Mark Twain may have roughed it in America’s “wild west,” but I don’t think he ever went to Dijon. So I will try to fill you in with what he missed.
We have been in Dijon, France for ten days now. We plan to stay here until the end of November. The purpose of this trip is to experience what it might be like to actually live in France—instead of just visiting and eating in restaurants everyday and having our hotel take care of everything for us. I must admit, it is a challenge.
We are—as New Yorkers living in a building with 166 apartments and 24-hour doorman service—kind of spoiled. And living in the heart of Manhattan, everything we ever need is within one block of where we live.
Convenience is now something we are learning to live without. For example, in a country (and city) that is so identified with its wine, I find it amazing that it is hard to find a bottle of wine on the spur of the moment. At home in New York we have three wine stores within one block—depending on which direction you want to walk. And they are all open seven days a week. Here, you have to go foraging. And Sundays—forget about it. In fact, forget about doing much of anything on Sundays.
Thus far, we are basically learning how to simply survive. Neither one of us is fluent in French, so that makes everything more difficult. But the people here are friendly and helpful. We brought our dogs, Gravy and Salsa, with us and they are always getting smiles from people and occasionally people will stop to “talk” to them.
We shop for groceries everyday, because we can’t buy five to seven bags of food once a week and have it delivered. This we expected. Survival on a daily basis.
We have learned how to do laundry, for example. Golly, I haven’t been to a laundromat in probably 40 years. Here, the apartment does have a washing machine—but with no dryer. Hello, what good is that? No calling Alan for a laundry pick-up. Surviving with laundry.
We’ve had to buy a lot of supplies. For example, Pam is a great cook. But she needs more spices than just salt and pepper. Paper towels, napkins, soap—you name it, we have spent a lot of time running around getting the things we are accustomed to having. Like wash cloths! Staying alive.
I have had some terrible back pain since leaving New York. I think I pulled my back lifting luggage. As you may know, the Bradleys don’t travel lightly. So I went to a doctor. Again with the nice people here. A woman at our local pharmacy (who speaks English) found a doctor for me and called him to make an appointment. He gave me three prescriptions (for pain, muscle relaxing, etc.) and I’m feeling somewhat better now.
The WiFi in the apartment here is very good. And so is the hot water. And unlike so many showers I have experienced in France and Italy, here the water doesn’t get all over the bathroom floor!
I haven’t really had a chance yet to take many pictures. But I did set up a new page here on A Rock In My Shoe. I posted nine pictures this morning—with descriptions. More to follow.
We have been in Dijon, France for ten days now. We plan to stay here until the end of November. The purpose of this trip is to experience what it might be like to actually live in France—instead of just visiting and eating in restaurants everyday and having our hotel take care of everything for us. I must admit, it is a challenge.
We are—as New Yorkers living in a building with 166 apartments and 24-hour doorman service—kind of spoiled. And living in the heart of Manhattan, everything we ever need is within one block of where we live.
Convenience is now something we are learning to live without. For example, in a country (and city) that is so identified with its wine, I find it amazing that it is hard to find a bottle of wine on the spur of the moment. At home in New York we have three wine stores within one block—depending on which direction you want to walk. And they are all open seven days a week. Here, you have to go foraging. And Sundays—forget about it. In fact, forget about doing much of anything on Sundays.
Thus far, we are basically learning how to simply survive. Neither one of us is fluent in French, so that makes everything more difficult. But the people here are friendly and helpful. We brought our dogs, Gravy and Salsa, with us and they are always getting smiles from people and occasionally people will stop to “talk” to them.
We shop for groceries everyday, because we can’t buy five to seven bags of food once a week and have it delivered. This we expected. Survival on a daily basis.
We have learned how to do laundry, for example. Golly, I haven’t been to a laundromat in probably 40 years. Here, the apartment does have a washing machine—but with no dryer. Hello, what good is that? No calling Alan for a laundry pick-up. Surviving with laundry.
We’ve had to buy a lot of supplies. For example, Pam is a great cook. But she needs more spices than just salt and pepper. Paper towels, napkins, soap—you name it, we have spent a lot of time running around getting the things we are accustomed to having. Like wash cloths! Staying alive.
I have had some terrible back pain since leaving New York. I think I pulled my back lifting luggage. As you may know, the Bradleys don’t travel lightly. So I went to a doctor. Again with the nice people here. A woman at our local pharmacy (who speaks English) found a doctor for me and called him to make an appointment. He gave me three prescriptions (for pain, muscle relaxing, etc.) and I’m feeling somewhat better now.
The WiFi in the apartment here is very good. And so is the hot water. And unlike so many showers I have experienced in France and Italy, here the water doesn’t get all over the bathroom floor!
I haven’t really had a chance yet to take many pictures. But I did set up a new page here on A Rock In My Shoe. I posted nine pictures this morning—with descriptions. More to follow.
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