the inside of our door 

Keys, Doors and other stuff

To get duplicate keys made for our doors has not been easy. It took 2 trips to the key shop to find the shop open – seems they close during the middle of the day. After paying about 250 euros to get 8 or 9 keys made (can’t remember that far back), one particular key had to be special ordered after I showed all known forms of identification. It was supposed to take 10 days. Jeff and I went back last week to get the keys. Took 2 trips again…..

We purposely waited until after 2:30 pm to go so that they would be open. Well, a sign on the door said that in this particular week, their hours were from 9 am to 11 am. Geez.

So…. I went back in the given time period to pick up my special-order keys. But guess what… he didn’t have the keys! He got on the phone and called somebody and said some things in French then hung up and told me to come back. I didn’t quite understand WHEN he said to come back, but anyway, I will have to go back again.

We met some Americans a few weeks ago and the topic of keys came up. What they did was Fed-Ex their keys to friends in the U.S., have duplicate keys made back home, then the friends Fed-Exed the keys back to them here. It was cheaper and faster. Why didn’t we think of that?????

The implications of having only one key are many. Losing that key can cause some complications. Paul has been so careful about checking to make sure that he has the full set of keys before closing the door each time he leaves the apartment. It would be painful if we got locked out. Just how painful? Well we got a chance to feel the pain the other night. But not because we lost our keys or locked them inside.

I keep a key in the lock on the inside of the door, because the lock works kind of like a deadbolt. You have to lock it from the inside to be secure. We were leaving the apartment to go do some shopping and go out to eat. We checked, as always, to make sure we had the keys before we closed the door, but the security key was left in the lock inside the door. After we left, Paul had forgotten to bring something along on the trip, and decided to go back into the apartment to retrieve the forgotten item. But the key would not work! His didn’t work, mine didn’t work. A ball-point pen didn’t work. Nothing would open the door. We had no cell phone but even if we had one, who would we call? There is no concierge nor building person on site. It was late in the day and stores were closing and we didn’t even know where we could find a pay phone.

After getting over the initial feeling of panic, we decided to walk to find a pay-phone and call a locksmith (not that we knew any locksmith to call). As we were going down the street, we spotted a business that does apartment leasing. Paul told me to run over there and ask if they could recommend a locksmith. I did and the man inside was SO NICE! He called the locksmith for us and told us to go stand in front of the apartment and wait about 20 minutes. So we did… and the locksmith showed up 20 minutes later. How he opened the door was pretty interesting. He kind-of used the old credit card trick. No locksmithing skill or tools were used. Just good old fashioned lock picking. He took a sheet of thick plastic, about the size and thickness of a half-sheet of paper. He placed it under the latch between the door and the frame. He then began to shake the door violently and move the plastic up and down until it released the latch. It made such a racket that I thought the neighbors would all come running out to see what was going on. Anyway, 75 euros later, we were in the apartment. And by the way…. when he saw the key in the latch on the inside of the door, he said “jamais, jamais” leave the key in the keyhole.

jamais Adverb (a) (in negative) never, not ever, (in emphatic position) never ever; (Infml) ~ ~ never ever (neutral);

on the way to a picnic at the lake 

loading up the car, parked in front of the apt. 

the first big trip

Every Monday the guys at Paul's office ask where we went during the weekend. They are somewhat amazed when he reports that the weekend was spent relaxing, hanging out, unpacking boxes, and just doing what Americans like to do.... "nest". So to have a topic of conversation on this Monday, we decided to take a trip. Our original plans were to bike up to a nearby lake (about 20 k from here) . We only have one bike, but there are plenty of bikes to rent so we went to the "velo" place just around the corner. We followed what we thought were the instructions but kept getting messages in French that led us to believe that we would not be renting a bike. They have these bike places all over the city so we decided to try a different one. No luck there, but some kid told us that it wasn't working (whew, it wasn't just our stupidity) and that he knew of a place where it was working properly. We went to the place he suggested and still couldn't rent a bike. (remember, nothing is easy!). So, not to be discouraged, we decided to take the new car. Besides, it is air conditioned. Jeffrey navigated as Paul drove and we arrived just in time to meet some American friends that we had met a few weeks ago. We saw a sailboat as we were arriving, but since there was absolutely no wind, we didn't see any other boats. We were told that this lake was a good place to sail. We just lazed around and watched the people go by and ate our picnic food and talked. It was pretty hot and crowded too. We stayed until late afternoon and then drove back home.

at the "beach" on the lake 

see this if you can! 

a busy, busy weekend

We started the weekend off by stopping by the bank to open an account for Jeffrey. He needed a way to pay for things and the preferred way is by using something they call..... hint: it has a color... and it is a card....... the BLUE CARD. The closest thing to this in the states is a debit card. So he didn't need checks or anything, just a simple account with a blue card. We thought it would just take about half an hour to set it up. But of course, nothing is simple.... we were at the bank for over an hour. I counted the number of times Jeffrey signed his name.... 9. Nine times!
wow.

So after the trip to the bank, we went to the museum to see an exhibit. The thesis behind this exhibit was that early films used subject matter that was also used by the impressionist artists.
Since Jeffrey is a film buff, and it is his major, I thought he would enjoy seeing the exhibit. Also of interest, the Lumiere brothers, the guys who actually "invented" moving pictures, are from here.

So anyway, we went to this museum and I was first impressed by the low price of the tickets. But when we got inside and saw the exhibit, I was amazed! There were painings by all the great impressionist artists - Monet, Cezanne, Renoir, Pissaro, drawings by Toulouse-Lautrec, etc etc. and I wasn't in the Louvre in Paris fighting the crowds! It was an unbelievable exhibit with an unbelievable collection of great works. wow again.

Here's the link to the museum (it's worth seeing even if you don't read French).
www.lyon.fr/vdl/sections/fr/evenements/impressionisme_et_na/reperes/

we took a walk 

at the market 

another shot of the market 

to market, to market

There are markets all around our area and it's hard to remember which market is open on which days. I will eventually figure it out, but I do know that one down our street is always open on Friday so Jeff and I went to the market. I gave him some money and an assignment to buy some fruit. (Just like I used to do when the kids were little and we would go to the supermarket - I would give them a "budget" and they would have to find and purchase things). So Jeff bought some nice apples. I got some eggplant and salad stuff. The lady who sold me the spinach was all apologetic because it had been so hot here in Lyon and she thought the spinach looked bad and wilted. Compared to what we get in the states, it looked great! It is interesting, only the fruits and veggies in season are sold - so eggplant is everywhere! It will be fun to watch what is for sale as the seasons change.

After the market, as we were walking home, Jeff took some nice pictures.

...and we walked past the fire station.... 

...and we passed the church... 

Outfitting the new car 

Great progress...new car!

We got a car! So the required papers, cards, etc. were all in order and the car dealer actually held the car for us for about 2 1/2 months. We were hoping to get it this week and we did. But it was looking kinda iffy when on Monday we couldn't arrange for insurance because the banks were closed. Then on Tuesday, we got the insurance, and Paul was going to have to return the rental car, then hop on the bus to go pick up the new car. Problem was.... the bus drivers were on strike.
(We should be used to this by now!) So he got the car on Wednesday. My first order of business was to put a TEXAS sticker on the back.

Our trip to IKEA, but not for chairs 

The light fixtures

In our new car, we went to IKEA last night and bought some things. The kitchen story comes later, but for now, I will tell you that we bought 2 light fixtures. .... progress.... only 2 because Jeffrey thought that he could do the installation himself. He is pretty handy that way so we were willing to give it a try with 2 simple fixtures from IKEA. The circuit box was labelled in French, but with a little trial and error, we figured out the proper switches for the 2 rooms that would be getting the new fixtures. The ladder wasn't high enough, so we figured that if we took the coffee table into the bathroom (the room getting the fixture) and then place the ladder on top of the coffee table, it would be high enough. OK, so that worked. I just had to hold on to the ladder because it barely fit on the table. The first picture below shows the first fixture. I complained bitterly that it looked like &$#@^ and so Jeff made a few adjustments and installed the second fixure in my bathroom and did a much better job. You can see that in the second picture. And you can also see that they work!!

first try, hmm, not exactly 

second try, much better 

no more duct tape 

Oh my, it's the duct tape guy again!

My doorbell rang again this morning. It was the orange duct tape man again. He asked if I remembered him, and naturellement, I did. And he asked to see the chimney in my kitchen again. I know the routine..... so I went to get the ladder for him...... he climbed up and removed the beautiful orange duct tape. I asked him if there was a problem with my chimney and he told me that the problem was on a floor above mine. Oh whew.... hopefully I won't see him again.

Taking a break. 

our excursion of the day

Jeff and I had a list of things to get so we struck out for the mall. We bought some electrical adapters and a bike lock. Then we went to get a few groceries while we were out. On the way home we stopped to rest and snack on a park bench near a church. As we were continuing our journey home, I spotted the bumper sticker on this car. We had to stop to take a picture!

from our park bench 

Yeah, don't mess with Texas in France!

Finally got this one... 

what color is your card?

Paul:
The first week I was in France at the beginning of April, I tried to buy a car. The first salesman I talked to said the absolute best discount you can get is 10% and you have to order the car with 10 weeks for delivery. My reaction was... I can't wait 10 weeks to get a car... so I went to the Purchasing Manager at work who said he "knew somebody". So he connected me with the sales manager who was very nice and found what I wanted - as long as the color was grey. And on top of that, he gave me a 12% discount (not too surprising though, since the company has a "brother-in-law" relationship with Renault). So... I signed the contract and he said, "OK, I need your 'carte de sejour'. " Gulp..... What's that?? "That's the equivalent of an American green card." He needed my carte de sejour so he could then get a "grey card" from city hall before he could sell me the car.

OK, so the people in Paris blamed the French government.... I think maybe they forgot to apply for it. So in June (after 2 months - almost 10 weeks) I got my Visa. So I then sent my passport to Paris and they got my carte de sejour. I then gave that to the car guy (along with my water bill and third grade report card) . He used that to get a carte gris (grey card) so he could sell me the car.

Today the insurance guy told me I need a "green card" (something to do with insurance) before they will give me the car. Now the company people in Paris said I have to go to the French Embassy in Geneva on July 5th to get my permanent OMI visa.

And I still haven't bought the car.

Ta-Da ! 

can you find this? 

my chores for the day

Each day I have a new assignment. Today's assignment is two-fold. I must mail some letters (actually bills) and I have to change the light bulb in the closet. While that may sound like a simple assignment to you, it may not turn out to be as easy as it sounds. First of all, to mail the letters, I can either go to the post office which is about 10-15 blocks away, or I can try to find a post office drop box. The box idea sounds much easier, but I don't know where the closest one is, so I will have to wander around looking for something bright yellow. And then if I don't find a box, I can always go to the post office (la poste). Wish me luck...

My second task it to change the light bulb in the closet. The ceiling is probably 12 feet high and our ladder is not nearly tall enough to reach the bulb. But that is only half of the story. I don't exactly know what type of light bulb is needed to replace the burnt one. So it may actually require two trips up the ladder - one to take the old bulb down, and one to replace the bulb. But before I can replace the bulb, I will have to make a trip to a store to find a bulb to match the one I need to replace. Oh, and .... yeah.... we haven't gotten around yet to buying light fixtures.

So... I'm on my way to do my day's work! I'll report back later.....

change the bulb 

after a very long day 

He's "home"

Jeff arrived today after a very long journey of about 24 hours. He was so tired... but we didn't want him to crash too early so that his schedule will adjust to ours. We took him out to dinner last night.

It is so good to have him here.

To our Dads...Happy Father's Day!  

the good stuff