Our new neighborhood

Paris' 13th arrondissement was cobbled together from a couple of suburbs and pieces of the 12th in 1860. Its history follows that of urbanization: from leather tanning and tapestry weaving along the banks of the Bievre river to  tapestry weaving of the Gobelins, almost any kind of manufacturing could be found here. There was even a chocolate factory! Consequently; the population were members of the working class - a long way from the bourgeosie of the 16th. Anecdotally, when it came time to number the outlying arrondissements, the most bourgeois of districts rejected the proposed number of 13 due to the popular saying " Ils se sont mariés à la mairie du 13e ", (they were married at the Mayor's office in the 13th, meaning a couple would live together outside of mariage, and thus outside of what "polite" society would accept.) Thus the smooth numbering of the districts was interrupted!

Here is a typical  house from the turn of the last century. It is possible that this belonged to a cheminot (train worker.)

 Buildings are, for the most part, relatively low profile, but along the major streets, Baron Haussmann has left his trace, as he has on most of the boulevards in Paris.

100 meters from the house is the Parc Montsouris. This will be a welcome respite from the horrendous pollution that plagues Paris today.

There are many, many cafes in the area: one of the nicest is just around the corner on La Butte aux Cailles. If I were a millionaire, I might want to buy in this neighborhood: For now, we'll just enjoy visiting. 

Telephones in France

A couple of years ago, my husband convinced me to get a smart phone. Honestly, I never thought that I would use it the way that I do. Camera, gps, metronome, skype, web-surfing... just about everything except actually calling people on the phone.And since then, I have become firmly attached to my portable web.

This is a challenge while travelling abroad: roaming charges would break the bank very quickly, and most phone plans call for a 12-24 mo. minimum commitment in order to get a subsidized phone. UGH.

A quick question: am I the only one to not really understand what it means to have an unlocked phone? I have many uses for the money that it would cost to buy one (think travel, restaurants, museums, books...) .

I honestly believed that I could use my HTC Incredible while abroad. To my great chagrin, I have discovered that  most of Verizon's phones are proprietary (eg no SIM card,) and not able to be used outside of the US. Even after the 2 year contract period is over!!

Fortunately, when I left ATT a couple of years ago, I kept my phones -both Sony Ericsson- and a quick phone call to customer service gave me the codes to unblock them. Once here, a quick stop at the grocery store allowed me to buy a sim card and get a phone number that is good for 6 months (renewable), and voila, almost instant communication.

The new problem is that my old phones are not smart phones. But I have found a use for my not very incredible HTC: I have turned it into an expensive wifi camera. (So, I still don't need to buy a tablet!) I have WIFI connection when I'm in the apt. (FWIW).

AND I just found out that the city of Paris maintains over 400 free hotspots, through the provider "Orange."

Here is how to get access in English: http://www.paris.fr/english/english/how-to-access-the-wi-fi-free-of-charge-in-paris/rub_8118_actu_109289_port_19237

And here is more detailed info in French:  http://www.paris.fr/wifi

Problem almost solved. The moral of the story - make sure your phone accepts SIM cards before travelling. Enough with this proprietary bs!