What will I do?

The one question that I get a lot is: What will you do? I will be in Paris most of the time by myself. My husband works and won't always have time to go over on his days off. And since I don't have a job I can go whenever I want. I won't stay too long because we do have a dog and I don't want her living in daycare for six months, but I do want to take advantage of this opportunity and experience living in Paris. We have a trip planned for April 2018 and we will be gone 10 nights. That is the longest I hope to have Katie Scarlett in daycare.

Katie Scarlett

So back to the topic... What will I do in Paris? Well January - April I'll be training for the Paris Marathon. I have mapped several running routes. One will take me along the Seine River. One will take me to the Jardin des Luxembourg. It's a mile to and from the apartment, then I'll just run around the park. It's a beautiful park! And the best part is no matter where I run it will take me past a boulangerie because it's a couple blocks away from the apartment.

Jardin des Luxembourg

When I'm not running I'll be going to museums and just exploring Paris. The Louvre has always fascinated me and I plan on spending lots of time there. They offer an annual pass for 2 people and it costs €120. I am planning on getting a pass to get into Musée d'Orsay and Musée Rodin. The two museum pass costs €18 and it allows you to get into each Musée one time and you must use it in 3 months.

The Louvre 

I have a long list of places I want to visit! Maybe some day I'll type it all up and share it here. I have 3 books that I've been using to make my list. I'm also  looking forward to eating baguettes from as many boulangeries as I can. I want to find the best baguette in Paris! And maybe find the best place to get a tarte aux pomme(Apple Tart). 

Tell me where you've been and what I should see!

Au revoir

You picked your apartment now what?

In my last post I talked about how we sent the application and got approved by the landlord. Now what?

We received the contract. We had to translate it, sign it, get it back to the agency along with their fee. The contract was very basic and to the point. Even though we have to wait seven months to move in, we still need to send the deposit and first months rent to secure the apartment.

Here is my Public Service Announcement on wiring money Internationally. I checked with Chase, our bank, on how much the service fee was to wire money. It's $50.00 to come in and do it at the bank and $40.00 if you do it online. We choose to do it online and save the ten bucks. First one was easy money was transferred all was good. Two days later, we tried transfer the deposit and first months rent. Well at first it was easy. About an hour after our transfer we get a voicemail from Chase saying please call us back. I tried to sign into our online account and we were locked out. Our accounts were frozen. My husband called and got interrogated by the bank on why were are sending money. Why would be pay the realtor fee and then the deposit. Have we seen the apartment. On and on and on. I get they are looking out for us, but one of the options you click is they are not responsible for us sending money. Then they want to know if we will continue to transfer money to that bank account and for how long. Well we have other accounts in three different banks, so I think when we send the rent money we will use another bank.

The last thing we need to do is finalize our renters insurance. We've sent in the paperwork and received a quote. Now we are waiting for the insurance company to finalize the paperwork.

Au revoir

Renting In Paris

Our plans are to start renting an apartment in January 2018 for six months. After the six months, I'm not sure what our plans are. The long term plan (in 10 years or longer) is to own an apartment.

First thing we needed to decide on was which arrondissement to live in. Paris is broke up into 20 arrondissements. We've stayed in 6 and 7. We fell in love with 6, the St Germain area. That is where Café de Flore and Deux Magots are located. It's also where Ernest Hemingway frequented. We started focusing our search in the 5, 6 & 7 area.

Next we needed find a realtor. We looked at several websites. I researched reviews on Facebook and then we started emailing companies. We ended up going with Vingt Paris. They had an apartment in arrondissement 4. It's on Île de la Cité. It is the center of Paris. The apartment is right on the Seine and is blocks from Notre Dame. I know the apartment isn't in St Germain, but we couldn't pass up living on the Île de la Cité. 

Notre Dame

As of today we have filled out the application and now we are waiting for the lease to be emailed to us. It's not official until we get the paperwork all filled out and wire the deposit. 

This is a picture of the building. It's the one in the center of the photo and you can see Notre Dame behind it. We will be in the attic, but hey it's an apartment in Paris on Île de la Cité right on the Seine. 

Au revoir 

Welcome

For as long as I can remember I have always dreamed of going to Paris. My first job after high school, I worked as a travel agent. I planned trips for myself many times, but never went.

My husband took me for the first time in February 2017. It took me 20 years to get there, but I made it! We flew into Charles de Gaulle and took Black Lane to our hotel. We got to Paris during rush hour, so it took us about an hours and forty five minutes to get to our hotel. I pretty much fell in love with Paris as soon as I got there.

We were fortunate enough to go back just 6 weeks later! The first trip we were only there for 2 nights. The second trip we were there for 5 nights.

When we got back from our second trip, we booked a trip for April 2018 for 10 nights! And I signed up for the Paris Marathon.

My plan is to go to Paris as often as I can. We are currently trying to rent an apartment in Paris. I'll be updating the blog on our progress.