Oh the Places you’ll go

The flight from Chicago to Paris was pretty non-eventful. I was able to upgrade to Business Class (my first time flying business) for a few hundred bucks. They served me champagne as I arrived to my seat which I quickly throw down the front of my shirt while dorking around with all the adjustment buttons for the seat (I can be a little kid sometimes). I watched a few movies and tried unsuccessfully to get some sleep.

I found both my bags and taxi very quickly. I was feeing sleep deprived once I sat down in the cab. I managed to ask what the current time was in french. I was hoping the driver would be talkative but that wasn’t the case. It only took a half hour or so to get from Paris to Versailles. She had a little trouble navigating the one way streets to get to my new home. The cab ride cost 80€. My Baxter rep was waiting for me when we pulled up. He helped me with my bags up the one flight of stairs. Because I was going on like 2 hours of bad sleep I didn’t notice that this was Gerard’s first time seeing the apartment. It was much larger to both of our surprises. 3 bedrooms, 2 showers, 1 toilet, washer/dryer, dishwasher, oven, stove, and TV (circa 1988).

After walking around the apartment Gerard wanted to take me to lunch. We drove around the block to a string of cafe’s where I had my first french meal, a ham sandwich, or as they call it jambon frommage. This was the driest sandwich I’ve ever had but I didn’t really care because I was starving and it was free. We finished our lunch and Gerard dropped me off so he could head off to work. He left me with a handful of printed maps of Versailles and Paris. He gave me a few landmarks, such as the supermarket and train stations. I didn’t feel like exploring quite yet so I turned on the TV. The cable hadn’t been activated so I got nothing but snow. No entertainment for me I guess. I picked up the telephone to call my folks even though it was like 5am back home. No dial tone…… pushed a few numbers…. nothing. “Awesome” I thought. The telephone wasn’t turned on either. Gerard told me to call him if I needed anything and right now I wanted a working telephone, with my only option being a public telephone I decided the call could wait till a decent hour.

I began the slow act of unpacking all my stuff into the various closets. I had to move a few things around but I got it all to fit. By this time it was mid afternoon and because I wanted to stay up as long as possible to get my schedule acclimated I took a quick shower and threw on some clothes and headed out to explore the area. I knew from google mapping my address that I would be close to the Chateau. I can walk to the Chateau in less than five minutes, pretty crazy. It costs 5€ to go inside the palace but its free to see the gardens behind the palace.

I ended up walking around the gardens for about 2 hours or so. I took a bunch of pictures along the way. I could feel myself getting tired so I left the palace and set out to find the supermarket. Unfortunately, the supermarket is much farther away from my apartment. I grabbed just a few of the basics to tide me over the weekend. Gerard mentioned that there was a much larger supermarket close to work that would have more variety and better prices. As I was checking out the cashier greeted me with “Bon Soiree” (good evening)which took me off guard, I had not been talked to all day since Gerard left. My startled look made her laugh and she repeated herself with a smile. I had to laugh at myself, I knew what she said the first time I was just surprised to hear someone greet me. I apologized and told her good evening as well.

The walk back to the apartment sort of sucked. The area is somewhat hilly and I’m used to the flat midwest, in addition to the long day I’ve already had. Then it started to rain. At that point I didn’t even care, I was exhausted and just wanted to relax and eat the knock off Chef Boyardee ravioli I bought. After getting back, drying off, and eating my dinner it was time to turn in for the night. All in all it was a very exciting day even with the few letdowns about the apartment I could tell I was going to enjoy this place.

~ by Paul on September 1, 2007.