Archive for May 16, 2006

Leaky ceiling (1)…

May 16, 2006 at 2:49 am · Filed under france, paris

We came home Sunday night from our trip to Toulouse. Before opening the door I got a sinking feeling as if something is not quite right. As expected, we found that there was a pool of water in the kitchen and into the living room with evidence of water having leaked from the ceiling. A lot of water.

…to make a long story short: Our ceiling leaks when the people in the apartment upstairs use water.

 … at least for now it has stoped and we have contacted all the necessary people. Now we must wait for a plumber, but ufortunately it looks like they wouldn’t be able to fix anything until after we will have left…

What a horrible time to have this happen. We are getting ready to go to Japan this week. I need to work on my talk for the conference next week!

 

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Impressions of Toulouse

May 16, 2006 at 2:39 am · Filed under france


Some impressions of Toulouse:

-The city maintains a very strong red brick motif. Even the sidewalks are done in red, albeit in concrete and not usually brick.

-There is not as much dog droppings on the sidewalks as in Paris. Though it is still noticable (I stepped in some on our visit to the La Cité).

-Parking is a nightmare. Or worse, peut être. The streets are completely lined with cars. It’s incredible, especially on the small side streets. You have to see it to believe it. I thought Paris was bad. 

-There is a lot of open space. Did I mention this is lacking in Paris? I feel that this may be the last chance that I will get to live somewhere without a crowded skyline and heavily polluted air…

-Météo France can be incorrect about weather predictions in their own neighborhood. 

… 

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Toulouse

May 16, 2006 at 12:32 am · Filed under france

Toulouse was great. We got a chance to walk around the city center the day after my talk. The day following our friends who we were staying with took us to visit a castle (La Cité) in neighboring Carcassonne. The day we returned to Paris we went for a picnic in the countryside. There’s plenty of open space around that I really miss while I am in Paris (or in Tokyo). We would have to get a car, if we were to move to Toulouse, but having a car would not be something I would mind so much (as long as it weren’t necessary to commute to work). It would be nice to have the freedom to travel a bit through the French countryside, to nearby Spain, or to the coast…

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