Our new life in Paris report
 

Read about it here:

http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/living/travel/14985980.htm

and more about where we live here:

http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/14985988.htm

Hope to see you all in Paris soon!
Lutece

Lutece, I read this in the Sunday paper. It was good.
I'll be there in October for the first time and am very excited! But I will be sad if I get seated in the dark at a restaurant! hehe

Jayne1973,

How crazy that you've read this - do you live in DFW? I'm glad you liked it and are coming to visit Paris for the first time!

You know, my husband and I are in summer French classes through the city, with immigrants from around the world. And who should end up in our class at our same level? A guy from Grand Prairie. Then he gets a call from a friend in Dallas who tells him about the article, and then he tells them he's in class with us. Small, small world!

I hope you have a wonderful trip!
Lutece (Paula)

Thanks for sharing your story. I hope you, your DH and pookies have a terrific year...or two...

Lutece -
I can totally identify with the "crime drama withdrawal" and add to that "Angels baseball" withdrawal for me.

But, to live your dream . . . what is more important? Thank you so much for sharing your adventure. Please keep us connected with future articles. I'm bleeding green envy right now!

Linda

Ooooooh Paula, you are living all of our dreams. You did it. I have read your posts on the horrors of renting your apartment and all the work that went into it. As a FORMER landlord, I sympathized with you.

Now you are enjoying the fruits of your labor, along with making your dream a reality. We all hate you - but we love you for actually making it happen ;-)

Love your writing style and feel as if we know you ... watch out here it comes ..... how big is that studio couch????? And when is your mother leaving?

Maybe we'll pass you on the street in the next year. We'll know your by your happy American face, which has now become a happy French face. Texas and probably Paris, will never be the same.

So when are you getting a tattoo, perhaps a small papillion on your shoulder - discounts to locals.

Nina

LOVED it and I wish you the very best year in Paris imaginable! I'm originally from Dallas but moved away to Colorado a couple years ago. I asked my folks to save the paper with this article

Lutece -- great articles. How lucky and brave you are! Keep up the reports.
((c))

Paula, yes I live in DFW and my husband actually read your story to me Sunday morning. We enjoyed it very much. Had you done some freelance for the Star-Telegram before?

&quot;<i>Had you done some freelance for the Star-Telegram before? </i>&quot;

From the article: &quot;Paula Caballero is a <b>former Star-Telegram reporter</b> who ran away to Paris.&quot;

Nice to read your article!
I used to live on Rue de Bruxelles so know your neighbourhood very well. Loved the area but hated the Monoprix on Place Blanche... ;)

Lutece-

Thanks for posting this. I also read it this weekend--yes another Dallasite.

I'm headed to Paris on Monday to scout neighborhoods. Who knows?

It is not often that I can say to someone &quot;You are living my dream.&quot; (Usually there are kids somewhere in the mix and I'm childfree.)

But yes, you are living my dream. Great articles, thanks for posting them.

I had no idea there were so many people with Texas ties on this board! Thanks for all your kind words. I will post links to future articles here, too.

Nina66 - You have a good point, perhaps we should consider tattoos. I was thinking a cute T-shirt would be enough, but....

As for the sofabed, well it's plenty big and comfy. The only problem for most people is we're right above it in the lofted mezzanine bed. I can't really convey just how &quot;cozy&quot; the setup is, but my parents did only stay one night with us and two nights in a hotel, if that gives you an idea!

hanl - Yeah, it's not the Monoprix in the world, but it's what we've got. We use the Franprix on rue Vintimille as well as the ATAC near Place de Clichy.

LoriS - You have to wonder how many Americans come home with a new mortgage after a trip to Paris! Did you read the NYT article about Americans buying real estate in the 17th? It ran just a few weeks ago. If you can't find it, I can email the text to you, at least.

Jaynie1973 - Yes I worked for the S-T for nearly a decade. I left to work in PR for a few years and then we quit our jobs and came here! With any luck, maybe I can reinvent myself as a travel writer!

Thanks again for everyone's supportive comments!

flagging--will check this out later from home. :-)

PS After meeting you at the DFW GTG, I really wanted to buy a condo in Paris too!! :-D

Please continue to post your articles here, as they are most enjoyable.
((S))((*))

Tagging to savor later....

Yes I used to frequent that tiny Franprix on rue Vintimille too. But my favourite thing was to shop on rues Lepic and Abbesses on Saturday/Sunday mornings. My boyfriend at the time (now my husband) used to live on rue des Abbesses so we'd constantly be shuttling up and down that street...

Also used to be regulars at the bar called le Vallois at the Blanche end of rue de Bruxelles. The barman that used to work there was a great character but it turned out he'd been a bit too generous with the free beers and got the sack. Used to be frequented by all sorts of characters, from bikers to policemen to French celebs...

Anyway, hope you manage to make a go of things in Paris.

Lutece - Ah...to simply quit your job, pack up the belongings and move to a foreign country sounds so dreamy. :-) I'm another DFW person (Plano) who loves Paris as well and will be there come Sept. 2nd with older sister in tow (I'm playing tour guide). As much as I love London, the city of Paris and pretty much anywhere in Switzerland would be my top choices if I were to just move abroad. Glad you love it there!

hanl - We love Le Valois! Such a great neighborhood place!

trafaelwyr - I cannot believe all you DFW people coming out of the woodwork on these boards! Glad to hear you're making a trip soon.

Sounds like maybe we'll need to plan a Paris GTG with DFW/Texas folks...

Good for you, Paula! Will you be submitting some more articles for the Star-Telegram while you are over there?

Re: a DFW get together...We'll be there October 5-10 if anyone is interested!

Ah, Paula, you are pulling at my heartstrings. And I just edited some photos from last month, one of which is a shot of my 18 yo niece in front of the Sexodrome (carefully composed for its affect on her father's blood pressure and to see the look on her mother's face).
While I have loved living in San Antonio for years, it is filling up with all these escaping Californians in their hillbilly chateaux (just kidding, sorta ;-)) so perhaps Paris would be a good option... is Darrin doing real estate in Paris?

Paula - I lived in Paris for 5 1/2 years and reading the article in the FW Star Telegram was like making a trip back in time . It brought back lots of wonderful memories and feelings of jealousy. We try to get back to Paris at least every other year; even if it's just to eat at favorite restarants ,visit frineds an do some Auchan shopping. We're doing a Baltic cruise next year and picked the one from England so we could stop off in Paris for a few days afterwards with other ex-Parisites sailing with us. Might as we'll since we'll be in the &quot;neighborhood&quot;.
Kudos to you both for having the courage to live your dream!

Jayne 1973 - Yes, I'll be doing periodic articles for the S-T. The stuff you read was sort of the kick-off to what we hope will be a nice series. I am hoping the S-T readers liked it and want more! My editors are great and very supportive, so I feel very lucky. As for Oct., count us in! Maybe you should post it as its own thread?

Seamus - I love seeing people take photos in front of the Sexodrome. It's a hoot, isn't it??!! You'll have to post a link here so we can check it out. Darrin is doing more freelance writing than real estate, but we are doing some property management for Americans who are still in the states and need someone to oversea their properties. I had no idea Californians are escaping to San Antonio. I can certainly see why - it's lovely! It seems like so many Californians are cashing in on those fanatstic real estate sales prices and moving somewhere cheaper. Are they building monsterous places in the hill country or what?

How wonderful :)
I will be there at the end of November, then again in the second week of December as a treat after shepherding 20 students around France. It would be fun to say hello ;)

Yes, Paula, they are indeed. There are McMansions all over the place. IH-10 is being choked with development all the way to Boerne and beyond, much of it with a strip mine mentality that rips down all the trees. Many of these transplants (sounds better than real estate refugee, doesn't it? LOL) who arrived with the proceeds from the sale of their west coast property are shocked when they find themselves stuck with these places. When they realize that though there is no state income tax there are scads of property based taxes, and utilities to heat and (especially) cool a big place can get steep, and that they look into their neighbors' windows (and vice versa), and the traffic congestion that occurs when these developments burgeon and the infrastructure doesn't, they start to think about selling. Problem is, there are a dozen developers who are selling new models and can offer better financing than is available for a a pre-owned property. So they are often not easy to sell, certainly not with the type of gains seen on the west coast. That is not unique to SA, from what is being reported in the media, but it sure is happening here. If you email me offline at jphinc at grandecom dot net I will elaborate and promise not to ask too many nosy questions about how I can also run away to Paris.

sflowler - Please do email me when you are coming to town. Would love to meet up. [email protected]

And seamus, I'll send you an email and you can ask all the nosy questions you want! The hubby and I just eat up that real estate stuff...I love reading all about it!

Done :)