Construction in Ile de France

My husband works in construction. He has built all kinds of buildings from pools, to apartments, to town houses to supermarkets to redoing foundations. He has worked all over the Ile-de-France region. Currently he is working about 45 minutes away but he has worked with a commute of 2hours each way and he starts at 7 am.  He works as a mason, he is in charge of the walls. So, when we visit certain Paris monuments, the Patheon, Eiffel Tower, Invalides, etc. he stands there and is like "How did they do this ?" or just random buildings he is like "They messed up that wall etc".

and he does this all year around from extreme heat to cold. Also, it is interesting that most of the workers are Turk, Portuguese and Africans, never the French. But I guess it is like that in the States, there are more Mexican workers than Americans on construction sites.


 

Open up wide at the Dentist

I haven't seen the dentist in quite a long time, and I finally decided that I wanted to go get my teeth checked out. I prefer to find a doctor/dentist that speaks English, because if I don't understand something in French at least I will understand in English. Thankfully, the US Consulate provides a list of English-speaking doctors and the dentist that I chose accepts the carte vitale. The carte vitale is a health insurance card which permits sometimes reductions on the price that you will have to pay. Like I paid 70 euros for the first consultation, but I will receive a 40 euros refund.

Anyway back to the dentist office, it was located near Madeleine Church in a very nice neighborhood.

Also the dentist office was very unique. I felt like I was in an interior decorator's office. Even the elevator felt like a space ship, I forgot to take a picture of that.

But of course being in the dentist chair felt like a normal dentist office. Have you ever been to the dentist in France ?

 

Louvre Visit 2

Last week, I had a chance to be a tour guide for some Turks from the Netherlands in Paris. Of course they wanted to visit everywhere in 2 days. But I made it clear it is not possible to see everywhere in Paris, there are places I haven't seen and I have lived here for 3+ years.
Funny story when we visited the Louvre, the girl I was showing around just turned 26 so she wasn't going to be able to get in for free. But we were going to try anyway, so we went to the entrance counter and the girl was like I don't have my passport I only have my student card from the Netherlands. So, the  worker was like sing me a French song. So there she was singing the French national anthemn at the entrance of the louvre ! Would you do this to get into a museum or a place for free ?

While there, I decided to take some photos of some other favorite things in the Louvre. Enjoy!

The Wings of Victory

Modern Art during the Renaissance

It's incredible how many paintings they put on the walls !

I love this painting, I could stand in front of it for hours !

 

Picture of the Week : Pantheon

I discovered the Pantheon when my sister came to visit back in August 2010. It is a very interesting building that combines science, history, and poltics. Most politicians and scientists are buried here.

how they determined the earth is round and it also tells time

My husband is so amazed on how they constructed the pantheon

The weight of the world on our shoulders

the view from the top is amazing and it is FREE!

and so much better from Eiffel Tower

 So next time you are in Paris, check out the Pantheon, wlak up to the top and check out the view.

Moving yet again !

So we are moving again. Yilmaz made the comment the other day that ever since I came to France we move all the time! Which is true, but it's not my fault that we move all the time. We are moving this time after having problems with our landlord, sometimes those darn Turks ! But we are not moving that far away, we are literally about 5 apartment buildings down, so at least we won't have to get acquainted to a new city. Also, I know most of my neighbors since they are my husband's cousins.

Anyway, we have enough boxes, I just have to get inspired to pack, move and then unpack, it is going to be so much fun.

 

 And now a small glimpse inside our new 4-bedroom apartment with balcony ! 

a kitchen with a slightly smaller pantry

 Who wants to visit ?

Picture of the Week : Scenes from Vienna

Back when I studied abroad in 2008 in Paris, I took a trip to Vienna, Austria. We had visited Barcelona before going to Vienna and had received great advice from a woman in our hostel. She said that all of the museums were like the ones in Paris so there was no point in visiting them. So instead we checked out the architecture

and saw an opera for 2 euros ( standing for the whole La Traviata) but it was well worth it.

The Opera House

La Traviata

The only to remember is that when you are planning a trip back to Paris, remember to book the train for Vienna, Austria not Vienna, France. So we ended up paying 300 euros each to make it to Strasbourg, France and then tried to ask the train to reimbourse us for "our" mistake. Let's just say the site wasn't very clear, because I had friends who ended up taking the train to Vienna, France thinking they were going to Austria, they got off and were like "Where are we ?"

Strasbourg, France

 Have you visited Vienna or Austria ?