I found out via our HR department and immigration lawyers that due to some paperwork from way back in August, my work visa actually expires today. I don't have to leave the country until April 8th (our flight is April 3rd) but my last day in the office had to be today.
This meant I also had to give up my work phone today as well. Thankfully T-Mobile has gotten even better since we've left, and actually now has unlimited international texting and data roaming (though at 2G speeds). Calls are the only thing that costs money, and even that is "only" 20 cents a minute, which is WAY less than the like $2 a minute is used to be. Oh, and that international texting even includes texting to international numbers, so I can still communicate with Kara's French phone.
The other kind of interesting part is that this also means my cell phone bill will be going drastically up, as it's ~$100 a month for both Kara and I for unlimited calling/texting and 3GB of data. In France you can get that for only $56 a month. It's one of the very few things actually cheaper here when compared to the US. Though as Kara does point out, our coverage range is much larger in the US since France is only about the size of Texas. But still....
After leaving work, I met Kara in the Marais district of Paris for dinner. We ate a a sit-down Mediterranean place with kebab's, since they're much better here and she loves kebab's. They often get a bad rap in Europe since they're considered lowly street food (it's like they were the McDonald's hamburgers of fast food, which is even more ironic since McDonalds is so incredibly popular here, seriously, always packed!). I do admit having inexpensive kebab's everywhere is something we'll miss quite a bit once we get back to the States.
Monday, March 31, 2014
Sunday, March 30, 2014
Palais Garnier
Today we attended a classical music concert at the famous and incredibly beautiful Paris opera house: Palais Garnier. We had been there before on Christmas Eve, but this was our first time to get up close and personal with it.
The original plan was to get ballet tickets since Kara and I both love dance, but everything was sold out months in advance! Even buying the tickets 3 months early, this was one of the very few events that still had tickets available. Luckily they weren't too horribly expensive, and we managed to get really good seats close to the stage.
Interestingly all the seats are individually numbered, so it's not done by row like normal. They also don't fold up, so the aisles are a bit bigger than normal, but does make getting in and out difficult. The performance itself was well, bizarre. I had no idea what exactly they were going to play beforehand, it just said piano and percussion. But while the musicians I'm sure did a good job with what they were given, I really didn't get the music choice and we could see quite a lot of other people surprised at the seemingly chaotic sounds being produced on stage. Unfortunately neither of us liked it at all, but at least it was in a really pretty building!
Palais Garnier is actually my favorite building/monument in Paris, just because it is so over the top decadent. It gives Fontainebleau a run for its money in the most extravagant interior and has an interesting history closely tied to why Paris looks like it does today.
Afterwards we stopped to eat a random restaurant on Saint Germain on the way home. Unfortunately for Kara, her food was really really terrible. The pumpkin soup looked and tasted like mashed up baby food and was completely flavorless. And of course we were still charged for it (and it was not a cheap place!). My food though was really good, with the biggest escargot I've ever seen, and a delicious duck breast for the main course.
The original plan was to get ballet tickets since Kara and I both love dance, but everything was sold out months in advance! Even buying the tickets 3 months early, this was one of the very few events that still had tickets available. Luckily they weren't too horribly expensive, and we managed to get really good seats close to the stage.
Interestingly all the seats are individually numbered, so it's not done by row like normal. They also don't fold up, so the aisles are a bit bigger than normal, but does make getting in and out difficult. The performance itself was well, bizarre. I had no idea what exactly they were going to play beforehand, it just said piano and percussion. But while the musicians I'm sure did a good job with what they were given, I really didn't get the music choice and we could see quite a lot of other people surprised at the seemingly chaotic sounds being produced on stage. Unfortunately neither of us liked it at all, but at least it was in a really pretty building!
Palais Garnier is actually my favorite building/monument in Paris, just because it is so over the top decadent. It gives Fontainebleau a run for its money in the most extravagant interior and has an interesting history closely tied to why Paris looks like it does today.
Afterwards we stopped to eat a random restaurant on Saint Germain on the way home. Unfortunately for Kara, her food was really really terrible. The pumpkin soup looked and tasted like mashed up baby food and was completely flavorless. And of course we were still charged for it (and it was not a cheap place!). My food though was really good, with the biggest escargot I've ever seen, and a delicious duck breast for the main course.
Saturday, March 29, 2014
Paris in 6 hours
Today my best friend from college came to visit for a few hours during her long layover at CDG. Her flight got in at 5:50am, so even with the delay of leaving the airport and the hour long RER ride, she was at our apartment around 7:15 or so. The boulangerie near us is open that early even on Saturdays, so we could welcome her with some croissants and pain au chocolate.
We then headed to Notre Dame which she'd never been to. Afterwards Sainte Chapelle was opening (and right close by) so I visited that yet again, and then at that point the Notre Dame towers were open. I'd been wanting to go up the entire time we were here, so we got in the line that already formed and waited about 30 minutes to go up. The views at the top were really cool, with the best part of it being all the chimera and gargoyles (gargoyles are specifically used to drain away rain water) that you can see close up. It's not too many steps (at least compared to the Eiffel tower). Then we stopped by Pierre Hermé to pick up some macaroons, and then had lunch at Cafe Cassette where she had to leave to catch the train back to the airport. Not bad for a few hours worth of Paris!
I was utterly exhausted so took a nap for a while, before heading back out to walk around a bit and finally check out Le Bon Marché which was one of the first department stores in the world. It literally means "The Good Store/Buy" but can also be thought of as "Good Bargain". It wasn't particularly neat other than being famous for being an early department store, but it's one of those little things I was glad I was able to do by living in Paris.
Then we finished the night with more wine and cheese, since we only have a few days left of that!
We then headed to Notre Dame which she'd never been to. Afterwards Sainte Chapelle was opening (and right close by) so I visited that yet again, and then at that point the Notre Dame towers were open. I'd been wanting to go up the entire time we were here, so we got in the line that already formed and waited about 30 minutes to go up. The views at the top were really cool, with the best part of it being all the chimera and gargoyles (gargoyles are specifically used to drain away rain water) that you can see close up. It's not too many steps (at least compared to the Eiffel tower). Then we stopped by Pierre Hermé to pick up some macaroons, and then had lunch at Cafe Cassette where she had to leave to catch the train back to the airport. Not bad for a few hours worth of Paris!
I was utterly exhausted so took a nap for a while, before heading back out to walk around a bit and finally check out Le Bon Marché which was one of the first department stores in the world. It literally means "The Good Store/Buy" but can also be thought of as "Good Bargain". It wasn't particularly neat other than being famous for being an early department store, but it's one of those little things I was glad I was able to do by living in Paris.
Then we finished the night with more wine and cheese, since we only have a few days left of that!
Friday, March 28, 2014
No Accidents!
Today was my last day driving in France as I had to give up the company car I'd been using the last 6 months. I somehow managed to avoid getting in an accident the entire time, even with the crazy French drivers, confusing signs, tight parking, random stop lights, unmarked lanes, and the whole ridiculous Priorité à droite
thing. It's not to say it wasn't stressful at times though, and I'm looking forward to driving back in the US where people follow the rules, lanes are clearly marked, and one way and two way streets don't look exactly the same.
This is our last weekend in France. We both love living in Europe, and Paris has really started to grow on us (though it may be because Kara can finally speak French and that it's no longer dark most of the day). I'm both excited to get home to where things are just "easy", but also sad to leave the mystery of the unknown. I do miss my old role at work so I'm definitely looking forward to that, but there's so many little things I'm going to miss about living in Paris. I know we'll definitely try to come back to Europe one way or another in the future.
Now it's time to start packing and figuring out how to squeeze everything back into our suitcases. You only get 1 litre of alcohol a person so I'm trying to figure out what my two favorite bottles of wine were. I should have been writing this down! If only I could also import the bread too....
thing. It's not to say it wasn't stressful at times though, and I'm looking forward to driving back in the US where people follow the rules, lanes are clearly marked, and one way and two way streets don't look exactly the same.
This is our last weekend in France. We both love living in Europe, and Paris has really started to grow on us (though it may be because Kara can finally speak French and that it's no longer dark most of the day). I'm both excited to get home to where things are just "easy", but also sad to leave the mystery of the unknown. I do miss my old role at work so I'm definitely looking forward to that, but there's so many little things I'm going to miss about living in Paris. I know we'll definitely try to come back to Europe one way or another in the future.
Now it's time to start packing and figuring out how to squeeze everything back into our suitcases. You only get 1 litre of alcohol a person so I'm trying to figure out what my two favorite bottles of wine were. I should have been writing this down! If only I could also import the bread too....
Thursday, March 27, 2014
French Music III
One of the things I will miss the most about living overseas is the much wider variety of music on pop radio. So here's what's popular now in France that I like, that may or may not be hitting the US soon:
The translation is actually helping my French!
A lot of French radio is techno heavy with English refrains, like this song
One of the biggest French rappers
Heard this on the radio all the time and it got in my head!
The translation is actually helping my French!
A lot of French radio is techno heavy with English refrains, like this song
One of the biggest French rappers
Heard this on the radio all the time and it got in my head!
Vaux-le-Vicomte
Today was a day of lasts. One of those was visiting our last château on the to-do list: Vaux le Vicomte. We would have done it earlier but it's actually closed most of the winter. It only opened back up March 9th.
Some people argue that it's the best château in France, which is understandable as it was the inspiration for Versailles. But inspiration in a tragic way unfortunately. King Louis XIV was so jealous of what his financier Nicolas Fouquet had built, he had him arrested on trumped up charges and spent the rest of his life in prison. And meanwhile used Fouquet's same architects to build Versailles.
It's actually a bit difficult to get to if you don't have a car (there are some shuttle buses from the nearest train station on the weekends in the summer apparently) so I knew we had to take advantage while I still had car access (which I give that up on Friday). I took the afternoon off work and we drove there.
It was quite eleaborate inside, and the audio guide delved into the history of Fouquet. The grounds are the most stunning part, and a lot of the literally groundbreaking gardening and perspective techniques were then used at Versailles.
But after visiting half a dozen castles around France, the best French château in my opinion is still Fontainebleau. It's got the best and most extravegant interior and has a lot of history associated with it, and is easy to get to from Paris. Honestly I'd recommend it over Versailles. Kara's favorite (and my 2nd favorite) is Chenonceau in the Loire valley. It requires a full day trip with a car, but it does have the most beautiful exterior and has quite a lot of history of its own.
It also marked the last time I'll have to use the portable TomTom my work collegue gave me to use while I was here. It served us well, though sometimes makes some interesting route choices.
We also went up the Eiffel Tower for the last time. Actually the first time for Kara during our trip. The first time she wasn't able to climb the stairs and didn't join my friends who were visiting, and the 2nd time the top was all fogged in. But this time we got reservations (only time available was the last one at 9:30pm) and it actually turned out to be a clear night!
We got there in time to see the lights sparkling from on the tower, which was really cool. I also had my new D70 with much better low light sensor, so I could get some really good shots. We actually ended up getting kicked off the tower because we stayed till closing and rode down with the workers. But of course the numerous Eiffel Tower model selling guys were still downstairs, trying to get you to buy an Eiffel Tower for a euro. We ended up staying until Midnight to see it sparkle one last time up close. It's sad to leave!
Some people argue that it's the best château in France, which is understandable as it was the inspiration for Versailles. But inspiration in a tragic way unfortunately. King Louis XIV was so jealous of what his financier Nicolas Fouquet had built, he had him arrested on trumped up charges and spent the rest of his life in prison. And meanwhile used Fouquet's same architects to build Versailles.
It's actually a bit difficult to get to if you don't have a car (there are some shuttle buses from the nearest train station on the weekends in the summer apparently) so I knew we had to take advantage while I still had car access (which I give that up on Friday). I took the afternoon off work and we drove there.
It was quite eleaborate inside, and the audio guide delved into the history of Fouquet. The grounds are the most stunning part, and a lot of the literally groundbreaking gardening and perspective techniques were then used at Versailles.
But after visiting half a dozen castles around France, the best French château in my opinion is still Fontainebleau. It's got the best and most extravegant interior and has a lot of history associated with it, and is easy to get to from Paris. Honestly I'd recommend it over Versailles. Kara's favorite (and my 2nd favorite) is Chenonceau in the Loire valley. It requires a full day trip with a car, but it does have the most beautiful exterior and has quite a lot of history of its own.
It also marked the last time I'll have to use the portable TomTom my work collegue gave me to use while I was here. It served us well, though sometimes makes some interesting route choices.
We also went up the Eiffel Tower for the last time. Actually the first time for Kara during our trip. The first time she wasn't able to climb the stairs and didn't join my friends who were visiting, and the 2nd time the top was all fogged in. But this time we got reservations (only time available was the last one at 9:30pm) and it actually turned out to be a clear night!
We got there in time to see the lights sparkling from on the tower, which was really cool. I also had my new D70 with much better low light sensor, so I could get some really good shots. We actually ended up getting kicked off the tower because we stayed till closing and rode down with the workers. But of course the numerous Eiffel Tower model selling guys were still downstairs, trying to get you to buy an Eiffel Tower for a euro. We ended up staying until Midnight to see it sparkle one last time up close. It's sad to leave!
Tuesday, March 25, 2014
Czechs in France
Kara's host family from her au pairship came to visit us today. They're from Prague but hadn't spent much time at all in Paris, so the mom and the girl Kara took care of for 3 months 5 years ago came to visit for a few days.
While I was at work they visited the Sacré Cœur and got caught by the infamous bracelet guys. For some reason I'd never seen them in my previous trips there (and I'd been looking for them) but I suppose having 2 females and a small child set off their tourist sensors more than my giant SLR. Apparently they only target those who don't look like they're walking with a purpose, which normally I always do so maybe that's it. Anyways, they all got bracelets and the guys got some small change, so I suppose it worked out for everyone.
We then had some crepes for dinner that they brought back. I'm really going to miss convenient and (relatively) inexpensive crepes within walking distance once we get back to the US.
While I was at work they visited the Sacré Cœur and got caught by the infamous bracelet guys. For some reason I'd never seen them in my previous trips there (and I'd been looking for them) but I suppose having 2 females and a small child set off their tourist sensors more than my giant SLR. Apparently they only target those who don't look like they're walking with a purpose, which normally I always do so maybe that's it. Anyways, they all got bracelets and the guys got some small change, so I suppose it worked out for everyone.
We then had some crepes for dinner that they brought back. I'm really going to miss convenient and (relatively) inexpensive crepes within walking distance once we get back to the US.
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