Valley of Girard

We're moved in! What an exciting day!

It was a crazy morning.  The morning was normal - once again I was up very early, and stayed as quiet as I could until Ron got up.  We headed down to breakfast, and on our way back up I asked if we could have a late check-out since we couldn't move in until 2:00 pm and I needed to wrestle 7 bags by myself if I couldn't.  The desk clerk didn't know and said he'd call me, but he didn't call and I got booted out by the cleaning crew.  I was all packed up, but moving 4 huge suitcases, a laptop bag, a camera bag, and Ron's other carry-on was a trial.  I had to make several trips between the 7th floor and the ground floor and I pretty much had to rearrange their closet to fit everything in.

I waited in the lobby for Ron, and he got there a little bit before 1:00pm.  We grabbed some of the small stuff and walked up to the apartment.  It's about a 20 minute walk from the hotel.  We got there at about 1:30pm, so we had just decided that Ron would go across the street and get us a crepe to share while we waited.  But the owner's agent showed up early and we got to go up to the apartment instead.

I was so excited!  I had seen photos of course, but now it was the real thing.  This place was going to be my home for the next 6-8 months and I was hopeful that it was as nice as the photos.  I was wrong...it was NICER!

First - here is our fabulous, red front door.

The knob doesn't turn and it looks as though the door has been pried open.  ???

Looking back down the staircase to the front door to the building:

It's an odd staircase from the ground floor to the second floor, then it becomes a spiral.  Except for the part that juts out, it is fairly strait after the first turn at the bottom.

Entering the front door, you are in the small entry way:

Entry as seen from the living area

You can go straight into the bedroom

Looking into the bedroom from the entry

 Or turn right and go into the living area:

The living area with a view onto the square below

slightly different POV

The living area looking into the kitchen/dining area from entry

The kitchen is large by Parisian apartment standards - at least for the apartments for regular folks:

We have a 4-burner induction cooktop, an oven, microwave, coffee pot, range hood, dishwasher and washer/dryer

 Looking back at the living area from the kitchen. 

The bar is our only dining area and I would say the only drawback to this apartment.

This is the toilette - it is separate from the bathroom and is the furthest spot in the apartment from both the bathroom and bedroom.  heh

It is fully equipped with a coupe toilet, small sink, and a shower hose in lieu of a full bidet!

The bedroom is a nice size and has plenty of storage - two tall cabinets for clothes and such and a closet that is half shelves and the other half for hanging.

Love the chandeliers and the views to the streets below. 

The bathroom and the toilette are the oddest-shaped rooms in the apartment because the apartment is essentially a triangle with the base of the triangle at the front of the building (the window side).  The bathroom and toilette are each tucked into the corners at the base of the triangle.  The shower is marvelous; it has a rock floor, glass-tiled walls, a window (!), an Italian rain-type shower head and a TV (that doesn't work)! 

Fortunately, those windows are frosted glass!

 The sink area is also very nice with plenty of cabinet and storage space and two sinks:

There is also a huge, 55+" screen Plasma TV in the living area and a small balcony off the kitchen: 

The French doors to the balcony - if you squint you can see the table and chairs

This apartment is really quite lovely and I think we will like it here very much.  It is 642 square feet, so less than half of what we're used to, but I can't imagine that with only two of us it will be a problem.  

The biggest problem so far is that we do not have our own internet, cable TV or telephone.  They were supposed to be installed today, Monday, 7 February, but I didn't speak French and the installer didn't speak English so I don't really know what happened other than he showed up, looked at the cable box and such, spoke with the owner on the phone and left.  We are currently "borrowing" internet from the Cafe below us.  We went in on Friday night and had dinner, got the code and can use it two floors up.  But it is spotty and unreliable so we're anxious for our own internet connection. 

So what is the Valley of Girard?   Our apartment is located in the Vaugirard neighborhood of the 15th Arrondissement.  Vaugirard is the old French construction of Val Girard or Valley of Girard, named for Abbot Girard, who owned the land over which the road passes.  Rue de Vaugirard first appeared in the 15th century, and is based on an old Roman road.  It led from the city walls to the village of Vaugirard.