Lockdown diary

Hey everyone. Hope you are all safe and healthy, wherever you might be in this crazy world.  I am holed up in Paris, and have not left our apartment since March 16.  I am set up to work remotely and very used to working from home having done so for nearly 15 years; plus around 70% of the residents in our building are elderly, so I just decided not to take any risk in contaminating them (even though it sounds like most of them insist on going out daily anyways. 😡).  But we have tons of food and a full freezer, so I have been trying to use this opportunity to empty out our cupboards and not contribute in any way to the panic buying that seems to be happening in some areas. 

My work has been insanely busy - pretty much non-stop from 9am to 9pm, so I haven't really felt the time go by, nor am I feeling 'confined' at all, but this period has been really difficult for C, whose work is completely stopped and whose boredom is likely only amplified by the fact that I am working so much.  Plus the weather has been so nice and it's prime planting time out at the land...

Luckily my gym has been offering free FB Live classes 4-5x per day on their FB page (search for CMG Sports Club if you want to join me!), so I have been taking breaks to do two classes per day, for a total 1-1h30 of exercise every day.  So on that side, it's been nice to be able to work out daily again, especially as my new job been so intense that I haven't managed to squeeze in more than 3-4 workouts per week since November.

Today is meant to be the nicest day of the year however, and I am considering going outside - several friends have indicated to me that it might be good just for my mental health, to avoid becoming agoraphobic.  We are short on a few fresh goods (some spinach would be nice for example), but the idea of going to the supermarket and then the cashier touching everything I buy does sort of stress me out. I mean, how silly would it be to catch and/or transmit the coronavirus now, after having made the effort to stay inside for 21 whole days?

Balance Ton Porc

Last week, I had the pleasure of catching up with a dear, dear friend who was back in town.  Over drinks and nibblies, she expressed surprise at having forgotten about the overt cat-calling that goes on in Paris.  Many times, she'd just been sitting at a café, minding her own business, only to be interrupted by one or more men.  We laughed about the sheer balls of these men, and then I started regaling them with the"return of the gym bise-r", whom I had not seen for a few months.  

At the end of my story however, she reframed it in a way that I had never thought of before.  She pointed out that there was a guy who was repeatedly making me uncomfortable on a weekly basis, so much so that I had actually changed my work-out schedule to avoid him, instead of confronting him, or bringing it up to management.  What really got me though is when she brought up that I might not be the only one dealing with this guy.  What if he was doing this to a different woman every day, and we were all collectively just de-dramatizing it or not wanting to make a fuss?  I mean, that's the message that we keep hearing over and over again on the news - that the women thought they were the only one or that they were somehow responsible in some way, so they didn't speak up.

This whole conversation has occupied my thoughts quite a bit lately, especially as for the past few weeks I had been saying that I had been 'lucky' enough to not have my own #MeToo story to share. I mean sure, I run into enormous amounts of sexism in my line of work, but not sexual harassment.  But now I'm thinking about all the subtle ways that I modify my behavior to avoid being in those kinds of situations.  I take self-defense classes.  I don't go to certain neighborhoods at night. I pay attention to what I wear when I go out without C. I cross the street if I see an aggressive-looking man walking towards me. I enter the most-populated metro cars at night.  I take an uber so that someone will be able to trace me if I disappear.   I've come to realize that these are all things that I've been doing unconsciously - it's only now after discussion that I realize that no, it's not normal that women have to do these sorts of things on a daily basis.

On the flip side, I heard a really good counter-argument to the "women are asking for it by how the dress/look/act" line.  If someone's home gets robbed, you would never say to them "Well, you were really asking for it by having such a nice house.  I mean, with your lawn trimmed so nicely and all those flowers and fancy decorations - you really can't blame someone for breaking in".  Or "Well what did you expect having such a nice car?  Leather seats, all the options, fancy rims....your car was just begging to be stolen".   And therein lies the irony - we would never say that to someone about their things, but yet many people wouldn't think twice about making such statements about a woman's body.

Not that I have any magical solutions.  But maybe my girlfriend was right in that it starts with each one of us calling out the small incidents we see around us, instead of sweeping them under the rug, making a joke about it, or somehow thinking it was our fault.

#parismaville

There was an interesting study released recently on the inhabitants of Paris, and I thought I'd share a few facts:

• 53% of city dwellers are Parisiennes
• 1/3 of the city is aged between 20 & 39 (vs a national average of 24%)
• There are 325,000 foreigners coming from 176 countries
• People marry more in Paris than elsewhere in France 
• 18% of marriages are for people of the same sex (vs 3% elsewhere)
• This one surprises me since having children in this city seems to be such a pain, but Parisians have more kids than the rest of the French - 12.8 kids per 100,000 vs 11.8 in the rest of the country
• The employment rate is slightly higher here - 77% vs 74%
• And conversely, unemployment is lower - 7.8% vs 9.7%
• Only 10% of the intra-muros population uses a car to get around. 
• 29% of Parisians volunteer (vs 25% nationally)

The top three things Parisians love about their city:

1. The pure beauty of Paris
2. The diversity of activities
3. The public transport

The top three activities Parisians love to do:

1. Stroll the streets
2. Grab a drink in a café
3. Exercise outdoors

The top three things Parisians dislike about Paris:

1. The cost of rent
2. Rudeness
3. Pollution

My feelings for Paris were definitely mixed before I moved here, but this city has been great to me and you can now count me among the 93% of Parisians who love it!

Free boat cruise on your birthday!

Just thought I would pass along this bon plan for anyone who will be in Paris on their birthday:

The bateaux mouches company Vedettes de Paris will give a free 1 hour cruise ticket + a glass of champagne (or a muffin+soft drink) to anyone on their birthday.  You just need to show up and provide proof that it actually is your birthday. 

This offer is valid on all 1 hour non-theme cruise all year long.  How cool is that?  Too bad I learned about it just after my birthday...but there's always next year!

4DX Movie Experience

This past weekend, C and I headed over to La Villette for two firsts.  One, our first picnic of the year by the canal, and two, our first time experiencing a 4DX movie theater.  If you haven't heard of it yet, 4DX is basically an enhanced theater, and France only currently has one.  Along with 3D and surround sound, 4DX theaters boast seats that move, blast air and have smell-o-vision.  Here's a trailer that's currently playing in French movie theaters to promote it:

I think it's pretty much mandatory that you see an action movie in order to take full advantage of everything the 4DX cinema has to offer, so we decided to see Pirates of the Caribbean in VO. The inside of the theater reminded me a bit of the rides at Disney that require a movie screen.  They were large, had foot rests and a protective bar in front.  There was also a small button on each one to choose if you wanted water or not:

I initially had it on, but ended up turning it off half-way through the film because who wants water spraying on their 3D glasses all the time?!

So what did we think? On a scale from 1 to 10, I'd say 6.5.  The timed seat movements were cool, but it did bother me a bit that they moved for both the antagonists and the protagonists.  I suppose they were just trying to give people their money's worth, but it was a little bit distracting to have the seat move for everyone, and not just from one person's point of view for example.  Two other things I wasn't a big fan of was sometimes it would poke you in the back to simulate movement behind you, but in reality, it really just felt like you had a kid behind you kicking your seat.  And secondly, the chair movement reminded me a little bit too much of airplane turbulence, and I kind of get enough of that when I fly.

There were also times where lights would turn on behind us to simulate lightning or explosions, but it wasn't that well done - it mostly seemed like someone was just turning on the lights during the middle of the movie and it was distracting more than anything else.  And the smell-o-vision was pretty limited - I think I only smelled something twice during the whole movie.  There were a few times where I thought it could have really made an impact and added to the movie - like a saltwater smell, or when a ship was burning or someone was cooking - but they didn't really take advantage of that at all.

The one thing I really did like though was the air movement.  Bullets whizzing by, etc didn't really feel realistic, but they did a great job at making us feel like we were really on a boat at sea with the wind in our hair, and since I love being on the water, this was one of my favorite parts of the whole experience. 

Besides all of that, the other bit of frustration I had was the price. I have the Gaumont movie pass, which is supposed to give me unlimited movie access, but I still had to pay 6€ extra to see this.  That's not such a big deal, but I also had a free movie pass that I was hoping to use for C's ticket.  After spending a frustrating 30 minutes trying to reserve online and finally contacting Gaumont via social media, I found out free & reduced-price tickets couldn't be used for 4DX films.  That meant I had to pay the full-price of 20€ for C's ticket + 6€ for my own - so it ended up being an expensive night when I was initially expecting to pay 0€.

So is it worth it?  Given the price....I'd say it's worth trying once or twice, but I likely won't be making it a habit. I imagine it would be a really fun activity to do as a family (though FYI, there are height requirements), and C & I both agreed that an intergalatic-themed movie would also be fun to see. I normally don't like sitting in the front row, but I would definitely recommend it for this type of theater.  It makes the movie seem more realistic since you don't have anyone sitting in front of you.

Lastly, on a side note - the mall where the theater is located was surprisingly nice for the neighborhood.  It looked like an upscale American mall, with tons of cute boutique shops and American-style restaurants.  There was a burrito place, a juice bar, an Asian Fusion restaurant, a cute pub, etc, and I would definitely recommend checking out the shops if you are looking to purchase some unique France-themed gifts.  There was also an anti-gravity flying pod that looked fun too.

Bilan de santé

About a month ago, I was poking around the French healthcare website to see if I could find a new dentist in our neighborhood.  (Our beloved dentist who did American-style dental cleanings up and disappeared into thin air about a year and a half ago.).  

I didn't end up finding a dentist nearby, but I did come across an article saying anyone who is insured in Ile de France has the right to have a free health check-up every five years.  Considering that I haven't had a check-up in probably 20 years, I figured now was as good as a time as any.  There was a short online form to fill out (here) and then a week later I received a convocation with a date/time at my closest center.

They had booked me in for 1:30pm, which initially seemed fine until I noticed I had to be à jeun* until that time for the blood draw.   Not eating anything and drinking only black coffee until after lunch did not seem to be the smartest idea, especially since I work out at noon, so I called back to see if I could reschedule. It took a while, and involved several emails and phone calls, but I finally got through and was able to set up another appointment for today.

Depending on your age, the check-up covers a meeting with a general practitioner, blood & urine sample analysis, dental exam, eye exam and electrocardiogram, and is supposed to last 2.5 hours.  If they find something urgently wrong, they will call you at 4:30pm the same day to inform you; otherwise you will receive your results 3-4 weeks later by mail.  (It's now 5pm here btw, so whew - no scary illnesses to report!)

So was it worth my time (and yours)?  I'd lean towards no.  The Dr's visit was short and extremely generic and the dental exam was also lightning speed and did not include a cleaning.  I was also disappointed they didn't do a frottis or a breast exam (though a mammogram might have be included if you are over 60).  It was kind of interesting to do the electrocardiogram though, but given all of the rest of your stuff can be prescribed by your  regular doctor for testing at your local laboratory, I don't think it's really worth 2.5 hours of  one's life.

The medical practitioners were all extremely friendly though, and even more so when it came out that I was American.  Though to be honest, given the population of people who were there (mainly homeless, I believe), they could have just been happy to have someone who was clean, sober and in generally good health.  

I did get scolded for not having seen a dentist recently though, so if anyone has a good, reasonably-priced dentist they can recommend in central Paris, please let me know! 

*They do give you a cookie and an applesauce after the blood draw, and at least at my health center, there was a coffee machine and a vending machine in the waiting room.

Ateliers gratuits aux Galeries Lafayette

This past Thursday, I received an invitation to participate in one of Galeries Lafayette's free summer workshops. This particular one had a focus on hair, with the theme being "Learn how to do summer's hottest hairstyles".

The atelier was held up on the 4th floor of the Coupole, in the "Salon Opéra". 

Each of us had a small work station set up with a head of hair, brushes and photos of hairstyles we could learn how to do. 

Here are some close-ups:

There were four stylists for 8 participants, so it was pretty hands-on. But what was frustrating was that none of the stylists really seemed to know how to do any of the hairstyles. They would try to show us first on the dummy, and it would end up looking like a hot mess. And they'd be like "See, voila!"  It was really odd though, because they had already been doing this same session every Thursday for a month, so you'd have thought they would have had some practice by then.

I ended up next to a really nice French girl, and she was much more of a hair expert than they were, so once they'd leave, she'd end up redoing it.  We had a good laugh each time, but in the end, it was sort of a waste of time. 

The stylists were from a makeover agency (that was uncreatively called "Makeover and Style Agency" lol), and they were supposed to give us a hairstyle of our choice at the end of the session.  I ended up with the guy you see in the first photo, and he was so slow and did an absolutely horrible job.  I asked for a braided low bun, and he ended up putting on this strange leather headband, and then doing a sloppy updo on one side and a very intricate braid on the other.  And then on top of that, he wanted to add a very large, bright red flower right on the back of my head. The French girl next to me thankfully, and very diplomatically, said "Um, I think if you do that it will hide your creative work".

Even without the flower though, it ended up being very bipolar and strange looking.  But oh well - it was an "experience" and I walked away with a few free accessories - the strange leather headband, a daisy headband and a foam donut for making hair buns.

If despite all that, you're interested in trying it out, there are two more sessions - one on August 11 and one on August 18, from 4-5:30. The sessions say they are full online, but if you just show up a few minutes beforehand at the salon opéra (4th floor, in the lingerie section), there is an extremely good chance you will get a spot as all the previous sessions have only had 25% of the enrolled participants show up.

Metro News

I'm about half-way through my 3 crazy month travel spree:

• Week 1- near Cholet
• Week 2- Thailand
• Week 3- China
• Week 4- home (woohoo!)
• Week 5- near Cholet
• Week 6- Istanbul
• Week 7&8- Thailand
• Week 9&10- US
• Week 11- Return to France
• Week 12- near Cholet
• Week 13- nothing booked yet, but that's still a ways out...

It's starting to make me regret getting annual passes for the metro, the gym and the cinema...but oh well, too late now.  And I hate using the individual metro tickets anyways, I always end up with a million of them everywhere, and never know if they've been used or not, etc.

But I did actually take the metro yesterday and picked up one of the free newspapers, so I thought I'd share a few interesting articles.

First of all, the Regional Tourism Committee has started renting out these little wifi boxes to tourists in order to give them better mobile access during their vacation.  The box is about the size of a telephone, has a 6h battery span, and allows you to connect up to 10 devices to it.  There are about 100 available, and you can rent them at the information booths at CDG and Galeries Lafayette.  The cost is pretty reasonable too - 7,90€ per day. 

There was a second offer for tourists too - Appart'City is offering a special for the month of June that allows customers to name their price for a hotel room.  The promotion is valid all over France and can be booked online at www.appartcity.com.

And lastly, if you don't like speaking in French on the phone or can never get your doctor to pick up, there is a new website called www.RDVmedicaux.com.  The site has over 2600 general practitioners and specialists (including ophthalmologists) in over 500 cities through France, and basically lets you book a doctor's appointment as you would a train ticket. They will send you a confirmation via SMS, as well as a reminder SMS the day before your appointment.  I can see how something like this would be extremely practical, both in helping you find an available doctor near you and also during les vacances.  I know there have been times in the past where I've had to call as many as 10 doctors before finding one available during the month of August!

Bastille Day 2014

Unless you've been hiding under a rock, you know that yesterday was Bastille Day (said no French person ever), or as it is more commonly known "le quatorze juillet".  It's my favorite French holiday, and this year in particular I have especially been looking forward to it because of our view.

I love me some good fireworks, and long before we found our apartment, I often dreamed of us watching the fireworks from chez nous, like I used to be able to do from my shoebox.   So that was my immediate thought the minute I stepped out on the balcony during our first visit here. I could literally already see us popping a bottle of champagne and enjoying the view.... which is exactly what we did last night. And it was magical.

I actually got a little teary during the middle of the show.  I'd been dreaming of this night for so long, and here it was. I could feel my happiness building along with the crescendo of the music, like the culmination of all of our hard work over the past few years that had brought us to this exact moment.

And it was perfect.

Thank you Universe.

Introducing THATRue!

Just a quick post to do a shout-out to THATLou's new Paris Treasure Hunt, cleverly called THATRue.  I was lucky enough to participate in yesterday's hunt, and it was a fabulously fun race across the Latin Quarter, starting at the Luxembourg gardens and ending at St Michel. 

There were two simultaneous hunts - one going through St Sulpice and one on the Cluny side. Now, I know the cluny side quite while since I used to live nearby and a lot of my old haunts are in that area, so I was happy to get the St Sulpice hunt, and I actually ended up learning a lot of fun facts about that part of the neighborhood.  And really, isn't that one of the great things about Paris - even when you think you know the city, there's always some new street or quartier to discover?

Here's the website in case anyone is interested - I think it'd be a really great idea if you're coming to Paris with your kids/family, or if you're looking for a team-building or group activity to do, especially on a nice day.

(As a side note, there is also a treasure hunt at the Musée d'Orsay called THATd'Or).

Free shuttle to Ikea

Just a tip for those looking to take advantage of the soldes at Ikea - I just saw there is a free shuttle bus from Denfert Rochereau to Ikea Thias on Wednesdays, Saturday and Sundays.  There are departures at 11, 1:30 and 3pm on Wednesdays, and everyone 1.5hrs from 9:30 to 3:30pm during the weekends.  Return departures are also every 1.5hrs, so that leaves enough time to do your shopping and grab a few meatballs. :)

The shuttle pick-up is just off of Denfert-Rochereau at 77, bvld St Jacques:

Ikea's website says it is a 16 minute journey...I'm not quite sure I believe that, but since it's a free ride out there, who really cares?

Le bar à tartines

Here's another fun one for ya, especially for those expats who remember the pre-Philly cream cheese in France days and what a pain in the butt it was to make a cheesecake back then.

Philadelphia is will be opening a pop-up cream cheese bar in Paris from June 5-9, at 14 rue Jean Jacques Rousseau - 75001 PARIS from 10am to 6pm daily.  They'll have all kinds of sweet and savory goodies to taste, and there will be cooking workshops held each day (advance reservations required). 

As a non-creative person, other people's creativity never ceases to amaze me.  I just saw a tweet for a "Beret & Baguette" bike event happening this weekend in Paris.  The goal is twofold - to promote the "retro culture" and biking, so folks are encouraged to dress up in their finest retro gear and ride on a vintage bicycle.  The dress code is "habits de la France d'entre deux guerres", or clothing from the time period between WWI and WWII.

The event will take place over two days, with a ride happening both Saturday and Sunday, and there's also a vintage ball being held Saturday night in the 3rd at Workshop Paris.

If you don't have a bike, Holland Bikes is offering a 10% discount on their rentals, making the cost 13.50€ for one day or 27€ for the weekend. 

We're going to be out of town this weekend, but if not, I actually might have gone to check out the bike ride - it must be pretty cool to see a bunch of people riding around looking like they stepped out of a time capsule, especially with Paris as their background. 

À l'Aise Breizh

Because some of you (*ahem*) weren't happy with my criticism of Bretagne, I thought I'd do a quick promo post for them.  Le Jardin d'Acclimatation is holding a rather large Bretagne Expo through next Monday, May 20th.  There are concerts, folk tales, parades and a Breton village where you can taste oysters and kouign amann and other Made-in-Bretagne goods.  There are activities for children and Breton games to try.



The park is open daily from 10am to 7pm, and entry costs 3€ for adults and 1.50€ for kids.  You can find the full schedule (in French) here: http://www.jardindacclimatation.fr/uploads/document/1_1366991038_programme_la_bretagne_au_jardin.pdf

Urban gardening

C really enjoys gardening, but being in Paris, our options are somewhat limited.  We've had a few plants here and there for the past two years, but this year he wanted to expand. Our balcony is very long and narrow, so I bought him this book for his birthday in order to help him optimize it:

He read through it all spring and in true C style, worked long and hard making a drawing of how he was going to lay out his garden.  We're now about two months in, and so far, everything is going swimmingly, so I thought I'd share here just how much it is possible to grow on your balcony in Paris.

First we have the flowers - tulips, irises (bloomed in Feb/March), Lily of the Valley, pansies and orange daisies (yet to come).

Next we have the herbs - parsley, basil, rosemary, mint and hopefully a bit of coriander:

And then the veggies: garlic, onions, potatoes, peas bell peppers, kale planted with seeds from The Kale Project and cherry tomatoes (yes, I do know that tomatoes aren't technically a vegetable).

Last but not least - the fruits: strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, a dwarf cherry tree that is too young to bloom yet and ten (!) blueberry plants.  He's also trying to grow a grape vine from seeds - a few have sprouted, so we'll see!

Pots and window boxes can be quite expensive in France, so given the number of them we needed, we bought most of ours used either on Craig's List or LeBonCoin.  A few of them came with the necessary hanging baskets, but some didn't - and buying new ones was pretty pricey, so C decided to make his own with some fencing materials.  I immediately had thoughts of them falling off the balcony and on to pedestrians below, but so far, they seem pretty sturdy.  There has already been an increased number of birds swooping around though, so we've also purchased some netting in order to keep any greedy little buggers away once the fruits start growing. 

Because the book advised different soils for different plants, we've also been slowly accumulating different kinds over the winter.  A trip to the sea?  The perfect opportunity to scoop up some sand and rocks.  A walk in the forest?  Let's pick up some pine needles while we're at it.  A day in the countryside?  Let's dig up some dirt out of a field.  (We also purchased a bag of regular dirt at a gardening store).

I should mention too that we don't have full rows of plants - there is probably about an average of 4-5 planted per type.  So with the exception of the blueberries, we're not going to feed ourselves for a year or anything, but it's still fun to be able to pick something right out of the garden and cook with what we've grown.

I think I'll probably post a few pictures at the end of the summer with our harvest, to show how successful (or not) we have been.  In the meantime, if you meet C, be sure to ask him about his garden.  He goes to see it the minute he gets home and spends a lot of time out there making sure everything is going okay.  I swear, his "babies" are almost getting more attention than I am!

La Nuit aux Invalides

Next week, C & I have tickets to check out "La Nuit aux Invalides".  It's the second year the 3D sound and light show has been produced in (and literally on) the inner courtyard of les Invalides. They have a website here in English, and tickets are 12€ for the show or 20€ for the show plus a guided visit of the Dome afterwards. 

Keep it in mind if you're looking for something fun to do with all of the bank holidays coming up!

Les 24H du Vélib

For all of you Vélib fans out there, be sure to mark your calendars for the second annual 24h Vélib on June 15 & 16. The goal of the two days of festivities is to have people cycle 25,000km with 400 vélibs and to raise money for three different associations: Good Planet, Mécénat Chirurgie Cardiaque or la Fondation du Patrimoine.  They will have a little village set up near the Petit Palais, and then on the Sunday, they will close down the Champs Elysée for the bike ride.

 

So if you've always had a secret desire to know what it feels like to be coming into Paris with the Tour de France, now's your chance!  You can show up anytime between 8am and 8pm, and take one of the 400 available bikes for a spin down the Champs.  You'll be allowed to do 10 "tours", and then you can decide which one of the three associations you want to donate your ride to (the association with the most number of rides will get a little extra bonus at the end).  Last year, they rode over 17,000km and raised more than 40,000€ for the associations. 

For more information, you can check out their blog, their facebook page or follow them on Twitter.

This past Friday, I got up earlier than usual in order to attend a private event at the Centre Pompidou.  The lovely Edna, thanks to her Irish connections, invited a group of us bloggers to be the guests of Premier Tax Free.  We had breakfast on the top level, overlooking the (rainy) roofs of Paris, while listening to a few informational speeches on French-Irish relationships.  Who knew there were so many ties between the two countries?

Then it was off for a guided tour of the Eileen Gray exhibit. I enjoyed the exhibit, but quickly took to chatting with others because I couldn't handle the guide's verbal tic - an extremely guttural 'Uhhhhh' every couple of words.  I'd recommend checking out the blogs of Jennyphoria or ParisImperfect if you want more info on her pieces - those two ladies are better bloggers than I am, and took a lot of notes.

I, on the other hand, was busy taking in the views and remembering that I live in a pretty amazing city.  I have been traveling so much lately that all I have seen is the inside of the CDG airport or the Montparnasse train station, and because I no longer have the fabulous view I had in my shoebox, it's easy for me to forget that I actually do live in Paris.  So the event left me with a renewed desire to leave the three-block radius of our apartment and get out and explore the city again.

I also wanted to give a small shout-out to Premier Tax Free, since they were kind enough to invite us. Their whole goal is to help tourists get VAT refunds for items they have purchased.  Within the EU, you have to be a non-EU resident in order to be eligible, but they also help tourists in many non-EU countries, including several in South America and Asia.


Something I didn't know is that the amount you need to spend in order to be eligible for the refund varies greatly by country - for example, in England, it's only 25£, or in Ireland, it's 30€.  Whereas France is 175€.  As a side note, these totals reference how much you need to spend on one purchase in one store in one day, and don't forget to ask the cashier for the refund form (though some of the bigger stores even have their own VAT refund desk that can help you out).  And then you just need to get your receipt stamped by airport customs, and then either drop it off and a VAT refund booth or mail it in.

I've never done it yet since I usually buy most of my big purchases in the US, but I do know several people who have gotten refunds on computers, phones, etc.  Considering that VAT taxes can go as a high as 25% in some of the countries, it can end up being a pretty nice chunk of change back in your pocket!

Mind the gap (literally)

So before I left for Bulgaria this week, I trekked all the way over to La Défense (reminds me of when we used to meet up there Crystal!) in order to buy a crock pot.  I had originally purchased one maybe 18mo ago from 3suisses, and the darn thing would crack after only a few uses.  I kept asking for a refund each time, but instead 3suisse would just send me a new one, and wash, rinse & repeat X 4. The fifth time was a charm, and I finally got a refund after saying I was worried about the fire hazard their poorly-made product was bringing into my home. (Though as a side note, they didn't tell me they were sending a refund check, so I sat there waiting for a new crock pot for weeks on end until one day the check just showed up in the mail - Eff you 3suisses and your crappy customer service).

But that still meant I needed a new crock pot.  So I started looking around online, and the one I wanted was 100€. I'd only been reimbursed 50€ for the old one, and given we are in mega-savings mode, I didn't want to spend a fortune, so I decided to wait until after Christmas to see if one popped up online as an unwanted Christmas gift.  And lo and behold, there was my crock-pot, brand-new and at the price I wanted, so I set up a time to meet the owner at LD to pick it up.

On my way back, I transferred at Concorde to the line 12.  As I was entering the metro car, someone bumped me from behind and I got caught slightly off-balance. So instead of landing on the floor, my foot went straight down through the space between the car and the quay.

Yep, you read that right. 

I ended up on one knee, with the other leg dangling in the hole. On top of that, the crock pot had fallen out of the bag.  I froze for a second, panicking about the doors closing on me, but then all of the sudden, everyone around me reacted and I felt several arms lifting me up and into the car.  As the doors closed, a fellow-passenger had the foresight to quickly grab the crock pot box and scoot that inside too.

We all just kind of looked at each other for a second, and then the panic wore off and the mortification filled in. Like omg, I cannot believe that just happened to me.  I thanked everyone around me, but all of the sudden their Parisian faces were back on and everyone was just pretending that nothing had happened.  Tant mieux.

I'd like to pretend nothing happened either....and I would, except I have an eggplant-sized bruise going down one side of my leg and a bunch of scrapes going up the other side.  My only saving grace was that my shoe did not fall off.  You see, it had already semi-fallen off twice that day just during walking, and by some miracle, it did not fall down on to the tracks.  It was bad enough being *that girl* without having to go through the humiliation of having to make the rest of the trip home with only one shoe.  Between my big Carrefour bag, my messed-up hair, and a missing shoe, I would have looked like a right bag lady! 

Just another glamorous day in Paris...

Metro fun

I came across a pretty cool website today on Facebook - it shows the annual user frequency of each of the Paris Metro stations.  It's no surprise that the most popular ones are the train stations (St Lazare, Montparnasse, Austerlitz & Gare de Lyon).

You can access it online here: http://labs.data-publica.com/ratp/