One week in …
We arrived in Paris last Thursday to sunny but cold weather. Frankly, it has been an uneventful week considering we are in the City of Light … and a population of just over 2.2 million. All the moving around we have been doing the past 8 weeks, finally caught up to us. All I can say is the stress of getting up and going constantly kept us from settling down long enough to catch anything. Or maybe our bodies just knew that we couldn’t afford to be sick when we were packing up and traveling every 3-5 days. I can’t explain it … only that almost from THE very moment of arriving in Paris, I felt sick. What started as a sore throat turned into a massive cold that actually first reared its ugly head in Reece and then turned its forces onto me only to hit Reece again and move onto Keith. And it had us all down for the count this past week.
Paris: Travel Day
The hotel we stayed at in Venice was near the airport and had a free shuttle to the Marco Polo International Airport. We flew on Easy Jet which only allows ONE carry on bag per person but has NO weight limit. I was able to pack all of our items in our 3 backpacks only to have airline personnel tag our bags at the gate. That was okay with me as it doesn’t cost us anything. I had packed in such a strategic way that I had a small pack nestled with the computers and we just pulled those out and carried the small pack on with us.
We arrived without delay at Charles De Gaulle airport in Paris and proceeded to hire an Uber to take us to the flat … our home for the next 4 weeks. I had considered mass transit but was strongly encouraged to just hire an Uber and I am glad I did. We may attempt the mass transit route on our way back to the airport once we get familiar with things but my understanding is that it is quite a production. Stay tuned!
A Little History
A little information about how we came to “find” our flat here in Paris. In my capacity as Program Coordinator for the Juneau Symphony, I had the opportunity to cross paths with musicians whom the organization would “hire” (I use that term loosely as they really don’t get paid other than an airplane ticket and a small stipend) to come play with us in whatever upcoming concert we had if we had spots we needed to fill. Most often these are strings musicians. During one of these concerts, we brought up a lovely and amazing violinist named Julie from the L.A. area. One of my jobs was to transport these musicians … or at least make sure they had transport … wherever they needed to go. On this occasion, I was giving Julie and her son, who accompanied with her to this particular performance, to the airport. During this short ride, I mentioned to her about our big family trip and that we would be spending time in Paris. This is when Julie says to me, “I have a friend who has an apartment in Paris. I should put the two of you in contact with one another.” True to her word, Julie did just this. I reached out to her friend, Aimee, a couple of months prior to our departure. It turns out that her apartment was available during the time we were planning to be in Paris, so we made arrangements to stay there. On a side note, Aimee is quite an accomplished LA-area musician, as well. I am so grateful for the many talented and gracious people with whom I have had the opportunity to cross paths … directly and indirectly. You can learn more about Aimee and her amazing accomplishments here. And here is some information on Julie … the person who helped make all this happen!
Fast forward to our arrival … the code for the outside door was incorrect ( a small typo) that had me a tad nervous until a nice young woman came along and let us in. Turns out she lives in the flat just across the hall from our rented flat! Our first friend, though don’t ask me her name. We then attempted to contact Aimee’s friend who was holding the keys for us. I was having no luck with my phone and the language barrier proved challenging when trying to get a local SIM card for making calls and using data. Reece and I headed back to the building and I decided to knock on our new neighbor’s door. She was home, though by her own admission, we were lucky to catch her. She was helpful and we were able to get in contact with Kasra. Our neighbor also helped us with directions for walking to Kasra’s apartment and 15 minutes later we had keys in our hand.
We spent the rest of the afternoon getting settled and Reece and I headed out to procure supplies for dinner. Salad and a couple of servings of two-bean chili had our tummies full and we were ready for bed.
Paris: Week One, Day One
Our first day is often spent getting our bearings, resting up and learning the lay of the land. Reece and I went exploring and out for more supplies. We found the butcher that Aimee told us about, where we picked up a delicious rotisserie chicken. We found the produce seller where we picked up some fruit and vegetables. And most importantly we found the bakery where we stocked up on fresh-made baguettes. We took some photos as we explored our neighborhood. We are staying in the Montmartre area which is located in the 18th Arrondissement near La Basilique du Sacre Coeur.
Paris: Week One, Day Two
It is Saturday and I am feeling a bit under the weather. Mostly just a sore throat, but I have always maintained that it is THE worse part of any illness. I have been pushing the Vitamin C and gargling with salt water but I don’t feel like doing much other than laying around watching Hallmark movies on YouTube. Reece sounds horrible as well. Reece and I manage to get out for a bit in the late afternoon … daily shopping is the way to go around here, a concept that I can get fully behind. It was refreshing to see the sun and get some fresh air. However, without me to prod them along, Keith and Reece are perfectly happy to stay holed up in the apartment.
Paris: Week One, Day Three
It is Sunday and things are progressing and not for the better. Reece sounds horrible … stuffy, sneezing, but she swears she is fine and not getting sick. Mind over matter, I guess. She and her dad attempt to go out and purchase a few supplies only to find everything closed except the bakery.
Paris: Week One, Day Four
We are all feeling better so we decide to go exploring in our neighborhood a bit … wandering around and getting lost only to let Google Maps lead us back home.
We drop Keith back at the flat to do some work while Reece and I go pick up the supplies they were unable to procure the day before.
Paris: Week One, Day Five
Tuesday has dawned and I think I overdid it yesterday. Keith has a sore throat now, as well. We send out Reece to pick up a few items. The bakery is closed on Wednesdays so the most important thing is to stock up on the baguettes. I am enjoying the process of basically shopping for each days meals on that day. Or sending Reece out to do the shopping, as the case may be.
Paris: Week One, Day Six
Today I am feeling better, Reece is feeling worse and Keith is feeling about the same. I hesitate to do too much for fear of losing the ground I have gained. But Keith and I did venture out to find something for dinner while Reece stayed at the flat, studying and practicing her flute. I also made progress on the planning for the rest of our trip. Keith also did some research and found a website that lists local music performances that we can attend here in Paris. We each picked an event and jotted it on our calendar. Our first one is this Saturday. Add to those the visits to the museums, wandering around the different districts, visiting the must see monuments and planning a couple of day trips outside the city, our days will fill up quickly and the time will pass before we know it.
Paris: Week One, Day Seven
Another day of laying low though I felt good enough to venture out by myself to pick up a few necessities for dinner. That being said, Reece and I have a plan for tomorrow that includes finding Paris’ ten best sources of macarons. We won’t find all of them tomorrow … baby steps, people. We don’t want to regress and end up spending our entire four weeks holed up in our little flat. But we are on the hunt and it feels good to have a purpose. For the next three weeks, we will need to cram in as many events, museums, and attractions as possible, since we lost this past week. But we are up for the challenge. And some exercise and fresh air.
So, all in all, not a very exciting week. We are, however, intimately familiar with our little flat. And we are comfortable enough in our neighborhood to send Reece out solo to pick up necessary supplies, though Keith hasn’t managed to do it on his own. We have all started studying French … though admittedly, we should have been working on this prior to arriving but c’est la vie. And we are well rested enough to hit the ground running … well, at least walking for a little bit, starting tomorrow. Saturday there may be an attempt to navigate the Metro when we head to the La Madeleine, a church where we will see the performance of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. Stay tuned for the exciting details!
Cheers!
Teresa