CITY SLICKER

After a bit of scouting, I finally found an apartment yesterday. We’d left it late – as usual – so for a March availability it’s either the ones that no-one else wants…or well, maybe they just aren’t trying very hard (if you're lucky). So I picked one that I might end up bitching about later, but it does have a lot of classic art nouveau add ons, and I am a sucker for the art nouveau. I think its been a student artist haven for at least as long as it has existed, so needless to say for the surprisingly large size, extreme proximity to the city centre and (suspiciously) low price, it's going to have a few little problems.

WELCOME TO LILLE

Well, I’m slowly finding my feet. They’re slipping about all over the place in the ice and snow, but my feet are there, nevertheless. And I haven’t gone bottoms down onto the pavement yet either, so I’m pretty proud of myself all in all.

ALL CHANGE

It's decided.
I've been accepted for my first temping assignment up in Lille, starting Monday. Monsieur, for his part, has two job interviews lined up before Christmas already, so if he manages to get himself something before my own placement is over (late February) then Lille is officially our new home.

So now I just need to go pack. Sigh! Again. I move way too often.

Merry Christmas all. :)

OLD BONES GET NO REST

Visiting damp tunnels full of centuries old skeletons is probably not everyones idea of a great day out, but there's something I rather like about roaming about in tunnels. And if there's one thing that Paris has got a lot of, it's tunnels. In this case, Paris' famed catacombes.

These particular tunnels were originally limestone quarries - some dating back to Roman occupation (of what was then Lutece). During the late 1700s, there were severe problems with overflowing graveyards and poor burials - especially in the region of Les Halles (once a famous marketplace, now a tragically designed commercial district). To combat the disease caused by these unsanitary conditions (becoming even more problematic during the revolution), it was decided to transfer the bodies to the former quarry sites and create mass graves.

There's something very anonymous about this sort of experience. Graveyards at least give you an indication of who each person was, but here I found myself wondering, as I looked at the rows and rows of skulls, who they were, how they lived, how they died. Though it's sure that these old bones get no rest with all us tourists wandering through day after day.

ADVENTURES IN PRAGUE

Sometimes I feel a bit guilty only staying a weekend in one city, in a country I've never visited. The backpacker in me wanted a good couple of weeks to follow the roads less travelled in this country I know nothing about, speaking a language I don't understand. That said, I have a pretty good talent for figuring out key foreign words pretty quickly. In this instance, though, I think it was limited to beer, wine, exit and thank you.

PICASSO MUSEUM

Europe on a shoestring travelling pro-tip: Museums in France are free on the first Sunday of every month. I recently took advantage of a free cultural day and strolled down to the Hôtel Salé to check out the Picasso Museum (and to compare it with the Barcelona collection...)