Le week-end

This weekend I set out to get shit done. That's right. Productivity. Unfortunately, this was not as pleasant and easy as hopping in the car and driving a few minutes to Target, where life is perfect. My apartment is fully furnished, but I decided to buy a few little personal things of my own. So I got out my star-shaped Post-its and made a list. Can opener, measuring cup, laundry bag, travel coffee mug, regular coffee mugs, a cute can for coffee storage. I also wanted to look at toaster ovens and hot pots, which I get to pick out and deduct the cost from my rent. I found these online at Darty, somewhat of a French Best Buy, and the closest store is in Forum des Halles. Forum des Halles is a gigantic underground mall that used to be a garden or a museum or something (isn't everything in Paris?) Also, I wanted to get a gym membership going because I am slowly becoming insane without structured exercise. I had researched a few places online with elaborate websites (more on this later), in walking distance, so I was going to hit those first.

Saturday

Well, drawn by the promise of home stores, I set out for Forum des Halles. But first, I went to W.H. Smith, an English bookstore near the Louvre. I've been plotting my return to the gym and when it comes to fruition, I will need some American magazines. Eventually I plan to read French ones, but ya know, baby steps. The store was great, except that Us Weekly costs 6,50 euro (about 9 dollars -- not worth it for only enough reading material for one day at the gym). So I settled on the similarly priced but much heftie Allure, Glamour, and Cosmo, which will get me 2-3 sessions each. So what if I spent 20 bucks on them.

Off to des Halles. The metro stop for this mall (Chatelet, Les Halles, and Chatelet-Les Halles. . .yes, that's right. Three stations in one. It takes maybe 10 minutes to get from one end to the other) is bad enough, and took me about 10 minutes to just pick an exit. Once I was out, I wandered around for a little while. Luckily, big tourist attractions in Paris have some signage near them. I found my way there, and down into the depths I went.
While on an epic hunt for the Darty store, I ran into Maisons du Monde. It can best be described as a French Pier 1. And it was great. But of course, I always need to compare prices everywhere before I buy something, so I left empty-handed. I did eventually find Darty. After all of this, I still had no housewares. My landlord told me about a department store nearby (this should have been my first deterrent -- French department stores are crowded and expensive and generally miserable places to be) called BHV, so I searched it out using my excellent sense of direction. By this time, I was tired, hungry, and dehydrated. Not the best conditions for going into a 7 story department store with about 7,000 people. I found the housewares department, it was way too expensive. I was OVER IT. So I went home. The end.

Sunday

After the disappointing housewares search of Saturday, I decided to hit up my neighborhood open market. Sunday morning is apparently the biggest time on Rue Mouffetard (Google it), so I got up early (10 am?) to check it out. I walk down it pretty much every day to go to class but I'm usually tired and in a hurry, so today I just stroooolled. The first block or so isn't very market-ish, just lots of restaurants and boutiques (CUTE ones that I fully intend on patronizing once my job starts). But about half way down, the pedestrian-only gate was up and the food shops started. Almost immediately I found a housewares store. GLORY HALLELUJAH. I got a can opener for 3,10, a meauring cup for 1,50, and a great coffee storage can for like 5 something. Success. Next I decided to look at food and see if I was up to the French grocery shopping challenge. Protein is so expensive. Chicken is hard to find in the boucherie, and fish is just outrageously expensive. So is fruit. I've been really craving blackberries recently, but these people wanted like 3,25 (the commas mean euros, in case you hadn't caught on) for a box with maybe 20 blackberries in it. No thanks. I didn't end up getting anything (there were some chicken breasts on sale, but I didn't feel like freezing them myself), but I did stop into Picard, which I imagine is where we'll all be shopping in 2050. It is a store of all frozen food. Croissants, veggies, ice cream. I paid 9,30 for a kilo of chicken. Ugh I miss Safeway. Who wants to send me a giant bag of frozen chicken breasts?

After I got home, put away my purchases, and ate some lunch, I set out for Club Quartier Latin. If you look at the website, it looks perfect, and about a 10-15 minute walk away. The price is steep (about 60 bucks a month), but apparently one of the cheapest options in Paris. Well, I guess that's proportional here, because it was sad. The cardio area was about 200 square feet, with two sad and crappy elliptical machines. Dammit. So I went home, got the address of another place I'd be eyeing. It's much more expensive but hey, I'll pay for a nice gym. Club Jean de Beauvais is super nice, but like everywhere else, very small. I was almost charmed by the medieval architecture and nice-smelling spa, but 780 euros upfront is just ridiculous. Maybe I'll go back if I can't find anything else, but not until the rest of my financial aid comes in. So I went home, severely disappointed, and spent about 2 hours looking for every possible Parisian gym on the internet. There are a few promising places outside of my neighborhood, but I just don't want to take the metro to work out.

After all of this research and nearly deciding to take up jogging (yeah, I must've been delirious), I decided to check if Paris 7, the University of Paris nearest to me, had a sports complex. It does, and if I read the information right, it's possible to get a membership if you're not a student there. I sent an email to the sports director explaining that I attend the University of Paris, just not 7, and if it would be possible for me to use their facilities. Pray, everyone.