Beer

It won't come as a surprise to anyone that the wine in France is very good. I'm not much of a wine guy but even I can appreciate it. I found it interesting that we haven't seen a single bottle of wine from outside of France. Not that it matters when you can get a really good bottle of Bordeaux for 6 Euros. I'm not sure if it's a trade protectionist policy of if it's simply not done. I imagine it would be the same as an Albertan eating beef from Montana or a Newfoundlander eating Pacific salmon.

I'm more of a beer guy and France isn't known for its beer. The best beer in France comes from the Alsace Region which is on the German border. In fact it's the region that changed hands first every time France and Germany went to war. Luckily for me France is surrounded by great beer making countries like Belgium, Germany and Holland so I have not gone wanting. Here are a few that I'm enjoying now.

 Believe it or not, but you can buy Budweiser and Fosters here. I'm not sure why anyone would though.

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Comfort Zones

Lori and I have moved around quite a bit, so we're used to the ups and downs of discovering new places. Of course, this has been the most dramatic move and the biggest adjustment we've gone through. We are both pretty adventurous and we like to find new foods or cool little restaurants, but sometimes it's nice to fall back on something familiar. Comfort foods or your favorite TV show can ease the stress of the unknown. However, it's easy to fall into a trap where you insulate yourself from your new world.

We've discovered some great things here like wine, cheese, bread and really good oranges from Spain. We've had some misses as well. I can't find the right crackers for my soup or the kind of bacon I like. I know I should be eating like a Parisian but sometimes I just want the food I grew up with while watching an episode of Seinfeld. I think the key is to find a balance between the two.

It's been very raining here this week. I'm not complaining, I'll take +10 and rain over -20 and snow, but it's kept me in the apartment and I haven't been able to explore. I've been improving my French and Lori is busy with work. She's enjoying it so far. They have a wonderful cafeteria that is subsidized by the company. They have some other wonderful perks as well, like free admission to the Louvre.

I think we are adjusting well and definitely feeling more comfortable in our new world everyday. It's going to be tough to watch hockey or baseball while we're here though and I don't think I'll ever become a soccer fan. I need my sports comfort zone.

Our Apartment

When we imagined our life in Paris, we pictured ourselves sitting in a cafe sipping a cappuccino and people watching or strolling through the Louvre looking at priceless works of art. We did not imagine trudging through a mall in the suburbs looking for coffee mugs and an ironing board. Of course we live here and this isn't a vacation so we have to adopt a daily routine of grocery shopping, dropping off dry-cleaning and running errands.

I think we finally have everything we need and the apartment is set up the way we like. Luckily it's very small so it didn't take much. Here is our living room.

A shot from the opposite end. You can see the spiral staircase going up to our bedroom.

Here is our bedroom upstairs. The entire place is 500 sq/ft.

Today is Lori's first day of work. We took a dry run on the subway yesterday. It's very easy for her to get to work but I'm sure the subway will be packed this morning. Next weekend we will get out and enjoy our life in Paris.

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Dennis and Lori Vs. The Washing Machine

Moving into a new place will have its challenges, no matter where you are. Not enough closet space, where should the garbage can go and what does that switch do are normal problems that must be dealt with. When the new place is in a foreign country where you barely speak the language, don't have a car and don't know a soul, it can be very challenging.

On Friday night when I posted on Facebook that "All is good" we had not started our laundry. We knew laundry could be an issue even before we moved in. The machine is an apartment sized, combination Washer and Dryer.

There is just no way it will possibly get our clothes as dry as a full sized dryer. That's fine, we can deal with that. What we hadn't counted on was this little box of hate walking across the kitchen even with a 200 pound man sitting on it. The spin cycle was not an option at 11:00pm so we shut it down and hung our dripping wet clothes to dry.

The next morning Lori did some investigating on the internet and found someone with the same problem. Apparently our washing machine (along with everything else in the apartment) is brand new and when it was delivered, the four retaining bolts keeping the drum in place were not removed. No problem, I can fix that. Well not so fast.

The person on the internet described them as screws so I went out and bought a mulit-tipped screwdriver. That was my mistake. I should have pulled the machine out and looked on the back and seen the hex-head bolts there. So back out I go. The local Monoprix didn't have wrenches so I bought a pair of linesman pliers. Once again, my mistake. This time Lori went out to the larger Monoprix, which is much further away, and bought a set of wrenches for me.

The bolts came out no problem and the drum can now move about freely. We did our best translating the instructions and selected the appropriate settings on the machine and started it just after lunch. We weren't paying much attention to time but the load was done just after supper. It took somewhere around 6 hours and the clothes were still damp. The next load we put on the "Rapide" cycle and used the "Eco-time" button. This load took about 3 hours and 20 minutes and we still had to hang them to dry.

 Anyway, we have clean clothes and some new tools so all is good. We've had some other issues as well. Netflix doesn't work in France, we don't have a blind for the bathroom window and we can't find regular bacon. Of all the issues, the bacon might be the most distressing.

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Off to Paris

We are leaving London this afternoon and traveling to Paris by train. We will be going through the channel tunnel. Both of us are looking forward to moving into our apartment so we can finally unpack all of our suitcases, do some laundry and cook our own food. We probably won't have an internet connection until next week so I won't be able to update the blog. I'll try to find a cafe with a wi-fi connection so I can make a quick entry. Wish us luck ;)

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Breakfast

I haven't been talking about food as much since we've been in London. You may assume that's because the food isn't as good here, but that's not true. There are plenty of great restaurants in London, especially in the neighbourhood we're staying in. In fact we are going to a restaurant in the hotel tonight that has just received its first Michelin Star. I just haven't had much of an appetite this week, but that has changed. Lori and I went for a delicious (and very unhealthy) breakfast this morning.

Most North Americans are shocked to find beans on their breakfast plates but I'm used to it from my days in the Royal Canadian Navy. I was actually disappointed that I didn't get any stewed tomatoes this morning.

On a completely unrelated note, I thought I would share this picture with everyone. I get a chuckle every time I come to a cross-walk and see this on the street. I guess too many tourists were being wiped out by double-decker buses.

A Snowy Day in London

I had a great walk yesterday. I was very surprised to find a few inches of snow on the ground once I got out of Mayfair. Maybe it's the Victorian buildings or maybe it's from watching A Christmas Carol, but snow in London makes it feel like Christmas.

It may not seem like a lot of snow to us but it's caused school closures and delays at the airport. Even the London Eye was shut down.

There is so much to see and do but poor Lori is stuck in a courthouse all day. We'll have to come back for a weekend when she's able to see everything with me.