Notre nouveau pied-à-terre

We've made the big move! It's been two days but I'm already a very happy camper. Here are some views from our new quartier, Bastille in the 11th.

Our view

Bastille Market

Joyeuses fêtes

Happy holidays everyone!

We decided to spend the holidays in Chailly after our trip was cancelled and we had a lovely Christmas dinner with friends in Barbizon. Some friends from home came into town and the next day we faux Boxing Day shopped at the outlets in Village La Vallée, near EuroDisney. The outlets were great, and there were deals to be had although the sales don’t start in France until January 12th. (I’ve got it marked on my calendar).

N has graduated from Insead and accepted a job, which he’ll begin in a couple months. Hooray! We’ve decided that we’re not quite ready to leave France yet. So this week we’re packing up our bags and moving to Paris! We’ve found a great apartment by the Bastille and really close to the Marais! I’ll continue to work a bit, we’ll take some language classes and we’ll enjoy la belle vie for a little longer.

Happy New Year!

Grounded

Here we go: it’s 6:30 am on Monday. We’re going to Vienna for Christmas. Our flight leaves at 9:50 am. After trying to drive to the airport we park our car in Melun and catch the train into Paris to get to the airport because the roads are terrible and we drive a Euro-sized car. Flight status: on time.

The train ride was seamless. Awesome! It’s 8:15 and we’re on the last leg of our train ride. Flight status: on time.

It hit the fan when we got to CDG. Almost everything’s cancelled. All the people who were delayed (snow) Saturday and Sunday are there. Plus all the people coming in for today’s flights.

There are no lines roped off. There are no chairs. There are two people working our airline’s desk. Two. Two people I feel very sorry for. “Can’t call the airline, you have to wait in line” we’re told by an employee. Try to call for hours anyway, to no avail. So wait in line we did. For almost 10 hours. 3 hours after our flight was supposed to leave, the airline's website still doesn't say it's been cancelled. We meet some nice American students going home for Christmas while studying here. N meets someone in his field. I meet a bunch of French people that I grumble with (the French love a good grumble). They also love yelling at people who cut in line, which is surprising, because generally, most of them aren’t very good at forming a proper line in the first place. We watch 3 screaming matches. One involved hair pulling.

N holds down the fort while I run back and forth for food. McDonalds runs out of Nuggets (not the Nuggets!), salads, and big macs.

In the end, we’re rebooked for Wednesday. Making our 5 day, 2 destination trip a bit useless. We’re given 7€ each in food vouchers. Nothing else.

We get home around 10:00pm. We’re bummed after speaking to our insurance, who are no longer covering the cancellation of the trip. We call Expedia.ca. We’ve booked our flights and hotels through them. They can’t refund our flights, since the airline had rebooked them, but we get a full refund on our hotels, even the one we had booked for that night. We have never gotten such excellent customer service while travelling. We call the Canadian office of our airline. We ask them to cancel our tickets and give us a refund. They do, in no time. Wished we had thought of that 12 hours earlier!

While it’s a shame that we missed our trip (I’m much more zen about it today than I was yesterday) it’s ok, we’re happy to be together and have someplace to be here. And here, as A pointed out, is still France. There were a lot of devastated people at the airport who won’t make it back to see family and don’t have places to stay. So in the end we’re pretty fortunate.

Munich

On our way home for Istanbul, we had a layover in Munich. We spent 5 hours that day in flight limbo. Long story short, most flights out of Germany were cancelled due to the weather and we got a free day in Munich on the airline's dime.

We were planning on spending Christmas there, so it saved us a trip. Munich was lovely (and surprisingly cold). The Christmas markets were fantastic. So were their giant pretzels.

C'est presque Noel à Paris

It's hard to imagine that it's midway through December already. N graduates in less than two weeks and that our time in Fontainebleau is coming to an end. Sad face. We've been busy packing up but it still feels like we just got here!

I've been working full time for the last month. Between work and the 15 hours of commuting per week (which I have come to loath, LOATH!), it's left me a little low on spare time. On the positive side, I'm not spending any of the money I'm making.

The commute is driving me insane. I suppose it’s having the same effect on my fellow passengers, who, to be fair, have to do it every day, all the time. There are a lot delays which lead to exasperated sighs, eye rolling and mutterings of putain. One day last week I saw two pairs of strangers arguing about their spot in the metro. One argument each way. We’re packed in there like sardines...it hasn’t been pretty.

What is consoling is how beautiful Paris and Fontainebleau are in the winter. There are lights and Christmas decorations everywhere and it’s just so charming. Even our teeny tiny town feels very festive. What France lacks however, are candy canes (and peppermint lattes, cough). I learnt this while trying to bake a batch of Christmas cookies. N was at the wheel while we were on the lookout for anyone selling them. 6 stops, no dice.

The photo at the top is from the Galeries Lafayette, so pretty! I only had a few minutes to pop in, but rest assured, on my next day off there will be some money spending!

Istanbul

N and I just got back from a weekend in Istanbul and an unexpected day in Munich...more to come.

We had an amazing time. It might have been the best trip we've been on. The food was delicious (of course I start with food!), the people were really friendly and the culture was so rich and interesting. Very different than anywhere we've ever travelled!


We did a lot in 2 and a half days, although you could spend a lot more time there.



The Blue Mosque


Dinner!


Beautiful lamps at the Grand Bazaar

The Galata Bridge (those are fishermen all along the side)



My favourite...the Cistern Basilica