I've moved

My room...with a view (view from my bed)

Between Wednesday and Thursday I moved to a new apartment in the city center and I couldn’t be happier. I’m 10 minutes by foot from the Eiffel tower, 10 minutes by foot from Les Invalides, 2 minutes by foot from 3 different metro stations and metro lines, and to top it all I have a spectacular view of the Eiffel tower from my bed. So how did I get to move and live in such a great place??? It is sort of a funny story…or maybe not that funny but it was definitely one of those opportunities that life (God) just presents to you without you really looking. Friday before last, I received a phone call at night from a friend. To make a long story short, an be able to finally post the pictures from the apartment, he told me his roommate was going to be out of the country for the remaining time I was going to be in Paris. He asked if I would be interested in taking the room and I answered: Absolutely!!! 2 weeks prior to that phone call I had been at his apartment for dinner and I already knew how well located it was, what an amazing view it had and how comfortable it was. This was Friday night and I had already paid until Thursday at the place where I was living. So I just talked to some people to make sure it was OK for me to leave before (I had told them I was going to stay there until January) and once they told me there was no problem I started packing. And since I don’t have class on Wednesdays, I moved basically all of my stuff on that day by making several trips on the metro. Talk about perfect timing. The way I see it, this is just another one of Gods gifts to me throughout this experience. I wasn’t even looking for something like this or asking for something like this…not even in my wildest dreams. That is why I feel so lucky, so blessed and so privileged to be living in Paris in a way that cannot get even more “Parisian”. Believe me I’m not taking for granted the fact that I’m getting to live in one of the most amazing cities in the world and in this way.

View of "Les Invalides"--The Eiffel tower in the late afternoon

The Eiffel Tower at night

Dining Room & Living Room - Kitchen

My roommate also went to the German school in Medellin (yes… I know…we are everywhere) but he was 2 years ahead of me. We never kept in touch and we just happened to connect again thanks to a friend of a friend who lives in Paris as well. One afternoon, in talking to Carolina (my friend’s friend who is now also my friend…are you keeping up with all the characters??) told me: I just remember I once met someone here who went to the same school you did and you may know him. I recognized his name, she called him and he invited us for dinner at his place. That is how I ended up living in such a great place. I’m about 15 minutes away from school by metro (changing lines one time) and in case there is another strike I could get to school by walking about 25 minutes. The area is very lively with many restaurants and cafés. I already started doing my one hour jogging in the mornings and the views are unbelievable. I cannot believe I get to see so many beautiful and historical places in that one hour. I walk out of the building for about 5 minutes to warm up and then I start jogging, 2 minutes later I’m at the “Ecole Militaire” and I then cross the street to the “Champs de Mars” – the long and green park that leads up to the “Eiffel Tower”. 5 minutes later I’m jogging right underneath the arches of the Eiffel tower past the hundreds of tourists who are making pictures or are standing in line to buy their tickets to go up the tower. Once I pass the tower I take a glance at “Trocadero” before making right and continue jogging along side the Seine River. The same river where the bodies of hundreds of French nobles and aristocrats where thrown after being guillotined almost 300 years ago during the French Revolution. See what I’m telling you?? Lots and lots of history. I try not to think about what went on there and I just continued on my merry way past “Le pont de l’alme” all the way down to “Pont Alexander” where the “Musee d’Orsay” is located on one side and “Les Invalides” is located on the other. I then make a U-turn and return back home.

I'll leave you with the light show I see every night before going to sleep... I guess they don't call Paris the city of Lights for nothing!!!

Late afternoon-early night show

At night the Eiffel tower is lighted in a yellowish color. Every hour on the hour it is illuminated with flashing white lights for about 5-10 minutes (I still have to time it). The last show is at 1 o'clock in the morning when the yellow lights are turned off and only the white lights flash. After that the lights are turned off and you only see some red lights all the way at the top and some regular lights at the base. Everything else gets lots in the darkness of the night.

1 o'clock in the morning show