Finally... Moving in: The Parisien Way (01.08.06)

Yeah, I said finally on the title because Dita, Nadia and I had been waiting for this day for 1.5 months since we discovered this apartment during our hunting. 116 rue de la Convention, 75015 Paris (note that the last 2 digits of the postal code indicates the arrondissement or district of Paris. The city is divided into 20 arrondissements which start from the center and go outwards like a spiral. No wonder some people call Paris a city of spiral).

Back to the day when the relocation agent, Anne, showed us a number of places. Out of 6, we were torn between this Convention apartment and the one at the Montparnasse area, which is a modern kinda place, 2 bedrooms, double salon (living room) and the view is... breathtaking... La Scare Coeur, Les Invalides et La Tour Eiffel. 3 in 1!

The Reasons

But why did we eventually choose this Convention apartment? A number of reasons (Dita and I even made a S.W.O.T analysis!).

Numero un, since we are in Paris, we prefer to live the Parisien way and feel its neighbourhood, one which is missing from the Montparnasse's modern high rise. Convention is a long street where one can find some lively activities, e.g. Monoprix supermarche, post office, ATM's, Metro Baucicaut (one minute walk), l'arret bus no 62 (just in front of the cafe), pharmacy, the modern architecture of Parc Andre Citroen and a cafe restaurant (next door... We even introduced ourselves to the owner of the cafe, wishing we'll get some discount one day! Ahahaha... And the nice waitress likes Nadia. Their superbly smokey beef steak is highly recommended).

Numero deux, it is an ancient building (I still need to figure out which year it was built. I often see residence buildings were built in the 19th century). Very French. A cellar in the basement (like a dungeon) for storage. Petit escalateur (very tiny indeed.) It only accommodates max 2 squeezed adults!!! Anyway, we won't need this as much, because our apartment is on le premier etage).

Numero trois, it had just finished being renovated prior to our moving in. A total interior refurbishment. From 2 bedrooms to 3 bedrooms. Brand new parquet, paintings, bathroom, shower, toilet and kitchen cabinet. Outside, you feel the Parisien way and when you step inside you still feel the comfort. Talking about toilet, we figured one illogical trend in most of ancient apartments in Paris (or perhaps France). In many of them, toilet seems to be far away from the bathroom or bedroom, Donc que, imagine if you feel like having petit pipi in the middle of the night, you're gonna have to walk all the way across the double living room with your eyes closed before (hopefully) reaching your destination... and your destination usually lays next to your front door! For a sleepwalker, it may not be a problem. But we found it very uncomfortable. Not to mention, being Indonesians, we often need some water to clean yourself after pipi or poopoo. Am I right? (I can see smiling faces). With a toilet being in a distance, uurrgghhh... it is just unimaginable! Enough said, luckily our toilet sits next to the bathroom. Another convenience.

Numero quatre, I have already mentioned it. It has 3 bedrooms. One for us. One for Nadia. One for a spare (guest, computer, study, etc), equipped with our brand new sofa bed.

No Parking, No Car

Nevertheless, like any other ancient apartments in Paris, do not expect to have your own parking space in the basement. Non, non, non! The apartment in Montparnasse does have this luxury, but ours does not. If we have a car, there will be two options of parking. The first option... we can park by the streets around the neightbourhood (definitely, this option is highly competitive, considering the available space is limited). As a resident, we can get a special card from La Mairie (town hall) to enjoy a very significant fee discount. Mais, of course, you take your own risks. When you are in Paris, the scene of people parking their cars bumper to bumper is extremely common. Very often, you will see cars with scratches and dents. That is why mini cars are very popular here. The second option... try to find a public parking (usually underground) in the area. This may cost you around 150 Euros per month.

C'est la vie... we found a pretty cool apartment as per our budget, yet it comes without a parking space. Nothing is perrfect, right? Anyway, having a thorough thought, we have decided not to own a car in Paris (at least until we feel necessary). What's the point? 1st, parking is difficult. 2nd, public transportations are convenient and near. 3rd, walking could be an option and healthy. You may argue... in the winter, it'll be extremely freezing! Yes, you are absolutely right. But we're not there yet, So, we are now still enjoying summer.

We opt for hiring a car for our weekend getaways (Hertz depot is only 15-minute walk and we can use the corporate rate). At the end, when you make a calculation, hiring car (mainly for the weekend) for say, 100 weekends in 2 years, is still cheaper than buying one, taking into account the maintenance cost, insurance, parking fees and fuel. Bear in mind, fuel is outrageously expensive here (around 1.40-1.50 Euros per litre for l'essence). Oh la la... there are times when we may not need a car and this is it! We are extremely happy with this cost saving decision.

Although, there is one thing I have to share with you here... Metro stations in Paris are not particularly handicaps or baby-friendly. By far, I discovered only a couple of stations in which les escalateurs exist. As for the rest, you have to use the stairs.! Imagine a mother with a small baby, a bag and une pousset (baby stroller)! Life can be terrible sometimes. (Luckily, Nadia has a light stroller (5 kgs) which can be useful in this situation). But is enough to make Dita happily prefer to take bus to metro.

Thanks to The Dungeon

Our aparment is only 87 m2. For us, it's just the right size. The problem raised when we failed to realize that we indeed have too many stuffs from our previous assignment until the Crown relocation delivered our 100+ boxes of shipment! For such an apartment, yes, 100 boxes are a lot! Our place in Karratha was perhaps 3 or 4 times as big. Needless to say, accommodating our stuffs was not such a headache. Now, we have to stretch our head, but no drama... we'll manage. (I have to say, thanks to the cellar! At the end, there are a number of stuffs and furniture we have to keep inside the dungeon).

IKEA... How Many Times?

Until I wrote this blog, I don't know how many times had we visited IKEA. Not because we love to (frankly, I almost threw up every time we knew we had to go there). Amazingly, we seemed to find reasons to return there. Surveying, purchasing, returning articles or simply canceling an order. Yes, we have done them all! Now you figured out why we had visited IKEA many times. Bear in mind, around Paris' banlieue (suburb), there are probably 7 or 8 IKEA workshops. All are huge. But our favorite one is IKEA Plaisir. Only 35 kms from our place. Also, in the area lays a number of other big shops, such as Darty, Toys 'r Us, etc. Guess what, we have planned to go there again this weekend! We need to cancel one more order. Hopefully, for the very last time! Ahahaha.... Well, this happens. When you decorate your house, you soon realize, ah... we don't need that, oh.... we need this, well... we have to cancel that, bla bla bla....

DYI

This is what I like (or sometimes I hate) about first-world countries: DYI (Do It Yourself). In countries, like Indonesia, labours are cheap. You can pay 10 Euros to get your stuffs done. This is not a complaint, but Dita and I have to do almost all ourselves. I guess we are so used to it, thanks to our previous assignments.

It took us a while to set up les rideaux (curtains) et les tringles (curtain reels) in different rooms. Oh, the lamps we bought from IKEA needed to be assembled to the wall. Hang on... we need to nail the paintings to the wall. Voila! Here comes the internet modem for the internet, telephone and TV channels. Mon Dieu... The manuals are written in French!!!

I'd better off hitting my dictionary now. A bientot a tous!