The Family Who Started World War I - Wien Part 2 (Schloss Schönbrunn)

I will start the second post on Vienna with a few tips about Austria that I've learned so far.  The first is that Google Maps is useless for public transit.  For some reason, it isn't properly linked in with Austrian transit and gave no info for Vienna (and incorrect info for Salzburg).  You're better off using the local sites directly (which have an English option); for Vienna it's Wiener Lienen (click link to go directly to the site).

My second tip is to ALWAYS check transit passes or city passes.  For Vienna, I arrived late, so bought a 48 hour pass and thought one or two additional tickets my last day would be cheaper.  As it turns out, I should have just bought the 72 hour pass still - a day pass was cheaper than 2 tickets and the 72 hour pass would have still saved me a couple Euro!  I find that the transit passes are nearly always worth the money, but the city passes vary - some  provide discounts only and some offer free entry to virtually everything, so check to see if you'll get your money's worth (I didn't buy one for Vienna).  The Schloss was the only paid site I ended up visiting and you receive a timed ticket.

Schloss Schönbrunn is a former summer palace of the Habsburg monarchy.  It started in 1548 as Katterburg and was purchased by the "Holy Roman Emperor" Maximillian II, which is when it joined the royal family.  It didn't take on its current appearance until Maria Theresa, who is mentioned frequently in the tour, received it as a wedding gift and changed it in the 1740-50s.  She was also the only female Empress of Austria.  It doesn't look much like a French palace, but does resemble the Prussian and Swabian palaces that I saw, probably because all three areas belonged to the "Holy Roman Empire" in the past.

When I went through, I knew nothing of the history and the tour wasn't very helpful with that.  I think this is true of many tourist sites though - they assume you have a base level knowledge of the history, which I clearly don't.  My American education didn't include a lot of detail on European history, outside of those pesky wars they got into (and we saved them from) and the evil English monarchy, who we overthrew.  

The tour talked a lot about Maria Theresa and "Sisi," but it wasn't clear to me who they were or who was alive first.  Now, I've learned that Maria Theresa was alive first because I looked up more myself online.  She was also the mother of Marie Antoinette!  Since you cannot take photos inside, here is a stock photo from wikipedia:

It was interesting to visit and the hour-long tour (there's a short option too) gives a lot of details about the rooms and, interestingly, paints a rather unflattering picture of royal marriage.  Of Maria Theresa's 11 children who survived to adulthood, only her favorite daughter was allowed to marry for love.  Maria Theresa herself had been very in love with her husband, but I also learned online that he was perhaps not as enthusiastic and had many affairs.  In addition to updating the palace to it's look today, Maria Theresa also had the Gloriana built, which can be seen on the hill below:

The other famous ruler mentioned often was Franz Joseph I, who married Elisabeth "Sisi" when she was 16.  He loved her very much, but she was quoted as saying some rather unflattering things about marriage.  Apparently, she was shy and introverted by nature, so court life didn't suit her and her mother-in-law was unpleasant to deal with.  Her husband was also king of Hungary and Sisi found she liked Hungary better, so after the suicide of her only son, she spent a great deal of time alone there.  Sisi had a rather tragic life since her 3 oldest children were removed from her care by her mother-in-law, her oldest daughter died as a toddler and, about 10 years after her son's death, she was assassinated herself.

One of the advantages of spending time with friends is the possibility of a full picture (no selfie)!  While hard to tell in a winter coat, all of the healthy food options in France have resulted in losing 12 lbs in less than 3 months.  It's crazy to really try and struggle in the US, but eat whatever sounds good in France and lose easily.

As for the family who started World War I, it turns out that the Austrian assassination that triggered the war was the nephew of Franz Joseph I, who became his heir when his son died.  Franz Joseph I was actually relieved that his nephew, who he disliked, was no longer his heir; however, Austria now had an excuse to declare war on Serbia and try to get part of the Balkans back.  Nobody expected all of the various allies to jump into the fray, but they did!  Hard to believe that something so tragic started that way.

While the palace tour was good, it was really the grounds that I liked the best.  In fact, I returned with my camera to see if I could get a few good photos.  The weather really cooperated with me and there was a lovely golden glow when I was there, which faded just as I was leaving.  Photography really is about being in the right place at the right time . . . of course, that's tough at tourist sites that are crawling with people!

It was great to spend some time with Jen and her family, although Michael joked that he didn't understand why I did it during one chaotic moment.  I come from a big family though, so I'm used to kid chaos!  It's a small trade-off to share moments with people, which can be a nice break from solo travel.

And there will actually be a part 3 for Vienna!  When traveling, it's a challenge to share the differences in culture, food and the historical "people context," which is what I find really fascinating in history, and still keep things short.  A few of my regular readers have told me they really enjoy the historical background, so I'll keep providing it!  For me, I enjoy when I learn enough to make me curious, then I start putting all of the pieces together - "oh, that's the assassination that triggered the war . . . wait, but nobody liked him?  How on earth did WWI start over a guy that nobody liked?!?!?"

Joyeaux Nöel from Vienna (aka Wien)!

My job in France is incredibly challenging.  Partly because there are a lot of new things to learn, but partly because it's just a grind.  There's a lot to get caught up on (since there was no Controller for over a year) and a lot of things that people want . . . and they all want it NOW.  The issue is when local management, European HQ and US Global HQ all want something different and they all assume that you'll have time to do their one thing today (or this week or before your vacation . . . you get the point) because they know nothing about what the others have asked you for.  I've been working 10-12+ hour days pretty consistently since I arrived three months ago and, based on my 2017 schedule of work, I don't see that changing any time soon.😐😒😭  Getting off work between 8 and 9 PM most nights makes it challenging to find time for regular life - as I told my friend, I need a 1950's wife!

All of this is to say that I was extremely stressed out by the time that I reached the airport for my vacation, which could explain why I literally cried when I found out my flight from Poitiers to Lyon was canceled.  And I LOATHE crying in public.  Though the crying could be why I wasn't required to call in to rearrange my plans, but rather a very nice British lady (who spoke fluent French) took care of it for me.  They could get me to Lyon that night, but not to Austria until the next day.

I thought I'd make the best of it by seeing Lyon for Christmas, but I was too tired by the time I actually made it there; however, it still turned out not to be so bad.  You'd think the "crying over a canceled flight" thing would scare anyone off, but instead a very nice Frenchman, who was in the same boat as me, helped me find the desk in Lyon to get my voucher and to locate the hotel.  Since we were at the same hotel with dinner vouchers, he invited me to dinner with him too (and lunch after we return to our home city).  And frankly, the hotel that the airline put us in was much nicer than the simple single room I'd booked for myself in Vienna . . . although, I again have to comment on how much I appreciate the ability to book a tiny "single" in Europe for a bargain price.  For me, as long as the place is clean, well-located and the bed is comfortable, I'm not really hanging out in my room, so I don't care!  Edit to comment that the bed in Vienna actually was NOT comfortable 😔

Left is a 4* hotel and right is a 3*

I finally made it to Vienna a little past noon on Christmas Eve.  Due to the location of my hotel, the bargain bus that went direct to the West Bahnhof (train station) was faster than the express train to the U-bahn (subway), so I bought the cheap 48 hour pass and took the bus.  Of course, when I understood that the bus driver was asking where I was from in German, I answered, "Étas Unis."  After he frowned at me, it occurred to me that I'd said it in French, so I corrected myself.  Yes, I'm now telling people that I'm from the US in French!

Since the main Christmas market was only open through Christmas Eve, I headed there once I arrived.  When I first entered, I noticed what appeared to be "beer punch."  Sorry, but hot beer punch just sounded gross to me, so I took a pass!  {My German friend, Tina, later clarified that "beeren" is berry, so hot berry punch (not beer) actually!}  Instead, I decided to try Weihnachtspunsch (Christmas punch), which I later learned is typically a mix of tea, sugar, spices, red wine and rum - sometimes with fresh oranges or lemons squeezed in.  I have a mild allergy to oranges and had an issue with one of the varieties of vin chaud I tried; pretty sure my punch here also had orange unfortunately, but it tasted good!

During a special occasion like this, I have no issue with exceeding my usual "one pineau per week" with an occasional glass of wine.  How often will I be at Austrian Christmas markets after all?  So, I also tried Glühwein, with the Glühwein having a much more "spiced" flavor and tasting more like vin chaud.  The cup at the markets here are actual porcelain cups and you pay a deposit, which is returned if you choose to return the cup.  I decided to keep this cute one!

There were some similarities to French Christmas markets, but some clear differences.  Not only were the drink offerings different, but the food!  My first impression was that it felt very "Germanic" - both in the food served (sauerkraut, sausages, etc) and the language here is also German.

On my way back from the market, I stopped in to see if I could figure out what this interesting building was, but I was tired and didn't make a very thorough investigation.  What I did discover was a free restroom though!  You begin to scout these out in Europe and it's a serious undertaking - I have paid between 0.50 and 1.50 just to use a toilet!  Sometimes this toilet will be lacking an actual seat even!  

So, I was very happy to find a free toilet . . . which brings me to the next topic.  As you start traveling the world, you realize that the standard US toilet, with a giant bowl full of water that empties each time, is NOT the norm.  In France, it's a much smaller amount of standing water, with a high-pressure gush from the front that flushes everything down.  In Vienna, all of the toilets I've seen so far have VERY little water in the front with a large platform that everything will just sit on until you flush (a large gush from the back in this case).  I admit that I find the platform thing a little weird, but at least it isn't a squatty potty!

I rounded out my Christmas Eve by sharing Indian food with friends, who were also in Vienna for the holidays.  This was my first time not spending the holidays with my family in the US and my menu was pretty eclectic as a result!  Christmas day I ordered the "classic" breakfast at my hotel, which had some aspects that were similar to France (bread and jam with similar deli meats to some French buffets), but some that I haven't really seen (wheat roll, veggies and hard cheese) . . . plus the coffee was not espresso, so it was HUGE compared to what I'm used to now.  

Around lunchtime, I had spätzle with bacon and leeks, plus tried out hot apple wine.  Sorry Swabian Germany and Alsace - this was the best spätzle I've had so far!  Whatever was on it (almost like a parmesan cheese) made it NOT bland at all.  When I met up with my friends they hadn't eaten lunch yet, so I ordered a child-size pork wiener schnitzel, which I always thought was German, but have now learned originated from Vienna.  "Wien" is actually the name of Vienna, so "Wiener" means Viennese!  My "child-size" pork and fries would be a full adult serving in France, so I ended up so full that I didn't eat dinner.  Now, THAT part felt like an American Christmas!

We were doing this eating on Christmas at Schloss Schönbrunn because, miraculously, it was open on Christmas.  Of course, it turned out that a lot of other people had the same idea.

To keep this post at a reasonable length, I'll stop here for now and post part 2 tomorrow about the fascinating lives of the occupants of Schloss Schönbrunn.

A French Christmas Party

I'm sure it will come as a surprise to nobody that the French know how to throw a good party!  What may surprise some people is learning that I almost didn't go.  With L’américaine in the US and PB not expected to return from the US in time to attend, I was envisioning an entire night surrounded by people speaking exclusively in French.  It didn't sound fun. 😱

I decided to suck it up and go anyway and was pleasantly surprised when PB drove from Paris to attend the party after all (even though he had to turn right back around the next morning and go to Le Mans).  I was sure that at least PB would speak English with me; however, it turned out that I didn't need him for that after all!

I'd asked a little about what people wore and heard everything from jeans to "just wear what you normally do" to "a cocktail dress is good."  Since he generally doesn't lead me astray (and kept me from naming myself after a cow), I asked PB for the final word, "What do people normally wear to this dinner?"  PB looks at me frowning, like he isn't sure what I mean.  So, I clarify, "Should I wear something like I'd normally wear to work or a nice red Christmas dress I have from the US?"  There was a little back and forth, but the conclusion was that PB would be wearing a nice black suit and, if it wasn't too much trouble for me to find in my boxes, the red Christmas dress would be nice.

Yeah . . . about that.  My normal work attire is West Coast business casual, but most of my co-workers dress just casual because we're in the country.  Other than PB and GO, who were in suits, everyone else was basically in jeans with a nice shirt.  There were a couple of skirts with a blouse.  When I walked in and realized this, I debated just returning home to change, but people had already seen me and I decided I was just going to rock the Christmas dress!  Of course, when I told PB I wasn't happy with him, he just gave the typical Gallic shrug and said the dress was nice, so he didn't see the problem?  Really?!?

Things got much better from there though.  I ended up talking with one of my female co-workers, SB, and we had a very nice conversation.  She also realized that my emergency contact people consisted of two men (PB and Alexis) and gave me a look of wide-eyed horror at the thought that I could have a medical issue as a woman that I would NOT want translated by them.  She told me that she would be happy to help me with anything like that, so I didn't have to take a man.  I pointed out that this could include a 2 AM hospital visit one day and she assured me that she understood and it was no problem.  I'm not sure if this is an indication that my coworkers like me more than I realized or French people are just MUCH more generous with their time than Americans.

I'm really not used to my food still looking like a living animal, let alone looking like they're cuddling!  I still ate them though.😋

The party had started with gifts for the kids, then service awards.  This was followed by orange juice cocktails and champagne, plus various "finger foods" circulating on trays.  I had the opportunity to try my first escargot - it was blended up with spices and was really good!  Then, one of the chefs came out and was cooking up fresh seafood and turkey skewers.  It was around this time that I noticed that I always seemed to have an English-speaking coworker (or partner) standing with me, but it wasn't until we were getting ready to sit for dinner that I heard a few of them discussing the seating to be sure that people who spoke English well were sitting near me - it appears that it was intentional that I always had somebody nearby speaking English or helping translate!  I really do have great coworkers! 😃

Normally the dinner starts around 9 PM, but it was after 10 PM this year before we sat down and had the first course (shown above), which was a salad with foie gras (which I don't like and sat aside).  After the first course, the lights were suddenly turned off, music started and people got up and started dancing.  "Wait, that's it for dinner?"  Nope - they just dance or sing between each course!  Next up was the dish including shrimp, then karaoke, then a small sorbet with alcohol (to cleanse the palate) and then more karaoke.  Finally, the main dish came out.

We all thought it was beef, but I was suspicious after the first bite.  Sure enough, it turned out to be chevreuil, which is a type of small deer.  It was good, but definitely didn't taste like beef!  The little mold to the right was a mushroom dish and cheesy potatoes to the left.  Even though each course was on a small salad-sized plate, it was still a lot of food!  After dinner, it was back to dancing.  By now, people had a few more glasses of wine in them, so it was a larger crowd that hit the dance floor and I decided to join them.

The French do not dance like Americans, at least not at a Christmas party.  People moved to the music, but nobody looked like they were overtly trying to be "sexy" and when a French guy asked me to dance, we were just standing in front of each other dancing and talking - I didn't see anyone dancing super close, even couples!  It was definitely more comfortable for me than the parties you attend in the US where you're certain some people are going to regret their behavior the next morning (for the record, the US portion of my company has a Christmas lunch only, so this would not be in reference to my company).

The French man that I danced with also offered to help me with translation issues or shopping or whatever I might need help with, which was very nice!  So, I ended the night with two new people who have offered to help me in France.

In the end, I left just after 2 AM, but before dessert had been served.  My appliances were showing up the next morning and I needed to get some sleep!  I was told that it is common the party goes until around 3 AM - wow.

Making a French Home Livable (starting with no appliances, cupboards or closets)!

Last week was a very busy week!  PB was off to the US for a meeting, so I was able to leave work a little earlier and start unpacking my house, but I was immediately aware of the remaining furniture that I needed to get (like an armoire)!  It's difficult to set your house up for comfortable living when you have nowhere to hang your clothing . . . or store anything . . . or put your dishes!  My primary goal for the week was to be able to live at the house by the time my appliances showed up on Saturday.

I have an old wood armoire that I plan to refinish for the guest room, but it arrived full of webs (and a couple of spiders), so I've left it closed up for now!  Since there is really NO storage in older French homes, outside of the dirt-floored cave, I knew I'd need an area to store things that I don't want in the cave, such as off-season clothing (since armoires are generally smaller than a normal US closet).  So, I bought a small, inexpensive cloth armoire for the office . . . which is now serving as my only armoire since my nice wood one isn't going to show up until I'm back from vacation.

The left is for hanging clothes and the right for folded - this is a common layout here

For things you feel comfortable buying online, I'd recommend CDiscount.  I've purchased many items from them already and they've all been of good quality (at least of the quality I expected given the site information) with quick shipping.  Larger furniture will have a scheduled delivery date also (like my table & chairs).

I also received a very good recommendation from PB to use Darty for appliances.  Of course, his recommendation was under duress because I threatened to make him install my appliances if I had to find a place myself and ended up with them just dumped on my porch!  Darty was great about scheduling a time for delivery and installation, plus the men who installed my appliances were very nice, careful about not damaging my house and explained in very slow French (and a little English) what I needed to do before using my appliances.  I had realized that I was getting a French-sized fridge (I searched for one sized for 2-3 people - why cool empty space!), but I had not realized that I was buying a tiny oven!  The metric system still doesn't quite make sense to me, so I sometimes think I've figured out what the measurements mean only to find out that I'm very, very wrong.  I'm not sure my US baking pans will even fit!

For my American friends who are still worried about where my "kitchen" is, I've realized that my sink has the pipes for a dishwasher, so I'm still debating if I want to buy one and put it between the fridge and sink.  I'm not sure a dishwasher really makes sense for just one person - I often ran mine in the US only partly full because I'd run out of something.  More importantly, my cabinets will arrive shortly after I return from Austria . . . although, one will clearly fit next to my oven now, which I hadn't been expecting.

This photo is from Alinéa, which is where I bought the same blue cabinets!  No upper ones, just a selection of the lower free-standing cabinets.

I think that having a whole house to design (almost) from scratch has me doing some serious nesting because I have themes going everywhere!  Blue in the kitchen, teal in the attached laundry area (entry carpet and curtains for the slider door) and a mix of those colors in the adjacent bathroom.  Living room in black, white and green.  Dining area with black, silver and gray.  I've even finished my guest room . . . well, not the spidery furniture, but this part!  My guests will soon have a dresser next to the bed and a spider-free armoire also!

Bottom line is that my last apartment never felt like "home" and neither did the house I was just living in, but this place does!  Even though it's exhausting to assemble furniture, move boxes around, unpack and try to figure out where I want everything to go (often involving rearranging the furniture), I'm loving it!  I've went from grudgingly entering an Ikea once (and buying nothing) to making TWO visits to Alinéa in one week, plus making a third order online.

My new house even greeted me with a winter rose bloom!

Christmas Time in Paris! And an impromptu visit to Musée d'Orsay.

Since L’américaine is getting ready to head back to the US and Alexis is gone virtually the whole month, I thought I'd head to Paris for the weekend to see the Christmas market.

Christmas in Paris!  How could you go wrong?  Well, you could end up leaving this:

For this:

Welcome to our future if we don't limit pollution - endless gray smog

Worse, it could be not fog, but RECORD POLLUTION.  There was an anticyclone over France, which caused high smog levels in cities - higher than in the past 10 years.  I'd read it was supposed to clear out with wind over the weekend - no luck on Saturday though.  Since I was already in Paris before I knew that it hadn't improved, I headed to the Champs-Élysées market, along with half of Europe!  So many people and so many languages!  I'd say that I'm not sure if many French people go here because I heard Brits talking much more often, but that could just be because Brits (and Americans) are much louder in general!

If you think this is crowded, try coming back at night!

I've never been in France during this time of year before, so one of the first things I noticed is that soup takes over!  I will have a blog post that returns to this point later; however, the other thing that becomes abundantly clear is that there are certain foods the French eat (and drink) almost exclusively in the winter.  I kept seeing "tartiflette" listed places (along with a dish "gratin dauphinois," with the last word being similar to the word for dolphin.  Given some of the things they eat here, I was reluctant to order something that could turn out to be cheese-covered dolphin!

I saw (and smelled) something delicious though and decided it was time to try tartiflette with reblochon cheese.  It's like a potato casserole with cheese, lardon (a type of bacon) and onions.  It was good, but I'm guessing there are better versions available.  This particular stand had a chicken and salmon variation, but they didn't seem to be selling quickly.

There was an endless variety of vin chaud available at the market as well - avec épices (hot wine with spices), which I'd had before, but there was also vin chaud with fruit (oranges and sometimes lemons) and cinnamon - not all booths specified what type they were serving though!  There were also several offering vin chaud blanc (white wine), but I didn't see anyone drinking it.  I should have tried it anyway, but I decided to stick with red!  TIP: The booths closest to the metro entrances had 30 mL servings for 6 Euro (and a small serving for 4 Euro), but many booths further in had small servings for 5 Euro, which were actually 30 mL also.  A large was also 8 Euro at entrances and 7 Euro further in, so wait a few minutes and get a better price!

It has not snowed since I've been here and I could probably count on one hand the number of days it has rained (especially ALL DAY - I'm not missing Portland weather AT ALL right now), but it has hovered near freezing a lot more than it usually does in Oregon . . . so I was loving it that France will allow you to wander freely with your vin chaud!  It kept my hands toasty warm!

When I went to the small local market, I had originally expected something similar to Christmas markets at home, which tend to be filled with a lot of Christmas-themed stuff.  That isn't the case in France from what I've seen.  You will find a couple of booths with beautiful handmade ornaments or decorations, but most of it was handmade items that you might wish to give as a gift for Christmas.  My favorite thing about the offerings were the large number of brightly-colored booths!  I didn't buy it from this stand, but I have a lovely woven blue basket now, which can be used for shopping (there's no such thing as free bags at stores - you bring your own reusable bags) or a picnic.

This is all CHEESE - I'm not entirely certain how they get all of those colors!  And some of the apples below don't look edible - check out the black ones!

For more pictures of the market offerings, including my first frog legs, see my album here (no FB account required): Paris Album

I'd originally come to the markets to see all the Christmas lights, but it was a disappointment in that regard.  PB recommended that next year I should go to the Fête des Lumières in Lyon (which was this same weekend) if I want to see some really lovely lights, so that's on the agenda for early December 2017!  There were some nice lights on a nearby street, but the ones near my hotel were prettier.  It was lovely to be at the market right at the moment the lights turned on and started moving up the trees though!  I wouldn't come back to this market for the lights, but I found myself returning here three different times to look through all of the booths and to buy a couple of small gifts - certainly worth a visit just to see the variety of items on display!

I specifically reminded myself to bring my DSLR for this trip, but still forgot it!  Such a disappointment because, while the pollution had my chest feeling tight with exertion, it made for stunning photos with an eerie sky as backdrop.  Hey, if you're going to shorten your life by breathing in the polluted air, might as well make the best of it!

Fortunately, it rained overnight and it was clear blue skies on Sunday morning.

Musée d'Orsay
I decided I'd had enough market time on Saturday and I needed to decide how I wanted to spend Sunday.  The last time I was in Paris was May 2015 and I tried to go to the Musée d'Orsay, but the lines were crazy!  This time I purchased a ticket in advance on Digitick (skip the American-based sites with passes at 30+ Euro - my skip the line ticket was just 15.15 with service fee) and headed for entrance C - no line!  If you're interested in the museums of Europe, winter seems to be a great time to avoid crowds.

While the museum is known for it's impressionist paintings, I personally prefer brighter, bolder colors, so these were two of my favorites in the museum.  The museum had some great (and famous) impressionist works though and they WERE lovely; however, I think art is a very personal thing, so it is about what speaks to you personally (which can be different from day to day).

In fact, for a long time I didn't think that paintings really spoke to me at all, but then I realized that I just prefer paintings where people are not a primary focus or they're abstracted.  When it comes to depicting people, I prefer sculpture.  Although, this young lady appears to be taking an ancient selfie.

For me, I was able to visit the whole museum with starting after lunch, although I was there until closing and just barely finished the special exhibit.  I did not use the audio guide because I've learned that they just don't do it for me at art museums - I want to read the brief descriptions of what was changing in that era or why the art is remarkable, but mostly I just want to look at it and see what draws me in.  I don't want the audio guide telling me which art I should find most remarkable or all about the 5,893 brush strokes it took.  I understand that there are people who do, and for those people, the audioguides are currently 5 Euro!  Just to be contrary, I happen to love audio guides at cultural and historical museums and will listen to everything, even the bonus stuff.

I also enjoyed this edition of "translations gone wrong" - apparently, doing your laundry at the museum is now a "thing" . . . except "linge" is laundry and "langer" is changing, so NOT a laundry table after all!

I just learned today that poor Alexis dislocated his knee and won't be home until the end of January.  I'm the only person that he's become friends with who is currently in the area, so I will be making the hour trip to Poitiers to rescue his car from the train lot before it is towed!

I officially know who I'll be calling for that 2 AM ride to the hospital or "my car died in the middle of nowhere" incident now! 😈

Obtaining a French Residency Card and Renting a Home in France

Obtaining a French Residency Card

I've read horror stories about prefecture appointments and the difficulty involved in getting a Carte de Séjour, so I was expecting an unpleasant experience.  In my case, I was pleasantly surprised; however, this may have been because my documents were prepared by immigration attorneys and I had a French-speaking assistant who came with me.

The start to the appointment was rather ominous because the man looked at my documentation and muttered about never seeing a "European Blue Card" application before, that he didn't know what was required for my dossier and that he hoped we were prepared to be at the prefecture for a LONG time (all in French, of course).  I came across the same lack of knowledge about a European Blue Card at the consulate - it appears that not many people take advantage of this visa, even though it's one of the easiest ways to immigrate to France from a non-EU country.  Of course, you have to meet the educational or work experience requirements, plus a salary requirement, but then you're entitled to the same benefits as a resident and have a path to permanent residency.

Moulin Rouge, 2009

Fortunately, the prefecture official came back quickly with the binder for the European Blue Card (aka "passeport talent") and was able to confirm that I had all of the required documents and French translations.  Ironically, my original documents were barely glanced at.  All they really cared about were the colored copies that were stamped by the official translator and the translations.  Since I'll have my new address within 8 days of the appointment, they also issued my card with my new address so I didn't have to return to change it.

The official was actually extremely nice and seemed pleasantly surprised that I understood most of the French and was able to give my address and other information in French.  So, I am now in possession of my temporary card (through May 2017) with my permanent one on the way!  I officially have the legal right to live and work in France for the next four years! 😊

I might be homesick occasionally, but if I'd ever made a bucket list, living in France would have been on it.  Ten years ago, I was on my first trip to Europe and I'd been to Paris earlier in the trip, but was returning to the city for one day before I went home.  I remember feeling completely at home, which hadn't been the case for the rest of my trip.  I thought it was just the familiarity because I'd been there before, but when I went to London the next day to fly out, I didn't feel the same, despite speaking nearly the same language as the Brits!  When I returned in 2009, Paris was the only city that I visited for a second time "just because" - I returned to Barcelona and Rome because I'd missed large parts of both cities due to missing a flight (Barcelona) and being extremely ill (Rome).  There wasn't anything in particular that I went back to Paris for though, other than because I really loved France.

Paris 2009 with a truly awful hair cut!

TIP: If you don't have utilities in your name, an attestation of insurance coverage is adequate proof of address (along with your rental contract) for the prefecture.  This also worked when opening my French bank account.

Renting a House in France

There are so many new things about life here (the measurement system being metric, the language, the culture) that at times it can be overwhelming.  I was really not enthusiastic about moving because I knew it was likely that I'd have to do a move-in "inventory" and sign a contract that was all in French.  I also knew that I'd have to figure out how to obtain utilities in French.

I'm very fortunate that I have the general manager that I do!  Clearly, it's not part of his job responsibilities to help me with my house (which falls squarely into the "personal" arena in France), but he did it anyway.  It would have taken me hours to understand everything that was being said, try to make sure the contract reflected what we agreed on and I probably would have been so distracted trying to translate that I would have missed things (which was my experience when viewing houses initially).  PB was able to quickly communicate with the owners, was meticulous about noticing everything and made sure that certain things would be done before I moved in and that they were noted in the contract (like a holder for the shower head).

If you do not speak fluent French and you know ANYONE who does, enlist their help!  The tenant is responsible for basically any damage that is not noted on the move-in report (and not normal wear-and-tear).  PB also told me to take photos of everything.  The couple I'm renting from seem like very nice people, but PB was insistent that I needed to be cautious to protect myself.

I accidentally took a photo of them while photographing chips in the paint.  The infamous PB is to the right and appears to be inspecting my fireplace.

I'd read of other ex-pats having trouble getting utilities turned on in their name (or needing the phone number of the prior occupant to switch the phone over); however, I had no difficulties.  What is strange is that the owners were able to provide my info to the electric and water company without me ever speaking to the companies myself and the bills will apparently be in my name now; this would not happen in the US!  (UPDATE: I received a form to sign and confirm)  Most of the sites for internet service asked for the prior phone number, but I was able to select an option to use my address instead.  After comparing offers, the offer from Orange was the best for my area.  Orange's site was all in French, but I understand enough that I was able to order service (and it was supposed to be on by the 15th, then I received a 2nd message for the 21st - that turned out to be for my TV service though).  The owners indicated that I should contact the local mayor's office to determine what to do about trash pickup - usually the website for the commune will have that info, but the one for my town is useless in that regard.  It did inform me of the rate for my tax d'habitation next year though!

For those who don't know, tax d'habitation is a tax that renters pay, which I believe is a percentage of the rent.  It is based on where you live on January 1, but is not due until later in the year (the bill at my current house arrived in November, due in December).  This is on top of the tax that the property owner pays (which is likely passed down to the renter as well through the rent price)!