Finding New Lodging

I was starting work on Monday and work is far outside of Paris which means early morning wake ups. To get myself better adjusted I set my alarm for 7am on Sunday and when it went off, I did not want to get out of bed. I find that a struggle when I come over here. I love going to California when you wake up super early and get to embrace the morning and watch the sunrise. Not here.

I pulled myself out of bed, the hotel was very quiet so I strolled down to Starbucks around the corner to grab a coffee and head back to the room to catch up on work and continue my temporary housing search. I want to be Parisian and sit and relax over coffee but I have too much to do right now.

The streets were so quiet at 7:30am, this is a shot of La Sorbonne in the morning - how gorgeous!!!

I finally heard back from someone about an apartment, while the one I inquired about was not available anymore, he had other options. Jules, based in California, ended up saving me and I highly recommend his agency if you want to rent an apartment when you come to Paris. It is called Eve Paris and they offer a wide range of properties. The larger agencies in Paris have nice websites, but you get an automated response and no one gets back to you for days. And they also need a minimum of five days lead time. I actually love that the French have continued to save their weekends but it made my situation quite tricky.

We went back and forth and he mentioned two potential options. I spent the day walking by both to understand the areas. I was so desperate as my hotel only went until Tuesday morning so I was very open! Imagine as well that I am on Paris time and Jules, CA time. There were only a limited few hours we actually were both awake. I had a gut feeling to trust him and I went to bed with the final email saying he would make sure I could check into one of them on Monday night. Tuesday & Wednesday were filled with all day work meetings in Paris, so moving on those days was not an option. My fingers were crossed.

Some other misc. shots from the day:

Can't get enough of all the old streets here

Jardin du Luxembourg

EAT WELL - I was excited in thinking I found a healthy, little cafe. Eat Well with bagels and cookies!

Walking along La Seine, I heart:) I am intrigued by the book stands along the Seine, how do they possibly make a living? There must be a story here, they are part of the charm. Before I leave Paris, I will buy one well chosen book at one of these stands.

The Lodging Showdown

I got back to the hotel around 4/4:30 and my new room was not ready. Fine, I would go to the room and sit back at my computer and see how many replies I had from my housing requests. There must be a few. There were none beyond automated responses.

Around 5pm I got a call my room was ready so I went downstairs and got the key but decided last minute to ask the woman to see the room before I went ahead and moved my stuff. We went to the room together. I walked in, took one look and asked if I could check out right then with no penalty (I was booked there for 60-days!). I am leaving out some of our other exchanges and I think this woman was ready to get rid of me and agreed she would not penalize my company for this very early exit.

There I was, almost 6pm and I had nowhere to go in Paris. No cell. No friends to call to crash on a couch. This is where you better become resourceful and my nightly budget (that my company would pay for) was painfully low for Paris hotels. The hotel I stayed at over the summer, Bel Ami, was now 640 Euros per night. I should add amazing location in Saint Germain des Pres but the rooms are about the size of a show box and not THAT nice. (Remember, you need to multiple by roughly 1/4 to get to dollars!).

By 7:30 I was booked at Grand Hotel Saint Michael, right near Luxembourg Garden in the 5th. I my friends, was going back to the neighborhood I loved. I got a cab and could have cried of joy checking in. It is a small hotel, but so much better than where I was and the staff was so lovely, I could have hugged them all. One gentleman, not even a bellman, helped me with all of my luggage. I practically did hug him!

Once I got everything into my room and took a shower - it was 9pm and I was going to treat myself to a nice dinner. I have not had much time to research restaurants and I was so hungry I was going to walk and find something, a strategy I like to follow now and then. While walking I found Le Bar Huitres and it looked crowded (good sign), a little nicer inside and seafood looked fresh. I went for it and got a little table outside in the tent by a heater.

If you go with a few other people, you have to get one of the amazing and HUGE seafood towers. Once I make me some friends I am going back! For now I got this delish shrimp and avocado starter and then some good old mussels with lots of bread for dipping. Then there was dessert too but to be honest, I needed some chocolate on that crepe! Then it would have been dessert.

The crazy towers (borrowed from the restaurant's website)

My mussels

After doing some online research, the restaurant was taken over by Garry Dorr of Dorr Paris, they own a bunch of restaurants in Paris and claim to offer some of the freshest seafood in town. Will have to try some of the others and report back.

This day had been an adventure and after dinner I was exhausted. Back to my hotel I went, oh so happy to be diving into a comfy and clean bed.

Day 2 in Paris

Day 2 or I guess you could say the offical first full day in Paris. I woke up and being tres Americain, went across the street to get a venti (as big as they get!) cafe to take away back to my pit of a room. The first task after having a few sips of coffee, find a new place to live! I spent the morning scrambling to find new temporary housing. Forget the agency, I was taking this into my own hands. I sent probably a hundred requests out on VRBO, ParisStay, ParisAttitude and on and on.

One problem...no one works on the weekends in France. No one was responding.

I could not waste the day and I was in Paris for pete's sake so I decided to head over to the Marais and find this shop I have read about so many times called Merci. I hopped on the metro and made my way to the marais, closest stop to merci is Saint-Sebastien-Froissart, dropping you very close.

I was so proud that I found it and as you walk in through the courtyard I knew it was going to be just as great as everyone says. They have a great mix of clothes, home goods, etc. and three cafes. I chose to eat in the very cute Used Book Cafe and could not have been happier to sit in a little, cozy room and have a bowl of soup. Eating alone is my new thing now!

The entrance of Merci

The Used Book Cafe

After lunch I strolled through the store more and while I loved some of the clothes, I do not want to buy anything until I know I am done moving! I did find this table that I love though so if I move in somewhere and for some reason they don't have one, I know where to find one. The bonus of expat life is having your company pay for the shipping of goods to and from France, because it is not cheap, that's for sure.

My table:

I walked around some more, but as the clock approached 4 I figured I better go back to the hotel and figure out my room situation and switch my stuff to room #2.

Departing the US and Arriving in France

After many delays due to paperwork, I finally had my visa in hand and was finally embarking on a very exciting adventure - a two year work assignment in Paris, the most romantic city in the world. The logistics of the move have been brutal but no doubt worth it.

On Thursday, October 10th I packed up my stuff and after living back at my parents house for a month and a half, I was on my way. My Dad had a meeting so my Mom drove me to Newark International Airport for the drop off - me and some really big bags. I tried to remain cool but both of us broke into tears while saying our good byes on the sidewalk. Me and my mom are two peas in a pod, we talk on the phone mutliple times a day (typically about nothing) so it was a bittersweet farewell.

After getting my monster bags checked in (to note: I had to plan on bringing enough to get me by for up to 60 days, pending how long I would be living in temporary housing), I got on the plane and slept the evening flight away. I landed in Paris on Friday and was quite pleased with how smooothly things were going - no questions about my visa at customs, got my bags and a cart in a jiffy and there was no line at the taxi stand. My Dad had been wise to go the bank and get my Euros in advance so I was all set when I touched foot on French ground.

People might tell you when you are moving abroad that the agencies are going to take care of everything and make the move a breeze. Please don't believe them - HR, the agencies - they aren't always keeping an eye out for you so you need to be your own advocate. That takes me to temp housing location #1....Citadines on Rue de Grenelle in the 15th. AKA Le Dump!! The temp housing agency had the worst options, not sure they had ever been to Paris, and we were so tight on time, this was basically it. I had a bad feeling all along but went with it (mistake!).

At check in, the manager advised me that my room would actually not be ready until tomorrow night but lucky for me, they were going to upgrade me for one night (ooh la la) and I should be so excited about that. Hmph. I did not care about an upgrade, all I wanted to do was get settled and stop moving. I was cranky and off I went to my "upgrade." When I walked into the room I did not know quite what to say. If this was the nice room, what was my regular room going to look like? I was coming off of a cold and an overnight flight - so I did what seemed most logical. I broke down crying. Not because I regrettted moving, but because I was about to live in a dorm/motel for up to 60-days and there was no way I would be comfortable there. I wrote some emails to multiple people explaining how unhappy I was. Nice for everyone else, they were about to start their weekends, it was Friday. Happy f-ing Friday:)

There I was - tons of bags, crappy lodging and no cell phone. So I did what was, in my mind, the most logical second thing to do - go drink a lot of red wine, eat some cheese and a baguette. If I had to sleep there, I was defintiely going to bed tipsy. 60-days there could be a problem.