Shop Till You Drop!

Yesterday was Karina's last day :(.

We planned a solid day of shopping, in order to send her off in style.

But first, I should tell you about the apartment Erik and I looked at. We are hoping to move out of our beautiful (and too expensive) apartment at the end of February, so we asked Science Accueil to send us another list of possible places. Of the list of about 20 that we got, only 3 were in Paris. So we went to check out the one with the best location (across the street from the Jardin des Plantes). It was listed as a studio (25 square metres), that sleeps 3. The place we have now is 56 sm, but we are definetly comfortable, and figured we could go smaller. Well, the main problem with this place was that it didn't have a kitchen. Well, it did have a kitchen, but it was the size of a small closet (barely big enough for one person), with a hot plate and a microwave. I'm not sure what you would cook in there, but certainly not much. The next problem was the bed. I'm not sure where the third person, or even the second were supposed to sleep. We walked into the main room, and there was a single bed. Apparently it is a trundle style bed, with another mattress that pulls out. The landlord told us that was a double. Makes the sofa bed that we've been sleeping on for a month look pretty good. Anyway, we've decided that we have standards slightly higher than that, and we both like to cook, so the hot plate wastn' going to cut it. We're looking at another place today in Montparnasse, and then we're asking Science Accueil for more options, and we're going to start looking at more expensive places (which is how we got into this mess in the first place...)

So, the day of shopping didn't actually start with shopping. We had planned to visit the crypte under Notre Dame in the morning, and check out the flying buttresses that Christy has taught us all about. I have to say that the Crypte was a dissapointment. Below the square in front of the cathedral are ruins from ancient buildings that were once in the area. Sounds interesting, and could have been really wonderful, but it was presented very poorly. We never really figured out how they found these ruins in the first place, and it was so dark that you couldn't really see anthing. Some displays were completely dark, to the point that you couldn't see the writing. There were interactive lightbulbs on the ruins that you could press to light up parts that the description wrote about, but at least half of the bulbs were burnt out. So it was just dark. After that we planned to go to the top of the towers on Notre Dame, but a long line; a 7 euro entry fee and advice from another tourist in line sent us to La Chapelle to see the stained glass windows there instead. Unfortunately, the line for La Chapelle stretched around the block, so we went for lunch instead :)

After a delightful lunch, right next to the heater, we ditched the boys (well, we never got Steve out of bed, and Erik went home after the apartment viewing. They all went to the museum later at Les Invalides) and headed for the shops. We walked along the Seine to the St. Germain area, where purses and souvenirs were bought. Then Karina and I thought it would be a good idea to check out La Grande Epicerie at le Bon Marche, to see how it compared to Galleries Lafayette Gourmet. Another adventure, although I think we were too tired to fully appreciate it.

We met up with the boys back home, and went for dinner (where Karina dropped Steve's camera, and it almost suffered the same fate as mine. I will post the picture that was taken after the drop, Karina and I were both laughing so hard...not sure why, I guess it probably wasn't too funny...). The only other thing on Karina's must-see list was the Seine river tour, and the last one left at 10:00 (so we thought). We raced down to Pont Neuf after dinner, arriving at 9:58 only to discover that the boat actually leaves at 10:30... It was a wonderful tour, and we did brave the outside for a bit, but it was just sooooo cooooold!

Christy and Samir came over for drinks after, and we all said good bye to Karina (sniff sniff), then Erik, Steve and I went home to finish packing.

We moved out of our place this morning, and are now bunking with the rents for the week. 7 people and one bathroom...will it be a problem?

Joan and I have just solved the mystery about what the woman who owns this house does. I feel like a bit of a Sherlock Holmes (it wasn't really hard. We just weren't looking in the right places). Guess away, and first correct guess gets a trip down the Seine. But you have to come to Paris to collect your prize :) I'll let everyone know what she does in a couple of days...