The first stop in our journey was Shanghai (click here to see our full itinerary). The week before our trip was very busy at work and I think it’s fair to say some rest was needed. So for us Shanghai meant: eat well, sleep a lot, try to get into the Chinese rhythm, fight the jetlag, swim, walk around a bit.
General impression
• prepared for a culture shock arriving in China, but it didn’t come
• Shanghai = New York. You can easily forget that you are in China when you just look at the buildings.
• Lots of smog
• Everything is written in Chinese and English, easy to get around
Hotel
• Anting Villa Hotel, in the French concession. Great area (“European”, lots of trees, doesn’t feel like the big city), great hotel. Quite expensive (but worth it).
• Donghu hotel – Donghu street. Cheaper than Anting Villa but still hotel standard. Biggest advantage is the 25m pool where we went to relax and work out. Also has a fitness. Don’t be surprised if the Chinese people don’t close the curtains in the shower room next to the swimming pool – shame doesn’t seem to exist
Restaurants
• Simply Thai, in the French concession
• Dolar Shop Hot Pot in Golden Eagle building – we met a colleague from dunnhumby China who ordered a lot of food for us. Hot pot is just a pot of cooking water with a sauce in which you put the food. It’s an interesting eating experience but it does take a long time (and a lot of effort) to get your food ready.
• Japanese all you can eat in our Donghu hotel grill your own meat. Really nice! For 150 yuan per person all you can eat & drink.
• Western food: People Square: McDonalds and Starbucks next to the Yu Garden in the Chinese neighbourhood
• Grape in the French concession: decent but basic Chinese food, nice Chinese wine
• Uncle Fast Food – UFF: Chinese fastfood. Spicy meat with rice and an egg pudding to mix through your rice. An acquired taste. You should try though - we went to the one in the Shanghai Hongqiao train station
Activities
• Tube to Pudong, the modern part of town. Particularly loved the bottle opener building.
• Visit Bookazine in the bottle opener building to buy English books
• Tube to the Bund for the great skyline and the old buildings
• Walk, walk, walk and discover the more popular parts of Shanghai, with streets where they only sell music instruments
• Visit a Tesco express
• Nanjing road – not really for us, too many people, only shops
• People Square with Shanghai museum. This was free when we went there and that was a good thing because we weren’t too impressed by the collection of money, bronze, furniture… The calligraphy and Ming vases were nice though. Lots and lots of Chinese tourists
• Chinese neighbourhood. We thought we’d see the real China, but that only lasted a few streets and then it was back to a very touristy area, with the Yu-garden
• Take the train in Shanghai Hongqiao train station – the waiting room is very impressive because of the enormousness of it
22.11.11
16.11.11
Transport in China
To get there: flight with Aeroflot
We flew with Aeroflot from Paris to Shanghai with a stop in Moskou. All of the really negative feedback online had scared me quite a bit. However, the flights were on time, the flight attendants were very friendly, the food wasn’t worse than expected and warm. The transfer in Moskou went smoothly and our luggage was sent immediately to our final destination. For those who wonder: you don’t need a Russian transit visa if your waiting time is under 12 hours. The in-flight entertainment is very limited (only a few screens with only 1 movie playing), but we heard about this beforehand so we took our portable DVD player – problem solved!
Trains
In China we travelled by train so we didn’t use internal flights because we wanted to see the landscape and also it’s cheaper. The trains are really easy to book:
1. look online (www.travelchinaguide.com/china-trains) to find the train you need
2. write the information in English (train number, number of persons, timings, and whether you want a hard seat, hard sleeper or soft sleeper)
3. ask someone in the ho(s)tel to translate in Chinese. No one ever refused this to us, even when the ho(s)tels charge between 20 and 50 yuan to book 2 train tickets (a service we obviously didn’t use)
4. go to the train station, hand over the piece of paper. They show you on the screen what the different options are, you point at the one you want, pay and it’s done!
We tried both the hard seats and the hard sleepers, not the soft sleepers because they were ridiculously expensive (same price as a flight).
Hard seats
Hard seats are described online as the hell on earth and they are not. You are just sitting close to lots of Chinese people, mostly students and people who can’t necessarily afford the sleeper tickets. Most of the train wagons are hard seats. We did a 20-hour train trip on a hard seat, which included a night and that was a bit tough because the lights staid on during the entire trip. But for a day trip, the hard seats are fine. By the way, the seats aren’t hard, but soft, so don’t worry about that. It’s a great way to observe the Chinese :) - and don’t worry about that either, it’s perfectly ok in China to stare at people (we think, because we got stared at a lot – although that may also be because my husband wore shorts in November – something that seemed to be a first in China as we had people taking pictures of him and old ladies pointing their finger at his legs in surprise…).
Hard sleepers
Hard sleepers indicate wagons that have compartments with 6 beds in. We chose the upper and middle sleeper, not the lowest one because then you need to be very social and while that is cool for a bit, it’s a bit more difficult when you’re on a 10 hour trip and just want to read rather than practice your sign language with a nice old Chinese man. It was easy to sleep on the middle or top bunk. The lights went out around 23h and they come and wake you up when you’re approaching your stop.
The only downpoint of the trains are the toilets, which are just a hole in the ground and when you’re not used to this it takes a bit of practice (balance mainly). These “squat” toilets are also common in public places, but in all of our ho(s)tels the toilets were western. Btw did you know that in Dutch we call those "French toilets", whereas the French call it "Turkish toilets" :) Wikipedia says "squat toilets are also known as Arabic, French, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Iranian, Indian, Turkish or Natural-Position toilets"!
Tube
For trips in Shanghai and Beijing we used the tube, which is very modern, easy to use and cheap. The ticket machines have an option to translate everything in English. You just indicate your end stop on the screen and pay (usually 2 yuan per person per trip). You get a card which you use to get through the gates (like the Oyster in London) and at your end stop you insert your card. Easy!
What you do need to know about the Chinese is that it is extremely important for them to conquer a place to sit in the tube. So the moment the doors open, they don’t let people out first, they just storm inside and try to get a seat. The first time it’s weird, and then you just do as the Chinese. When in Rome…
Bus
In the smaller cities without a tube, we used buses very frequently. It’s again very cheap (1 or 2 yuan per person per trip) and the standard travel guides provide all necessary bus numbers. We usually did take the name of our destination with us written in Chinese just to make sure the bus went to the correct stop. I would say that the bus is for the adventurous traveller. A few examples… Our guide book said to get off at the end stop. However, the bus was going in a loop and we noticed too late so we got off way too late, at a busstop which didn’t have the corresponding bus with no one around who spoke any English. We started walking until we found a very nice hotel where someone could indicate us the direction of the correct bus stop. On another occasion we went on a day trip. We took the bus at the train station, but in the evening the bus didn’t go back to the train station, but to a bus station, at at least 1 hour walking distance from the train station… so we walked. Don’t take the bus if you can’t stand surprises like this. We didn’t mind because we had the time and again, because it allowed us to travel like the Chinese.
We flew with Aeroflot from Paris to Shanghai with a stop in Moskou. All of the really negative feedback online had scared me quite a bit. However, the flights were on time, the flight attendants were very friendly, the food wasn’t worse than expected and warm. The transfer in Moskou went smoothly and our luggage was sent immediately to our final destination. For those who wonder: you don’t need a Russian transit visa if your waiting time is under 12 hours. The in-flight entertainment is very limited (only a few screens with only 1 movie playing), but we heard about this beforehand so we took our portable DVD player – problem solved!
Trains
In China we travelled by train so we didn’t use internal flights because we wanted to see the landscape and also it’s cheaper. The trains are really easy to book:
1. look online (www.travelchinaguide.com/china-trains) to find the train you need
2. write the information in English (train number, number of persons, timings, and whether you want a hard seat, hard sleeper or soft sleeper)
3. ask someone in the ho(s)tel to translate in Chinese. No one ever refused this to us, even when the ho(s)tels charge between 20 and 50 yuan to book 2 train tickets (a service we obviously didn’t use)
4. go to the train station, hand over the piece of paper. They show you on the screen what the different options are, you point at the one you want, pay and it’s done!
We tried both the hard seats and the hard sleepers, not the soft sleepers because they were ridiculously expensive (same price as a flight).
Hard seats
Hard seats are described online as the hell on earth and they are not. You are just sitting close to lots of Chinese people, mostly students and people who can’t necessarily afford the sleeper tickets. Most of the train wagons are hard seats. We did a 20-hour train trip on a hard seat, which included a night and that was a bit tough because the lights staid on during the entire trip. But for a day trip, the hard seats are fine. By the way, the seats aren’t hard, but soft, so don’t worry about that. It’s a great way to observe the Chinese :) - and don’t worry about that either, it’s perfectly ok in China to stare at people (we think, because we got stared at a lot – although that may also be because my husband wore shorts in November – something that seemed to be a first in China as we had people taking pictures of him and old ladies pointing their finger at his legs in surprise…).
Hard sleepers
Hard sleepers indicate wagons that have compartments with 6 beds in. We chose the upper and middle sleeper, not the lowest one because then you need to be very social and while that is cool for a bit, it’s a bit more difficult when you’re on a 10 hour trip and just want to read rather than practice your sign language with a nice old Chinese man. It was easy to sleep on the middle or top bunk. The lights went out around 23h and they come and wake you up when you’re approaching your stop.
The only downpoint of the trains are the toilets, which are just a hole in the ground and when you’re not used to this it takes a bit of practice (balance mainly). These “squat” toilets are also common in public places, but in all of our ho(s)tels the toilets were western. Btw did you know that in Dutch we call those "French toilets", whereas the French call it "Turkish toilets" :) Wikipedia says "squat toilets are also known as Arabic, French, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Iranian, Indian, Turkish or Natural-Position toilets"!
Tube
For trips in Shanghai and Beijing we used the tube, which is very modern, easy to use and cheap. The ticket machines have an option to translate everything in English. You just indicate your end stop on the screen and pay (usually 2 yuan per person per trip). You get a card which you use to get through the gates (like the Oyster in London) and at your end stop you insert your card. Easy!
What you do need to know about the Chinese is that it is extremely important for them to conquer a place to sit in the tube. So the moment the doors open, they don’t let people out first, they just storm inside and try to get a seat. The first time it’s weird, and then you just do as the Chinese. When in Rome…
Bus
In the smaller cities without a tube, we used buses very frequently. It’s again very cheap (1 or 2 yuan per person per trip) and the standard travel guides provide all necessary bus numbers. We usually did take the name of our destination with us written in Chinese just to make sure the bus went to the correct stop. I would say that the bus is for the adventurous traveller. A few examples… Our guide book said to get off at the end stop. However, the bus was going in a loop and we noticed too late so we got off way too late, at a busstop which didn’t have the corresponding bus with no one around who spoke any English. We started walking until we found a very nice hotel where someone could indicate us the direction of the correct bus stop. On another occasion we went on a day trip. We took the bus at the train station, but in the evening the bus didn’t go back to the train station, but to a bus station, at at least 1 hour walking distance from the train station… so we walked. Don’t take the bus if you can’t stand surprises like this. We didn’t mind because we had the time and again, because it allowed us to travel like the Chinese.
3 weeks in China
One of the advantages of working in France is that you get a lot of holidays. And when I say a lot, I mean a LOT: 37 days (25 standard + 12 if you do a minimum of 40 hours a week)…
My principle is to use the days they give me and so for the first time in my 5 year old career (yes, already…), a 3 weeks holiday was possible!
The main trigger for this China trip was the magic of the Great Wall. “The only human element that is visible from space” – even when that’s a myth, we wanted to go and climb the Great Wall. So, we bought our tickets, and would start our trip in Shanghai and end it in Beijing.
I guess it’s safe to say that I am an organised person. For the MBTI fans, I am an ESTJ, and the J means that I feel more comfortable when things are planned, when I know what will happen. This China trip was an exercise in getting out of my comfort zone, because with all the “relocation to Cincinnati” stuff going on, we didn’t plan anything.
Ok, that’s perhaps a bit exagerated, this is what we had when we left:
• Plane tickets to Shanghai and leaving from Beijing 3 weeks later
• China visas, valid for a month
• 3 first and 3 last nights booked
• a draft itinerary
• an emergency internet address of a hotel in each of the cities on our itinary
• emergency medication mainly for stomach ache and some antibiotics
You may think this is very organised, but it’s not for China. Of all the people I spoke to who had been to China, most told me that it was probably not a good idea to leave like this. Well, we didn’t really have a choice as time caught up with us, so we left.
And guess what? It was perfectly fine! It was flexible, we could decide as we went along to stay just 2 nights or to stay an extra 2 days! I loved it. And we didn’t need any of the medication :)
So this is the trip we did:
• Shanghai – 4 nights
• Hangzhou with trip to Wuzhen – 3 nights
• Xi’an with trip to terracotta warriors and Huashan mountain – 2 nights
• Pingyao – 2 nights
• Datong with trip to the Yungang grottos – 2 nights
• Beijing with trip to the Great Wall – 5 nights
This made for a very easygoing trip. You could do more in 3 weeks, but this itinerary allowed for a quiet pace, which is exactly what we wanted.
In the next posts I will tell you my impressions of each city and some travel tips.
Enjoy!
Louise
My principle is to use the days they give me and so for the first time in my 5 year old career (yes, already…), a 3 weeks holiday was possible!
The main trigger for this China trip was the magic of the Great Wall. “The only human element that is visible from space” – even when that’s a myth, we wanted to go and climb the Great Wall. So, we bought our tickets, and would start our trip in Shanghai and end it in Beijing.
I guess it’s safe to say that I am an organised person. For the MBTI fans, I am an ESTJ, and the J means that I feel more comfortable when things are planned, when I know what will happen. This China trip was an exercise in getting out of my comfort zone, because with all the “relocation to Cincinnati” stuff going on, we didn’t plan anything.
Ok, that’s perhaps a bit exagerated, this is what we had when we left:
• Plane tickets to Shanghai and leaving from Beijing 3 weeks later
• China visas, valid for a month
• 3 first and 3 last nights booked
• a draft itinerary
• an emergency internet address of a hotel in each of the cities on our itinary
• emergency medication mainly for stomach ache and some antibiotics
You may think this is very organised, but it’s not for China. Of all the people I spoke to who had been to China, most told me that it was probably not a good idea to leave like this. Well, we didn’t really have a choice as time caught up with us, so we left.
And guess what? It was perfectly fine! It was flexible, we could decide as we went along to stay just 2 nights or to stay an extra 2 days! I loved it. And we didn’t need any of the medication :)
So this is the trip we did:
• Shanghai – 4 nights
• Hangzhou with trip to Wuzhen – 3 nights
• Xi’an with trip to terracotta warriors and Huashan mountain – 2 nights
• Pingyao – 2 nights
• Datong with trip to the Yungang grottos – 2 nights
• Beijing with trip to the Great Wall – 5 nights
This made for a very easygoing trip. You could do more in 3 weeks, but this itinerary allowed for a quiet pace, which is exactly what we wanted.
In the next posts I will tell you my impressions of each city and some travel tips.
Enjoy!
Louise
My favourite French poem
Le chat ouvrit les yeux,
Le soleil y entra,
Le chat ferma les yeux,
Le soleil y resta.
Voilà pourquoi, le soir,
Quand le chat se réveille,
J’aperçois dans le noir
Deux morceaux de soleil.
Maurice Carême, L’arlequin, 1972
Le soleil y entra,
Le chat ferma les yeux,
Le soleil y resta.
Voilà pourquoi, le soir,
Quand le chat se réveille,
J’aperçois dans le noir
Deux morceaux de soleil.
Maurice Carême, L’arlequin, 1972
17.10.11
And suddenly, Paris stinks...
I arrived in Paris 1 year and 7 months ago and I was in awe. Of course, I had been to Paris before, at least 10 times, but always as a tourist. So waking up on a Saturday morning and deciding to go strolling around île Saint-Louis, à l’improviste evening visits of the Tour Eiffel, eating baguettes whenever you want? It was a dream coming true!
And so I started living here and Paris surprised me in many ways. Independence by bike for not even 30€ a year, a swimming pool on the Seine in walking distance, the discovery of those delicious macarons and the realisation that people didn’t dress up (make up, short skirts) to go out! Vive Paris!
It was only recently that my dream image of Paris was shattered. Why? Because I’m leaving. Yes, not the other way around: I’m not leaving because I don’t like Paris anymore, I’m leaving and suddenly, Paris stinks… It stinks a lot. And almost everywhere. It’s as if people think it’s ok to use the streets of this amazing city as an urinoir. And with this, my mind started looking at Paris in a different way.
The difficulty of finding a flat and needing to document your entire life to get one, the hostility of people working in bars/restaurants/phone companies/social security services. Ever heard of customer service? I don’t think so… The dog poo on the streets, the dirt everywhere… The “well what can we do?” attitude about all the homeless people and those searching for food in garbage bins.
And finally, the pessimism. It’s a weird thing. An example: my company (English, international) has just introduced an amazing new employee benefit: all employees around the world get a day off on their birthday. This was announced yesterday and effective immediately. First reaction online from my English and American colleagues: “Amazing!! Great news!” First reaction in the French office? “Oh no, this can’t be serious, my birthday was last week/month.” Really? Really??!!
So I sigh and I think about how to bring this first immaculate “I love Paris” feeling back for my last 6 weeks in town. I’m guessing it will involve a lot of biking around, swimming on the Seine, going out in jeans. And macarons, lots of macarons.
And any of your suggestions too!
Bisous,
Louise
And so I started living here and Paris surprised me in many ways. Independence by bike for not even 30€ a year, a swimming pool on the Seine in walking distance, the discovery of those delicious macarons and the realisation that people didn’t dress up (make up, short skirts) to go out! Vive Paris!
It was only recently that my dream image of Paris was shattered. Why? Because I’m leaving. Yes, not the other way around: I’m not leaving because I don’t like Paris anymore, I’m leaving and suddenly, Paris stinks… It stinks a lot. And almost everywhere. It’s as if people think it’s ok to use the streets of this amazing city as an urinoir. And with this, my mind started looking at Paris in a different way.
The difficulty of finding a flat and needing to document your entire life to get one, the hostility of people working in bars/restaurants/phone companies/social security services. Ever heard of customer service? I don’t think so… The dog poo on the streets, the dirt everywhere… The “well what can we do?” attitude about all the homeless people and those searching for food in garbage bins.
And finally, the pessimism. It’s a weird thing. An example: my company (English, international) has just introduced an amazing new employee benefit: all employees around the world get a day off on their birthday. This was announced yesterday and effective immediately. First reaction online from my English and American colleagues: “Amazing!! Great news!” First reaction in the French office? “Oh no, this can’t be serious, my birthday was last week/month.” Really? Really??!!
So I sigh and I think about how to bring this first immaculate “I love Paris” feeling back for my last 6 weeks in town. I’m guessing it will involve a lot of biking around, swimming on the Seine, going out in jeans. And macarons, lots of macarons.
And any of your suggestions too!
Bisous,
Louise
6.2.10
Flat hunting in Paris
Since my last blog post, I've mainly started working (yep, it suddenly hit me that I'll also have to work in Paris - so goodbye first "WAAAAAAAAAAA Paris is great, it feels like a holidayyy!! feeling" :). Anyway, I do really like what I'm doing and I'm already feeling the advantages of working in a smaller office: you actually get the feeling that you can get to know everybody pretty well, you get involved into all kinds of projects which you usually wouldn't even know about (very interesting given that I work as a 'chef de projets' or project manager and love to learn new things all the time)!
I've been intrigued by the French lunch habits. First of all, they hate eating a sandwich while sitting at their desk as much as I do, so that was a good start! Secondly, I'm amazed by what they eat for lunch! Most of my colleagues start with a small salad, followed by a sandwich (NO, not a triangle white sandwich - but a nice baguette with salad, tomato, mayonnaise (yes!) and tuna or chicken or ... whatever you like). The sandwich can also be replaced by for example a pizza-bread or a plate of pasta. And then, after the main course, they all have a dessert!! And trust me, those desserts look DELICIOUS! I managed to have just a sandwich for 1,5 weeks until I cracked last Friday and bought a 'frangipanne' - mmmmmmmmm, delicious! Btw, I still think the sandwiches are huge and need to do my best to finish them (that is without a pre-salad and post-dessert). Only ate my dessert around 4pm! I love the fact that lunch is really an opportunity to relax and chat with your colleagues!
Apart from working, I started looking for a flat in Paris as well. Even when there's an agency that would help me out, I thought I'd have a look at seloger.com, thé site for flathunting in France apparently. After a few hours, I had found a lot of potentially interesting flats, but one PERFECT one! The pictures looked great, the location was perfect, the price was within our budget (luckily we were already used to London prices, so not too shocked about the Paris prices for a small 1 bedroom flat!) AND it was furnished - which isn't very common in Paris. So, I decided to send all the links to the interesting flats to that agency, but called the perfect one myself! I ended up visiting the flat on Wednesday morning and really liked it, so after consulting my fiancé, we decided to take it! And if you think that would be it, think again...
Renting a flat in Paris is just, let's say..., something different! You mainly need to collect lots and lots of pieces of official papers to proove that you're a potential good tenant. And then, very often you need a 'garant', someone who can pay the rent in case you're not able to. So again, lots and lots of documents... French administration suddenly means something to me, when beforehand I always thought "why keep people saying France is a bureaucracy?". I think I slowly see why!
The other thing is that flats move quickly, VERY quickly! In London, we were able to negotiate the start date whereas in Paris it was more or less: you like it, you take it or someone else will take it first... Anyway, I was quick and took it and am very very happy about it! Our new flat will be in the 12th arrondissement, it's at walking distance from my work (about 15mins), 5 mins from bois de vincennes (good for going running in the weekend!), furnished with nice and new furniture + very recently redone so it all looks great! Obviously it will take a bit more time to finalise all the papers (or what did you think), but I'm already very excited about it!!
And finally, I just realised that I haven't even mentioned the fact that we are getting married this year! Yes!!!! Preparations are underway, but what we've done so far already is
- booked the venue and DJ
- church and priest have been informed of the date of our wedding
- found my wedding dress (!!!!!!) and Maarten's wedding suit and the wedding bands!
- created a draft list of attendees
It's so much fun to think about our big day and to prepare for it. And even when so many people say that it's sooo much work, it doesn't really feel like that. And NO, I'm not managing this as a project (this is, strangely, the first question my colleagues asked me when I told them I got engaged - yep...)
And finally, on Tuesday my fiancé joins me in Paris, so I can't wait to really start discovering Paris together!
So long, fare well, mes amis! Oh and let me know if you know people in Paris too!
Louise
I've been intrigued by the French lunch habits. First of all, they hate eating a sandwich while sitting at their desk as much as I do, so that was a good start! Secondly, I'm amazed by what they eat for lunch! Most of my colleagues start with a small salad, followed by a sandwich (NO, not a triangle white sandwich - but a nice baguette with salad, tomato, mayonnaise (yes!) and tuna or chicken or ... whatever you like). The sandwich can also be replaced by for example a pizza-bread or a plate of pasta. And then, after the main course, they all have a dessert!! And trust me, those desserts look DELICIOUS! I managed to have just a sandwich for 1,5 weeks until I cracked last Friday and bought a 'frangipanne' - mmmmmmmmm, delicious! Btw, I still think the sandwiches are huge and need to do my best to finish them (that is without a pre-salad and post-dessert). Only ate my dessert around 4pm! I love the fact that lunch is really an opportunity to relax and chat with your colleagues!
Apart from working, I started looking for a flat in Paris as well. Even when there's an agency that would help me out, I thought I'd have a look at seloger.com, thé site for flathunting in France apparently. After a few hours, I had found a lot of potentially interesting flats, but one PERFECT one! The pictures looked great, the location was perfect, the price was within our budget (luckily we were already used to London prices, so not too shocked about the Paris prices for a small 1 bedroom flat!) AND it was furnished - which isn't very common in Paris. So, I decided to send all the links to the interesting flats to that agency, but called the perfect one myself! I ended up visiting the flat on Wednesday morning and really liked it, so after consulting my fiancé, we decided to take it! And if you think that would be it, think again...Renting a flat in Paris is just, let's say..., something different! You mainly need to collect lots and lots of pieces of official papers to proove that you're a potential good tenant. And then, very often you need a 'garant', someone who can pay the rent in case you're not able to. So again, lots and lots of documents... French administration suddenly means something to me, when beforehand I always thought "why keep people saying France is a bureaucracy?". I think I slowly see why!
The other thing is that flats move quickly, VERY quickly! In London, we were able to negotiate the start date whereas in Paris it was more or less: you like it, you take it or someone else will take it first... Anyway, I was quick and took it and am very very happy about it! Our new flat will be in the 12th arrondissement, it's at walking distance from my work (about 15mins), 5 mins from bois de vincennes (good for going running in the weekend!), furnished with nice and new furniture + very recently redone so it all looks great! Obviously it will take a bit more time to finalise all the papers (or what did you think), but I'm already very excited about it!!
And finally, I just realised that I haven't even mentioned the fact that we are getting married this year! Yes!!!! Preparations are underway, but what we've done so far already is
- booked the venue and DJ
- church and priest have been informed of the date of our wedding
- found my wedding dress (!!!!!!) and Maarten's wedding suit and the wedding bands!
- created a draft list of attendees
It's so much fun to think about our big day and to prepare for it. And even when so many people say that it's sooo much work, it doesn't really feel like that. And NO, I'm not managing this as a project (this is, strangely, the first question my colleagues asked me when I told them I got engaged - yep...)
And finally, on Tuesday my fiancé joins me in Paris, so I can't wait to really start discovering Paris together!
So long, fare well, mes amis! Oh and let me know if you know people in Paris too!
Louise
30.1.10
Last days in London - first days in Paris!
Hmmm, should I try to write this one in English? Belgian people will be ok with it + my friends in the UK would finally understand a blog post of mine! Let's try it. Oh and just ignore any spelling / grammar mistakes, ok? Great, let's go!
Last days in the UK
Apart from working like a crazy person to try and finish off my UK work, I spent my last days in the UK trying to do things I knew I would miss after leaving London:
1) Go to the gym: Yep, tried out bodyjam, yoga and zumba and went swimming quite a few times! Done
2) English breakfast: this is the only English 'dish' I will miss so had one in the last weekend in Ealing
3) Cider: had enough of this during my leaving drinks :) Great evening with so many amazing colleagues who all came to say goodbye... I'm glad I'm not changing companies, so I will keep having the opportunity to catch up with all of them when I need to be in the UK from time to time! I have learned so much in my 1 year and 7 months in the UK, thanks to all of them!
4) Sushi and Thai food: went for sushi on my last night out in London with my 2 best friends who I will miss more than anything else! One of them actually taught me how to use chopsticks properly a few months ago, so I can finally eat sushi in a decent way! Had Thai for my last lunch in the UK, mmm
5) London: I have always said that I've never really been in Love with London, but that doesn't mean that I won't miss it. So much culture, so many great places to go, always something to do. In my last weekend before leaving the UK, we went to Hampstead heath to check out the view of London. A long trip from Ealing but a very rewarding view of London at sunset!
First days in Paris
So my company had this really interesting job opportunity in Paris and I thought: that's where I want to go. Having studied French and Spanish at university, it seemed the perfect opportunity to combine my work experience in project management and my studies.
I left the UK on a Tuesday evening, after a last working day in the UK with lots of catch-ups with people who's feedback I value a lot. One big trolley, a bit too heavy for me, with all my clothes for 1 month and I was gone! I can tell you now that the London tube is no fun at all, especially around 17h30 when you're so much slower than everybody else due to the trolley... Finally made it to Saint-Pancras where I decided to buy a half price WHSmith book for the last time (why would you not buy a book if it's only 4£?) and a Time Out about Paris. After 2h 30 mins, the train arrived in Paris, where the journey was even more painful because by now my hands just really hurt a lot. Anyway, I arrived in our temporary flat around 23h and god I love this place! It's old but good old, with dark wooden floors and high ceilings, a television, internet, a bath and a dish washer! Pure luxury for me :) Of course I'm looking for a permanent flat now as this is just for a month, but I will make sure I enjoy the temporary luxury :) The area is nice as well, next to Gare Saint-Lazare, in 'le quartier européen'.
My first day 'in the French office' was actually like this: getting up at 5h30 (yes... and the night beforehand I actually went to bed really late because I'm one of those people who doesn't feel comfortable until my -huge trolley- bags are unpacked and everything has its own place... i know) - taking the train to Saint-Etienne, which is even further than Lyon, attending an all team meeting from 10 to 16h and take the train back! Very very intense but a great first day as I got the chance to talk to a lot of people and could present myself and the work I've done beforehand, in French (et oui!).
On Thursday and Friday I practised the art of switching between English and French without thinking about it (which is still a bit weird, because I also still have this third, Dutch, language in my head). It's going quite well! On Thursday evening I went out with the 'expats'. It's not just English people as you would expect, but actually a mix of Australian, Spanish, Belgian (ok, that's me) and English. We went to a nice restaurant close to Place Monge and for a drink afterwards, really a nice area (and evening!)
And yesterday I met up with a friend from university to go for a drink and watch a concert, which was just amazing so all I can say is that I love Paris already...!
First observations about Paris/France (in random order + only personal impressions so no general truths!):
- people are not as dressed up as in London (which is definitely a good thing, I think!) I feel a lot more normal now, which wasn't the case when I sat on a London tube on a Saturday evening and only saw girls who almost didn't wear anything at all - I still wonder why that is?)
- old brasseries and cafés are as cool as the fancy bars in London, even when they don't look like it when you first enter
- when you ask for a glass of wine in a pub or bar you get a really small mini-glass, but the wine is excellent!
- French people eat their salad first and only then they start eating their meat and potatoes/rice...
- Baguettes are really as delicious as you think they are!!! Same for the 'pains au chocolat'!
- People eat more lentils than in the UK and Belgium
- As my Belgian friend knows quite a few singers/musicians, I've already had the pleasure to go to a gig which I wouldn't have known about in a 100 years if it wasn't for her. In a small venue, 'La Java', close to metro Belleville, I've seen the band 'The effervescing paintbox' http://www.la-java.fr/#Scene_1 - great band, really cool songs, just a difficult name if you ask me!
- French people like you a lot more when you show that you want to make an effort to speak French, which is obviously really good for me as I really want to improve my French now!
- People are very friendly. Every morning, in the elevator (our office is on the 10th floor), everybody says 'bonjour' when you enter the elevator and 'bonne journée' when you leave the elevator
- When you arrive in the office you say hi to everybody individually, and if you wish, you give everybody 2 kisses. I've done it for the first time on Friday and secretly felt a little bit like a real French person :)
- The radio station 'Virgin' just plays music all day, English, American, French songs and even Milow today, heyy!
- In Paris, the 'Vélib' system is a real success. You pay a yearly sum and then you can just use any 'vélib' bike which you can find anywhere in town. As long as you don't use it for more than 30mins, it's free, you pay when you do more than 30 mins. My colleagues love it, my friends told me that it's sometimes really hard to find a spot to park them again (thus forcing you to pay as you keep it more than 30 mins)... Will have to check it out first before I decide what to do
- Paris is a lot smaller than London, you can get around so easily by tube but also just on foot (or indeed, bike)
Well, that's it for now, time to look at flats online! Keep in touch, people in London and Belgium!
Gros bisous,
Louise x
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