busses or the Metro in zones 1-2, which is the historic center of the city. (photo: one of the many tents given out to the homeless.)

It should be noted that the Paris transport system is overhauling its pass system and that for regular users of the metro and busses the new Navigo card will probably be the way to go. Similar to the Oyster card on the London transport system the Navigo is basically a swipe-and-go card; none of having to actually run your pass (ticket) through the machine each and every time you enter and exit the system. While the Navigo is in place right now it is unclear as to how widespread it is. Something we’re going to check out next month when it comes to renew our passes – if we can see the cost benefit of it we’ll probably spring for the new Navigo. We’ll see.

On our way back from Place D’Italia we stopped at one of the Marche Franprix grocery stores – one of the larger chain of stores in Paris and stocked up on a few more items for the pantry. We returned to the apartment, dropped off our stuff and then headed back out again, this time to look for internet access.

Until our own ADSL system is set up – probably in the next two weeks or so – we have to rely on local wireless access and while there are some open channels in our area the signals are terribly weak and often non-existent.

So yesterday I ran a quick check while I had any signal at all and discovered several free hotspots in the area: one happened to be the very same café where we had an aperitif Monday evening! But the closest one is a MacDonald’s near the Gare Austerlitz (Austerlitz train station). So Susan and I packed up the computer and headed over to MacD’s to check it out and sure enough we had our first solid signal in Paris and free as well. The plan now will be to hit this spot at least once a day or every other day until we are set up at home.


After our MacDonald’s outing we came back home, dropped the computer off and, realizing it was only a little after 6 pm, and hey the sun was out (sort of) and hey we’re in Paris and what were we doing in our apartment? So off we went up Rue G. Saint Hillare to the next block and the Jardin des Plantes, the botanical garden. Much of the garden is roped off right now as they are doing some reconstruction work on the walkways but the flowers were in bloom and so we strolled down the long avenues of plane trees all the way to the Seine. We then decided to turn left (northwest) and walk along the Seine to Notre Dame and then headed back south home, down Rue Monge, one of the major streets in our arrondisement.


Along the way down Rue Monge and not far from the Paris Mosque, we came across the nondescript entrance to the Arenese de Lutece, the ancient Roman amphitheater that once held more than 10,000 people. This site and the baths at the Musee de Moyen Age on Blvd Saint Germain are the only two extant Roman ruins of ancient Lutetia (as Paris was then known in the Roman world). Today the amphitheater serves mainly as a backdrop to a children’s playground or a quiet place to picnic.

It’s amazing how much of our arrondisement we’ve seen in the last 48 hours. And still more to go. Wednesday we hope to do the western side as we cross over to the 6th arr. on our way to the American church, a great source of information (in English) on Paris.(photo: Jardin des Plantes.)


We no sooner got back home from MacD’s than Drea called saying they were on their way out of town and wondered if she could stop by and drop some things off. There are workmen coming this week to do a couple of things in the apartment, a bed is going to be delivered and we needed to finalize up a couple of things about the post office letting us pick up mail there. Sure, of course. (photo: upstream end of Ile St. Louis.)

Five minutes later she rang the bell, and another five minutes and she was gone. But before Drea left she said if you ever want to come to the Netherlands we’re more than welcome to stay at their house. Well it just so happens that Susan’s family names are VandenBerg and Van Halsema. . . . I think we might just take her up on that.

Now that’s hospitality.

Wish you were here,

Steve