So I haven’t found THE place, but I have found a really cute little place to lay my head for the next 4 weeks…maybe 8. Thanks to my language school, I found a furnished studio that was JUST renovated in the 17th arrondissement. In fact I will be its first occupent and the first to use all the new utensils and linens from Ikea :). This is great news for me because, frankly, my feet need a rest….it is quite possible that I am starting to wear grooves in some of the rueshere as I keep up the apartment search. I move in either this Friday or Saturday…I should know in a few hours when my new landloard, Ignacio, calls me (yes, he is from Mexico City).
Even though it isn’t quite my perfect spot, it is still darn cool! Check out the little peek-a-boo view of the Eiffel Tower from my street! A Metro stop is close by and there is an award winning Boulangerie on the corner. I think I will be manage here just fine!
I must admit I am exhausted after just 2 weeks into my stay. I walk more than I expected (mostly my own fault cuz I prefer to walk over the metro in such nice weather) and there is a bit of an emotional fatigue (<- ooooo, which is also a French word!) in having to adapt to a new life. It is all stuff I anticipated, but it is easy to talk about expecting to be tired/overwhelmed…it is a little different to live through it :). As soon as I settle into the new place, I think I might need to find a spa :). I start my language class on Monday, so perhaps one of my first inquiries to my teacher will be how to ask, “Where is the closest spa with a 90 minute hot stone massage?” I wouldn’t mind a facial too. 🙂
I recently jointed an Anglophone group called WICE that provides cultural, educational and social activities to the international community in Paris. I haven’t quite figured out what the WICE stands for (and I have looked in many places on their website), but I know it is a non-profit that was started by women back in 1978 to meet the intellectual, professional, and self-development needs of English speaking women in Paris. Today the group boasts some 900 members (both men and women) and offers 200 – 300 events and courses a year. It is a pretty fantastic organization from what I know about it after only a week. Yesterday I participated in my first activity, a market walk of the Les Halles area.
Up until 1969, Les Halles was the central market in Paris (started in the 12th century) and was called “the belly of Paris.” We walked through the streets were it once existed and visited some of the restaurant and kitchen supply shops from that time that still exist today.
This is me in front of one of those kitchen stores! Inside one could buy kettles as large as me or itty bitty tartlet pans. It was a bit like going back in time entering that store.
This little delights are from a pattisserie that was founded in 1730, Stohrer.
It also is touted as having the BEST eclair in Paris…which of course I tried, but I think it could be a detriment that I started with the best!
Francoise, the chef and cooking school instructor at WICE, was our guide. There is so much I have to learn about food here! For example, this picture is of one of the best kind of chickens you can buy, Poulet de bresse. It is also important to look for chickens with black feet (the butcher will take the head and feet off before bringing it home). I also learned that the French prefer to each female duck over male because the females are plumper. And always buy peche (hooked or caught) fish at the market versus farmed, because the farmed fish are fattier on the inside. Never buy scallops out of season.
In case I need a Foie Gras fix, this store is entirely dedicated to it!
The night before the market walk, my girlfriend Kisara was back in town! We went without seeing eachother for 13 years, but now have seen eachother twice in the last two weeks! One of the many treats of Paris so far! We went stumbled on one of Michelle Rostang’s restaurants in the 1e. Dinner was wonderful, and even got some future restaurant recommendations from the Austrian and Parisian gentleman sitting at the table next to us who decided to join our conversation :). Somehow we ended up closing the restaurant down…luckily I still made my metro home.
WICE has a talk on Josephine Baker this afternoon that I am off to join, and then dinner with a local Microsoftie :).
It is true, “Paris is a moveable feast.” Which you can bet will be the next book on my kindle too :).
