Playing Catch-Up

(Continued from previous post - please begin there)


Okay, so here is what has gone down from Day One until now...


March 3rd 
After walking Buckley and getting him settled, we decided to take a quick nap because we got no sleep the night before on the plane.  Our quick nap turned into a six hour snooze fest, so all there was time for was dinner somewhere nearby.  We walked around a bit and settled on a cozy looking place at the end of our street that turned out to be a Romanian restaurant.  Ordinarily we would have been excited to stumble upon some sort of food we had never tried before, but sadly that isn't the case here.  The food was bland, they were playing some VERY strange music videos on the TV (a lady on a dinner date with a cartoon cat - kissing and all), and it was pricey.  Oh well, there are many more delicious meals in our future... eating delicious meals is practically all you do here!


Our First Weekend 
We had the best first weekend here because my former coworkers, Jackie and Wes, were honeymooning in Paris.  It was so nice to be able to spend our first nights out in our new city with some buddies!


Saturday afternoon we asked our driver from the airport to take us to get some things we needed around the apartment that we couldn't have carried on the Metro (subway) with us - washing machine, TV, etc.  This turned out to be a big mess because even though we went to our bank to inform them of our move overseas before we left, they failed to update the system.  So, both of our cards were flagged for fraud and we couldn't make the big purchases we set out to make. Keep in mind that we have to pay our driver friend, we'll call him Jean-Pierre to protect the innocent, at least 100 Euro each time he takes us on one of our shopping adventures.  Old Jean-Pierre really hit the jackpot with these two clueless Americans!  I think we paid his April rent with all the shopping trips we had to make.


The real fun began when we met up with Jackie and Wes for dinner and drinks that evening.  We met in front of The Louvre and walked to a great little Italian restaurant in the 5th arrondissement (abbreviated 5e - the "e" is like the "th" in English).  The area of the 5e we went to is called the Latin Quarter.  It is a very lively area because it's where the Universities are (lots of college students).  We popped into a few bars here and there and had a blast.  The types of bars you see there range from relaxed jazz bars to more, umm, sexy places like this... (Please note the smaller print on the sign: "Sexy Bar for Crazy Night")

Jackie and Wes walked back to our apartment after the bars closed and hung out until the wee hours of the morning since none of us were on Euro time yet and had way too much energy to call it a night.  Needless to say, we all slept until about noon the next day.


The newly married couple made the most of their Sunday and dragged themselves out of bed to visit Montmartre and a couple museums, while Kyle and I took it easy before meeting them for one more evening out before they left for Italy Monday morning.  It was a great time, and I'm so happy the timing worked out.  Congrats again, Jackie and Wes!

Our very cold and windy walk from The Louvre to the 5e

I look like their kid in this picture

Our First Few Weeks

Okay, enough with the details, right?  Let's speed this up.


Kyle began work at his new office our first Monday in Paris.  As with any new job, there are a lot of adjustments, and he has a ton to learn at one time.  Not to mention the cultural differences in the office.  It gets easier every day for him, though.  He'll feel like a superstar at work again in no time.


We got our first piece of personal mail delivered at our new home, which made us feel fantastic. Thanks, Shay! xo


We met Julie for the first time.  Julie was introduced to us by mutual friends, Carrie and Mindy, who knew we were all moving to Paris at the same time.  Julie and I had been keeping in touch via Facebook and as luck would have it, we all arrived in Paris the same week and have had a blast sharing our war stories from the move.  It makes it SO much easier to laugh it off, forget the tough stuff, and focus on all the amazing things here when you have someone to speak to who is dealing with the same issues.


I locked myself out of the apartment with no shoes on.  Me.  With no shoes in the hallway!


We finally got a washer and dryer.  It's tiny and it washes and dries all in the same little machine.  It took several tries to figure it out - during which I turned all of Kyle's white items a lovely shade of beige.  It takes an hour and a half to wash one load (load = one or two shirts, jeans, some socks), then in three hours you will have one dry outfit.  The washing machine is my nemesis.  


We discovered a delicious restaurant around the corner from us called Gusto Italia.  It will certainly be one of our first destinations when people come to visit! 

How incredible does that look??

We met one of Kyle'e coworkers and his buddies at a bar call La Lucha Libre.  They have Mexican wrestling in the basement on Friday nights and on Thursdays the customers can sign up to wrestle each other.  Awesome. 

We visited Montmartre on one of the first pretty Sundays we had. Montmartre is an area in the 18e (18th arrondissement) where Sacre Coeur and Moulin Rouge are.  There are a lot of artists in that neighborhood, and even though it is very touristy it has a very Parisian feel about it.  It is on a hill and has some of the best views of the city on a clear day.  A must-see area for any visitor to Paris.

Had a leak under the kitchen sink and a plumber came out to "fix" it.  He put a cork in it, literally.  This is not a solution.  He had to come back the next day when it continued to leak.  Imagine that.  Right after he left the washing machine leaked alllllllll over the place.  Super.  Stupid washing machine.

I have been taking advantage of the markets in our neighborhood.  The produce is so fantastic here!  I love strolling around the streets picking up fruit, veggies, fish, fresh flowers, baguettes.  I feel very French... until I try to speak to one of the street vendors, that is.

Kyle Turns 30
Kyle celebrated the BIG 3-0 on March 26th!  We began the weekend with dinner at O Chateau, a wine bar with a restaurant run by a contestant on Top Chef France.  The chef, Tiffany Depardieu, is only 22 and is phenomenal.  The main course is served on a butcher block and is tapas style - small portions of several items the chef creates from scratch daily. 

On his actual birthday we took some wine, cheese, meat and bread to the Champ de Mars and had a picnic with Buckster.  

After the picnic I had booked a champagne cruise on the Seine at sunset.  Unfortunately, we were running late because it started to pour rain and we had to stop for an umbrella.  Luckily they were nice enough to let us reschedule (which turned out pretty great for us because the day we actually took the cruise was sunny and 70 degrees!).  For dinner I made reservations at Les Fable de la Fontaine, a Michelin starred restaurant in our neighborhood run by chef Christian Constant.  Dinner was outstanding.  They served a seven course meal, yes seven, that the chef chooses.  All very whimsical and modern cooking.  (I swear, I don't intend for this to be a food blog, but it seems unavoidable in this city!)


I know Kyle would have loved to share his 30th birthday with everyone back home, but we had a pretty fantastic day just the two of us!  Happy birthday, love!!


House Hunters with Julie
Our friend Julie is going to be featured on an episode of House Hunters International, documenting her search for her new Parisian digs.  So exciting :)  They asked her to have a friend on the show to help her make her decision and she asked me!  It was so much fun and really interesting to see the way they put these shows together behind the scenes.


So, we filmed a couple weekends ago and I'll be sure to let everyone know when it is scheduled to air.  Although, I have had dreams already of being embarrassed about watching myself.  The strangest one was two nights ago... In the dream the director wanted me to be hiding in the apartments she looked at while they were filming and pop out and yell quirky little lines.  Like, peak out from behind some curtains and shout "This is the one for you, Julie.  Did you see that shower?"  What the heck sort of dream is that haha?!  


Spoiler alert:  Julie found a great apartment and is so happy with her decision.

Julie and I with the HHI crew

Okay, so now that I have you almost all caught up on our first month in Paris, I promise no more mile-long blogs!  

Maygan