Paris is Dark in the Winter

Daylight Savings Time ended in Europe on Sunday (a week earlier than the US) and so now the sun sets at 5:33pm, so by the time I leave work it's pretty much pitch black. That's one of the sad things about the timing of our journey, is that it's during the long dark cold winter. But it also means way less tourists and cheaper airfare to move around Europe, so there's always positives.

To give an idea though, in January, Paris gets 8 hours and 20 minutes of daylight, while Austin gets 10 hours and 14 minutes. The opposite is then true during the summer when Paris has 16 hours of daylight compared to Austin's 14 hours. I'd love to live somewhere where the sun doesn't go down until 10pm!

I also got my French checkbook in the mail. It's somewhat different than checks in the US, as it's the same format, but the individual check numbers and account number are just stamped onto the paper. It's not "professional" like US checks. I don't plan on writing any checks (rent and utilities are handled through the relocation company) but you never know when something might come up.