Over the last couple of weeks we have been trying to pack in as much tourism as we could before moving out to the suburbs.
We spent an evening at the Arc de Triomphe. The first thing you should know about the Arc de Triomphe is be prepared for stairs, there are a lot of them. The view is amazing (as most in Paris are).
The Arc de Triomphe is surrounded by a roundabout. No lanes, you just go and hope for the best.
Like I said, the view was pretty amazing. Makes the stairs completely worth it.
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Next up, was the towers, cathedral, and crypt of Notre Dame. Again, a lot of stairs, but the view was also worth it. It is definitely an amazing piece of history, it's awesome that they have still maintained it as a functioning church.
It was a little foggy out that day, definitely added something to the pictures.
The cathedral was beautiful. Protip: the cathedral is free to enter, but it is definitely worth paying to go up the towers.
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This weekend we went to Palais Garnier which is the Paris Opera House. It was gorgeous, I recommend coming here, it doesn't seem to be a very popular place to go, and I do not understand why. It is still operating as an opera house and you can also go to symphonies and ballets here as well. We are hoping to partake in something here one day.
Ceiling in the performance area.
The main lobby.
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Well, that is all for now. Up next: Dealing with French Bureaucracy: Holy [insert your choice of expletive here] we live in France and are piling up the paperwork to prove it.
One of my coworkers who was also transferred from Edmonton to Paris always used to tell us one of his favourite stories of a work trip to Paris. He was out with a coworker one night. They had a few drinks but needed to grab something to eat. They ended up at this magical restaurant with piles of sausages, baskets of vegetables, fire-cooked meats, and a barrel of wine. Unfortunately he could never remember the name of the place or even where it was located. A bit of persistence and some Google magic lead us to Nos Ancetres Les Galois last Friday night.
The restaurant's name translates to "Our Ancestors, The Gauls" and that is a fairly solid description. The look and feel of the restaurant fairly well fits the stereotypical dining hall of pre-mediaeval France.
Photo Credit: Trip Advisor
When you arrive for the evening, a large basket of raw vegetables is placed on your table (you can see one in the middle of the table in the picture) which allows you to construct your own salad. In addition you are invited to partake in the unlimited cask of bordeau and the appetizer buffet (picture below) which included a variety of house-made sausage, pickled vegetables, and more.
Photo Credit: KelMenu
Once you felt satisfied with the appetizers and salad, your order for the main was taken. A wide selection of fire-cooked meats with a side of baked potato are offered. Everything from duck kebabs to steak to ribs is available. The meal concludes with a choice of desserts. Jessica posted a picture of her lemon sorbet served in a lemon on Facebook.
On top of all of that, a troubadour serenades the crowd and gladly accepts both tips and assistance in singing everything from (what I assume were) French folk songs to oldies. You could definitely tell who were the tourists (and us) vs the locals by who sang along in what language.
The entire meal (including the unlimited wine) is available for a flat rate per person.
If you are looking for a unique (albeit not cheap) experience while in Paris, I'd highly recommend it.
My desire for regular posting seems to have gone out the window already. I suppose it was inevitable, but I was hoping it wouldn't happen quite this quickly. We've had a busy week and a half since my last post. Most of that, unfortunately, relates to more mundane tasks than trips to Versailles.
The biggest thing that happened last week was our house-hunting trip. Firstly, to clarify, no it was not like House Hunters International. Yes we have seen the show. No it doesn't really work like that. The main difference comes from how ridiculously competitive the market for apartments is here. Our relocation representative Beatrice said that in the 15-or-so years she's been working in the industry, she's never seen it so tight. To be fair, there are always new apartments popping up but, unfortunately, they will often be gone within days (or hours).
We were trying to find something that would give us a good mix of a short commute for me to work (in the village of Clamart just outside of Paris...for those in Edmonton, think St Albert) while staying a reasonably short distance to Paris. Our first stop was in the village of Chatillon which connects Clamart and Paris. As soon as she arrived, Beatrice informed us that one of the appointments she had gotten us an appointment to see had already been rented. It was not a good start to the day.
The apartment itself wasn't too bad despite being a bit small (something we were trying to get used to). Unfortunately it was next to a massive construction site. In even worse news, the renting agent we had met informed Beatrice that the owner of the next place (also in Chatillon) we were due to see hadn't left the keys so we couldn't get in. Naturally, that place was the largest apartment on our list.
With effectively two cancellations, Beatrice worked some magic and got us into our next appointment a bit early. This apartment was in the village of Plessis-Robinson which is next to Clamart. Our first impression of the village was fantastic. They seem almost obsessed with covering every square inch of public space with flowers. In addition, just down the street from the apartment is a farmer's market that makes the Strathcona market look small. The apartment was great but the renting agent told Beatrice that she was showing it to three other people that day. For once that didn't seem like a hard-sell tactic.
We took a quick look at the remaining apartments we were scheduled to see. All of them were all quite close to Paris (meaning I'd have a long commute), were much smaller, and the communities lacked the charm of Plessis-Robinson that we had already fallen in love with. We said we'd take it on the spot.
I took a quick video tour of the apartment while we were there which you can see here:
I apologize for the potato-adjacent quality and more-so for the fact it was taken in portrait mode. Once we're back in the apartment I'll be able to take some better pictures and video.
All that remains is the paper work (which, apparently, is no small amount of work).
This story took quite a bit more space to tell than I was expecting. The remaining stories for this past week will have to wait until later.
