Oct 20

Oct 20 Moving Apartments in Paris

This weekend we moved into our new apartment! I am so happy that we finally have a home. And it's lovely: it's cozy, has lots of charm and it's ours. I will post pictures soon.

I bet you're wondering "how did you move across town?" We decided to do it the hard way and walk each of our six suitcases down les rues of Paris, descending into the Paris metro and back up in a brand new arrondisement. It was not fun, but it was also probably the easiest move either of us have done.

Crossing the streets in Paris with suitcases in tow is a lot of work.

In between trips on Saturday, we went to the giant department store Le BHV. I had done a quick look-see last week to see what this place was all about. I kept seeing humans carrying bright orange bags with Le BHV written on them and when walking past the building, you couldn't ignore the banners touting the 6 Jours sale.

Le BHV: a giant department store with every department you can imagine.

This place is nutty. I'm sure people who have visited Paris know what it's all about, but I was not expecting something like a Nordstrom-Target-Home Depot-Bed, Bath & Beyond-Crate & Barrel-Michael's-Barnes & Noble all wrapped into one. It had everything we needed in ONE PLACE and it was only an 8 minute walk from our apartment.

Entrance of Le BHV - do I go up or down?

We got many items that were trés pratique. A bath mat, shower caddy, pot, storage containers, hangers, plug strip and more. I would love to shop there for more exciting things, like clothes and art supplies. They have an Anthropologie boutique there that I will probably need to revisit when I'm feeling a little homesick along with a marvelous beauty section (premiere etage) and a plethora of paints and canvases (troisieme etage).

While heading down the elevator, I spotted a sign with a discount: 10% for tourists from outside of France with a valid passport. Well, we are no longer tourists, but I love a good deal. Naturally, I headed home to pick up my passport while Steve waited with our baskets.

Steve at Le BHV waiting for me to return with our passports; it gave us a discount on our moving supplies.

After purchasing the goodies, we had one more trip back to the old place for the final suitcases. We were definitely relieved once we climbed those three flights of stairs. There was nothing left to move. Phew.

Steve and Whitney moving into to their new apartment!

We settled in for the weekend, organizing, cleaning and finally getting settled.

In future posts - I'll detail how CRAZY it is to find an apartment here (including the infamous dossier) along with pictures of our new place.

xo,
Whitney

Vocab for today:

une valise - a suitcase
déménager - to move
un magasin - a store
étage - floor (as in "we live on the third floor")
ranger - to organize, put things away

BONUS!

On Sunday, we emerged from our cocoon to explore our new neighborhood. We stumbled across two musical acts. The four-person band was literally steps away from our front door and the lone opera singer was just around the corner. After a few songs, we found out that the band happened to be from North Carolina...