Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Le Premier Jour


The first day I spent unpacking and getting situated in our apartment. The three of us rented a 1 bedroom 1 bath in the 4th arrondisement, due north of L’Ile de la Cité (where Notre Dame is) and directly East of the Louvre. The whole place is about 40 square meters or 700 square feet, so pretty tiny. Cameron and Lauren each have a twin bed in the bedroom and I have a fold-down sofa in the living room. The kitchen is especially tiny, and the refrigerator is smaller than the mini-fridge I used to have, but according to Cameron and Lauren it’s the most luxurious kitchen they saw during their apartment tours. We are living in a relatively nice part of the city and right in the middle of one of the gallery districts, with the Centre Pompidou two blocks away.

I didn’t have much time to go exploring in my neighborhood, but after unpacking the three of us went to the G-20 Supermarché for some groceries and I was able to see a few of the streets around us. All of the grocery stores in Paris are very small and don’t offer that wide of a selection, but there’s a lot of fresh vegetables, cheeses, and, of course, baguettes. I bought a bunch of simple stuff like sandwich materials, cereal, and pasta, and yet it still cost me 36€. The conversion rate is killer over here. A bottle of Coke is going on $3, and – as I discovered later that evening – beer is even worse. The one plus is that wine is dirt cheap and you can get good bottles starting at 3€. Ridiculous.

I ended my first night out by going across the Seine to a pub called The Great Canadian to watch the Cowboys play. Luckily for me it was a noon game in the States and I wasn’t having to seek out a sports bar at 4am like Brice had to do in Florence. The Great Canadian’s least expensive beer was 5€ a pint, which, when coupled with the Cowboy’s loss, was a disappointment. But it was good to get out and stretch my legs after the long flight over. Granted, I was in business class (thanks Debbo), but it was still amazing to walk around.

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