David Lynch at the Galeries Lafayette

Yesterday I went to the Galeries Lafayette with a colleague to do a little shopping. Unbeknownst to us the acclaimed American filmaker and visual artist, David Lynch was also set to make an appearance that evening as well. He was there to celebrate the 11 display windows that he designed around the theme "Machines, Women and Abstraction".

Upon leaving the store we saw his creations and we were both quite impressed with the creativity of the designs.

Unfortunately, we didn't stay long enough to get an actual sighting of David Lynch himself. But if you are so inclined the window displays will be available from now until October 4th if you care to check them out yourself.

Customer Service at it's Best?

On Saturday I went to pick up a bracelet that I had dropped off at Skalli in the Marais several weeks prior to be prepared. For those of you that don't know, Skalli is a really cute jewlery boutique with colorful and moderately priced pieces. I would have picked it up several days earlier but that idea was foiled when the salesperson quoted me a false closing time of 9PM instead of 7PM but I just chalked that up to my less than perfect French. I pick up my bracelet and the sales woman tells me that instead of repairing my previous bracelet they just replaced it with a brand new one free of charge.

After the bracelet pick up I decided to have a coffee at a café in the Marais. As I'm sitting there enjoying my coffee I decided to take out my bracelet to have another look. To my horror I realized that my gold bracelet was actually replaced with a silver one. I headed back over to the boutique but it was closed for lunch. When the boutique finally opened I told the woman of the mistake and her response was "well that's the one that they sent back, there's nothing I can do." My retort was to show her my earrings and explain how they just don't match a silver bracelet and that I'd rather have my broken gold bracelet instead of a silver one.

She finally tells me that she'll see what she can go and as she's looking to see if they still have that specific bracelet in stock she makes sure to tell me that she's "doing me a very big favor." Instead of going with my gut reaction and wanting to tell her off I decided to stick with my original defense. I reiterated that the new bracelet just didn't match my earrings while cursing her under my breath. She pulls a closed box out of the closet, opens it up and finds my actual bracelet in gold. Wanting to take one last stab at me as she packages my bracelet the saleswoman says, "you're lucky because this is probably the last bracelet in all of Paris." Little does she know that on Saturday she was the lucky one because I was on my best behavior.

London Update: Better Late Than Never

So I went to London two weekends ago and the trip was a roaring success thanks to a favorable exchange rate and cooperative weather. I didn’t have a detailed itinerary to follow and I just went with the flow. I don’t usually fare very well when trips aren’t planned down to the minute but I think I handled it fairly well this time around. I travelled with my friend YM and we stayed at a very nice Holiday Inn in Camden Lock. Booked at a rate of $50/night through Hotwire.com we really beat the price.

This particular trip consisted more of hanging out, letting loose and shopping than sightseeing. However, thanks to my lovely friend Fauzia acting as tour guide all hope wasn’t lost. She let us partake in her Saturday morning ritual of visiting Borough Market, strolling along the Thames and then visiting Tate Modern Museum.

While I appreciated being able to speak in English with any and everyone and the cute bars and restaurants there was no feeling of love at first sight. Sorry London. However, I’m not opposed to a follow up visit if the exchange rate stays at its current level.

In keeping with my New Year’s promise to myself I have three other trips planned. A day trip to Reims this month, a weekend in Vannes the end of March and a long weekend in Bordeaux for Easter. I have to start planning some Q2 trips stat.

Why I Won't Be Shopping Tomorrow

Les soldes start tomorrow, the twice a year extravaganza when the French government permits stores to markdown their inventories usually from 30-70%. This year I had every intention of playing hooky, I mean using an RTT day, and checking out the scene with some friends. That is until I got sick however, all hope wasn't lost but I'm still just a little too American for my own good.

You see I went to the doctor yesterday and she basically told me to sleep off my angine. This would have been perfectly sound advice had I not traveled 40 minutes on the metro and paid 70 euros for her to tell me to continue doing what I had been doing for the past 3 days. Moving on, since I didn't go to work on Monday she wrote me the French equivalent of a doctor's note. In the process of filling out the form she asked me if I wanted to take off on Tuesday and Wednesday to give myself enough time to rest. Initially I thought "cha-ching, soldes here I come" but then my conscience got the better of me and I told her that 2 days (Monday and Tuesday) would be just fine and I should be feeling better enough by Wednesday to go to work.

And that my friends is how I shot myself in the foot and am too American for my own good. No soldes for me, at least not on the first day.

July 9th...

...is my official start date.

Some things that I'm looking forward to now that I'll be making a livable salary once again are:

1. Joining a gym
2. Taking yoga classes
3. Eating out a little more
4. Being able to purchase a 4€ bouquet of flowers from the marché and not have it feel like a complete and utter luxury
5. Moving to the type of Paris apartment that I've always dreamed of (we'll see)
   

Rejoining the workforce also has me a bit nervous as I'm not sure how and if I will be able to adjust from working 12 hours (and most recently 0 hours) to full time employment. I'm also a bit apprehensive about once again having to navigate the muddy waters of office politics with the added complication of cultural differences. I guess only time will tell how it all works out.

Stay tuned.

Pretty Things

I went to the marché this morning and for some reason I ended up spending more money than I usually do there. I did end up treating myself to some pretty flowers. I couldn't resist because they were so interesting looking and I can honestly say that I've never seen anything like them before. From the pictures below you'll probably also notice that I've yet to buy a vase. Now is probably a good time since les soldes started yesterday.

Les Fleurs

Les Fleurs

In other news I spent the evening yesterday with my friend Opal having a drink at Café du Nord along the Canal Saint-Martin and we spotted Angès from the French equivalent of America's Next Top Model. It was actually pretty weird because I never, ever recognize people when I see them on the streets including A-list Hollywood celebrities.

My Friend Miss Vancouver

So I have this friend Amy here in Paris and she has been my partner in crime in many of my Parisian escapades and we've jokingly nicknamed her Miss Vancouver. Initially, she protested against the nickname but now she pretty much embraces it. If you met Amy you would realize how fitting the nickname is on so many levels. For the record, I consider Amy one of my really god friends here in Paris.

Now, with that said, I must put Amy on blast. Several weeks ago when the sales started Amy decided that she wanted to buy a new pair of boots. I agreed to tag along with her as a shopping buddy to offer feedback on any purchase. We travelled to multiple boutiques and large department stores but were unfortunately unable to find the specific style boots that she was looking for. About a week before the sales were to end Amy asked that I accompany her to the mall in the St. Lazare area. I insisted that there was no other mall in the area that we had not already checked out yet she assured me that a mall existed and went on to explain that it was fairly large and that it had 7 floors of stores. Intrigued I agreed to meet up with her. After waiting for Amy to arrive for 15 minutes we walked down Boulevard Haussman to the address that Amy had identified. To make a long story short the "mall" that Amy was referring to was actually les Galeries Lafayette. Folks, les Galeries Lafayette is not a mall rather a large upscale department store.

Fast forward to today. I had recently purchased some books for a language course at Gilbert Jeune. After purchasing the books I decided to change the course I was taking and this in turn required that I had to buy new books. Amy is taking a language course as well but hers is located in the St. Germain area. Since Amy and I were hanging out today I decided to go with her to class and then stop by the bookstore nearest there. I go into the store, asked someone for assistance, picked up my books and went to the register. In French I told the cashier that I wanted to do an exchanged because I had purchased the wrong books. The man looked at me like I was absolutely crazy because I wasn't in Gilbert Jeune, I was in Gilbert Joseph. That's like trying to return a book purchased from Barnes and Noble at Borders. I scraped up any dignity that I had left and walked out of the store all the while cursing Miss Vancouver in my head.

Chou-ette

While walking through the Marais several weeks ago I came across this cool window display:



No my friends, you're not looking at the latest designs in footwear, you're looking at chocolate shoes. The boot pictured above will set you back approximately 270 euros about the same price as a pair made from actual leather.

Citygirl Goes to the Marche

Apparently to get the freshest fruits and vegetables at the best price is to go shopping at the open air marchés. There are two marchés near my apartment which means that I can get fresh produce up to 4 times a week. Sounds good, non?

Well not quite. Take a look at this head of lettuce that I purchased from the marché:

Click to enlarge image

Even though I'm a city girl I know that lettuce comes from the ground but I've never seen lettuce freshly picked from the ground. Now as if the dirt wasn't bad enough as I was cleaning my lettuce I found numerous insects buried in the leaves. Needless to say I never did get around to eating that salad.

From now on I think that I will stick to buying safe things such as apples, grapes, nuts and flowers from my local marché.

Finalement

This morning at 4:44AM EDT I was awoken by the beeping and buzzing of my fax machine. After I wiped the sleep from my eyes I sat up in my bed, did the double fist pump motion and thought gleefully to myself "mon arrêté, mon arrêté" (this thought actually occurred in English but is typed in French solely for effect). Now and only now does it feel as though I will be moving to France is little over 1 week. Now and only now has some of the stress lifted off of my shoulders to make way for feelings of excitement. And yes my arrêté has confirmed my placement in Pantin and Aubervilliers which are still less than 5 miles (4.5 km) from the center of Paris.

In other news I should be wrapping up things with my lease reassignment this week which means even one less thing to stress about. Lastly, I have begun the tedious task of pack the clothes and accessories that I plan to bring with me to Paris. The good news is that I have donated plenty of items that I no longer wear nor have use for. I've had items that have gone untouched for years hanging in my closet and sitting in my dresser just taking up space. While the purging process itself is quite liberating, psychologically I'm finding it hard to adjust to having less tangible things. I'm sure things will be OK when I go on my first shopping spree in Paris. This girl needs a new pair of walking shoes.

France Things I Love #2

Petit Bateau

Not only does Petit Bateau make the most adorable children's clothing they also make some pretty awesome items for adults as well. A perpetual wardrobe staple of mine, especially in the spring and fall are their Scallop Trim Short Sleeve Tees. These tees are 100% cotton but you would guess it because of their ability to maintain their shape and form wash after wash.

Now, these tees are relatively inexpensive here in the states going for $25 for a set of two. However, in France they are half that price!! Now that's affordability even on an assistant's salary. I definitely plan to stock one these tees and some other Petit Bateau basics whileup while I'm there.

Apple Store = Chaos

Yesterday I went to the Apple Store on 5th Avenue to purchase the World Travel Adapter Kit for Sophia, my MacBook Pro because I didn't want anything bad to happen to her while she kept me company on my sojourn in Paris.

However, moments after stepping inside of the store I had a moment where I said to myself, "self, you should have known better". I've been to this particular Apple Store in the past and the one in SoHo and it's just sheer and utter chaos. I should have known that venturing into the store after the release of the iPhone was going to be a nightmare.

There were people all over the place, music blaring and really no one there to help me out. I can appreciate Apple's concept in wanting shoppers to experience their products with all senses but enough is enough. I prefer a much more serene shopping experience. It's as if the shopping experience at an Apple Store is the complete antithesis of purchasing an Apple product. The only saving grace from the whole experience was not having to stand in the long line at the register. I was able to purchase my adapter by an associate on the floor that had a mini computer and was able to complete my purchase.

I hereby make a mental note to myself, "self, never again, never again, that's why the internet and e-commerce were created."