Rachel J. Roche

More from last weekend.

Today (the Saturday) was all about finding my bearings and B was also keen to go roller-skating in the Parc du Luxemborg so we scouted out a rollerblade rental and sock shop to visit later in the day. Breakfast was typically French of course – a pain au chocolate/croissant and a coffee near to the Pantheon and, upon looking at the map, it was clear that my new apartment was just around the corner from the café. After breakfast, we headed over to the Pantheon which is right next to the Sorbonne and worked out that my new place is literally about 300 meters from the famous landmark. Making our way over there, it was strange, like I’d stepped straight into my computer as it was exactly like it was on Google maps! Not that I suppose that is much of a surprise! Before our 2:30 pm meeting at the apartment, B and I wondered through the park and I bought Mimi a bunch of flowers and we found a sock shop for rollerblading later on – the most expensive socks in the world, a precariously wrapped bunch of flowers and about 45 minutes later we were back to meet Mimi. Now, I had spoken to her over the phone briefly a few weeks before as she had called me to firm up our plan for this weekend, and we had exchanged a fair few emails – plus I had spoken to her on Skype in May when I saw the advert for her room to rent on Craigslist, but you never know whether someone or somewhere is going to be as it appears until you actually get there. Not to mention the many scams that pop up on Craigslist for rooms to rent that don’t even exist - I had a couple of those but luckily when someone sends me a photo of an apartment in Paris with a sea view, I think I can safely assume that it’s a no-go!.

Mimi was lovely and she had gone to the trouble of making a pot of tea and coffee, plus had some cakes and macaroons laid out on her coffee table in the lounge, bless her. The conversation was exclusively in French (as expected) and B said that she found it quite strange being in someone’s house that she didn’t know and not understanding what we were on about! Although saying that, whilst I could understand most things that Mimi was talking to me about, there were a few times when I found myself nodding my head in agreement to something that I didn’t understand at all! I’m fairly sure it was nothing fundamental however so I wasn’t too concerned. By this point, it was general chit chat – about the Olympics, about the macaroons, the weather and getting out and about in Paris. I think the rendezvous went fairly well and after firming up plans for my arrival on the 1 September and handing over my first months’ rent as arranged as my deposit, it was time to head back out for more exploring. Mimi lent us an A to Z of the city to help us find our way around.

Next stop was a late lunch. Directed by Mimi, B and I walked round to the left side of the Pantheon and down some narrow cobbled streets. It wasn’t long before we found a nice restaurant which was still serving food and we ended up sharing a salad and some cooked meats. It was a welcome boost before heading towards Rue De Rivoli over the other side of the river, near to where my first weeks’ study will be held. Although my feet were starting to hurt from all the walking, and I suppose I had better get used to that, I was on a mission to locate the building which we eventually managed to do with the help of Mimi’s A to Z. For those of you who know me, you will know that my navigational skills are a bit rubbish, but we did eventually find the building and then it was on to search for rollerblades!

The rollerblading shop is just off the Bastille (uk.nomadeshop.com) and it was pretty inexpensive to hire a pair each for 24 hours. I can see myself going rollerblading a fair bit when in Paris as it’s also great exercise!

In the evening, B and I took the Metro to the Eiffel Tower and had dinner close by. There were lots of people in the Champ de Mars (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Champ_de_Mars) despite it now being dark and I can’t wait to have a picnic with Adam there when he comes to visit me!

More updates soon.