Where in the world is...uh...rue Cortambert?

It's a good question, n'est-ce pas? Seeing as this Cortambert dude appears to have been a geographer. Well, this is where I live here.

Ok. Not quite there.

But more like here.

Yes, rue Cortambert. But that other picture is just a block away (it is the mairie, like the town hall, for my arrondissement). Paris is divided into arrondissement: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arrondissements_of_Paris. I live in the 16th: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/16th_arrondissement_of_Paris.

I now have a landline, so it's somewhat cheaper for you to call me, depending on your calling plan. Either e-mail me, or leave a comment to this post requesting the number. The first time it rang I didn't recognize it as a ringing phone noise. Ooops. It is that beautiful blue thing above...29 euros and two Dartys (http://www.darty.com/) later.... I should probably figure out if there is some way to change the ring tone. In the alternative, Skype is nice....

And yes...those are homemade fresh blueberry-raspberry muffins. Oh...and while we're on that subject, why yes, that is cheesecake that you smell cooking in the oven.... You can take the girl out of America, but you can't take the American baking out of her (despite the utter lack of necessary ingredients: cream cheese, baking powder/baking soda, etc.!). Resourcefulness is a virtue!

Bienvenue chez moi

Welcome! Come in! Here is the hallway.

I’ll spare you the bathroom off to the right. Yes, it stinks. Any ideas what that stench could be? Egh. Mon dieu! I do not know what to do! I’ve even spent a lot of time in there with Mr. Clean (er, I’m sorry, that’s M. Propre) including singing that song from his U.S. commercial. Now it smells like lemon masking something rotten and dead. Dégu!

Well, next on our brief tour, is the kitchen. Please keep your hands inside the vehicle at all times, ladies and gentlemen. Food is not cheap here, and there will be no snacking, thank you very much. I also feel like I’m buying food every two minutes because there is no storage. Every meal makes me feel like I’m back in hunter-gatherer times having to go to Monoprix (the big supermarket chain, where you can buy aaaaanything). Also please keep your feet inside the vehicle at all times, I just washed that floor. I have not even been here a week and I have done more cleaning than I can ever remember doing in my last apartment…..

Next we have the living/sleeping/eating/everything room (it’s amazing what 850 euro/month cannot get you in Paris)…. I spared you shots of the other side of the room where I had yet to clean the table. There is also a second bed, a TV, some drawers, and some lamps that you probably are not seeing…. I have to keep a little mystery so folks will come visit me, right?

And finally, the thing that makes it all worth it, the reason for being: my pretty little balcony. Now, if they would just stop doing construction work on the Indonesian Embassy, or whatever that is next door, at the rump-crack-of-dawn!