galmc2Report

I’ve long had a desire to immerse myself somewhere where I’d have to adapt to a different language. When we decided on this trip, my thought (thankfully supported by Heather), was to stay in Paris for an extended period. Not that I was a whiz in high school French, but I thought it at least gave me a base to learn from, plus Heather has a certain proficiency as well.

From this decision to focus on Paris as a location, and settling on a six week stay, I started to use a language teaching app (Duolingo) to try and learn French. That was 1,041 days ago.

Fast forward to now. We arrived in Paris on April 19th after a flight from Madrid. Initially we looked at train travel from Madrid to a Paris, but the cost and 10 hour trip made us look at Ryanair (which required a 2ish hour commute into Paris from the Beauvais airport LOL).

It didn’t take long for us to settle in and love our decision to be here and to stay in the Latin Quarter. Being able to unpack and settle in was a great feeling. Plus the apartment Heather found is fantastic. Loads of space, and great views to boot!

So far in the 4 days here we have done our usual wandering, seeing some of the iconic sites and getting familiar with our new neighbourhood in the 5th arrondissement. The 5th is located on the Left Bank just across the Seine from Notre Dame. Seeing Notre Dame in its present state is both jarring (as you can see the scope of the damage) and affirming (seeing the restorative effort). It’s also a reminder that if the fire hadn’t been contained the damage elsewhere could have been even more catastrophic.

Now it’s May 3rd and we have been here for almost 2 weeks. We’ve wandered a lot of streets and seen many of the iconic sites Paris offers. We’ve started our French classes (apparently over 1,000 days on Duolingo has me as an “Advanced Beginner”) and are now awaiting Chloe’s arrival for a quick visit. And every day Heather and I are appreciative of the opportunity to experience this beautiful city!