welcome to the country

I'm living the dream. I'm never going back to Paris. 

After I finished talking to you I took a shower and got myself out the door. Thankfully it had stopped raining so I didn't have to wear my rain boots or coat. I was going to bring my coat with me, but it didn't fit in my suitcase. I better not regret that decision later. I walked to Ledru-Rollin and hopped on the eight. I sat next to the door with my huge bag and felt kind of bad for taking up valuable space on the metro with my luggage. It had to be done. I always hate taking the eight because it always seems to be crowded and it takes forever. From Ledru-Rollin there were literally over 18 stops before Balard at the end of the line. While on the metro I observed an American couple trying to navigate the metro system. The man had a camera hanging from his neck and was trying to read one of the tourist maps of the city that have a tiny metro map on them. The woman was acting like she couldn't help at all, and the man kept pointing to the map and coming up with plans on how to get them to their destination. He kept referring to the lines by their colors; "oh the yellow one" "the baby blue one". Tourist. For some reason he was under the impression that if you take the train to the end of the line that you can figure out a game plan. That's not how the metro works. At one point they had missed their stop and the man decided that they should stay on the metro until Balard. The woman suggested that they get off at the next stop instead. The man then acted like that was his idea even though the woman was the one who proposed it! Oh tourists, learn to download a metro map on your phone. 

I finally got to Balard and walked to France Televisions. I somehow ended up lost because I got to the end of the block without ever seeing the entrance. Just as I was about to slightly panic, I heard a voice behind me. It was Marcel walking their dog! He called Caroline to come get us. We had to wait awhile for Caroline, but she finally arrived. She drives a white Volkswagen car. I put my luggage in the backseat with me and we drove off. It was really dark by the time we left so I really couldn't see anything as we drove along the highway. Finally we got to the countryside after an hour and turned off into their driveway. 

Caroline's house is amazing. It's only 200 years old and used to be regularly visited by the likes of men like Picasso and Dali. I've died and gone to heaven. It's in the typical wood beam construction that is popular in this region, and Caroline has done an amazing job decorating it. I can't wait to see the garden tomorrow during the daylight. Caroline made sure I was all settled in before we started dinner. 

We made a green salad and ravioli with spinach and ricotta filling. To round out dinner we also had a baguette, camembert, and red wine. We followed dinner with green grapes (they aren't seedless in France, but they are huge) and milk chocolate with almonds. I can get used to it here.