Pisa

Back at the beginning of March when we went to Florence for the weekend, we flew in and out of the airport in Pisa. On our last day we left Florence first thing in the morning, dropped our bags at the airport, and took a 5 minute train ride from the airport into central Pisa. We spent the day wandering around Pisa before our late-afternoon flight back to Paris, and I liked it a lot more than I had expected to.

We walked through a pretty university and stumbled across a gorgeous outdoor market while looking for a place to have lunch. I was seriously tempted by the kale and jalapeños that I saw at the market, as I’ve not been able to find either in Paris.

The most surprising thing about Pisa for me was how pretty the Piazza dei Miracoli, the site of the Leaning Tower, was. I was expecting a touristy nightmare but (at least in the off season) there was enough room to step away from the massive stretch of souvenir stands and people taking pictures posed as if they were holding up the tower to enjoy a peaceful moment surrounded by the beautiful old buildings.

Visitors

My parents were in town for a visit at the end of March and this week I finally got around to going through the pictures I took while showing them around Paris. It was their first time in Paris and we covered a lot of the city, but I didn't end up taking many pictures.

A few from Notre Dame:

A few from the Musée d’Orsay:

(the top floor of the museum has a lovely view across Paris to Sacre Coeur)

And a picture of the Pantheon, taken from the Jardin du Luxembourg, showing the gorgeous weather we had for the entire visit:

As soon as my parents went home, the weather cooled down quite a bit and it started raining again. I’m glad they brought such warm sunny weather to Paris for their vacation!

Trying to keep up with the electric company

When we moved to our apartment, we had an appointment for someone from the electric company to come to the apartment to read our meter as part of setting up our account. They were scheduled to arrive between 10 am and 12 pm on a Saturday. The morning of the appointment I was dressed and ready to receive the technician by 9:45 am but sat waiting until 1 pm before giving up. When we left the apartment later that day, we found a note on the mailbox indicating that they had been by around 9:30 am (half an hour early). I had not heard the door as I was in the shower at the time.

After an elaborate rescheduling process that included going to the post office to get a registered letter and an awkward phone call between me and a very patient electric company employee who did not speak English, we set another appointment for 12 pm on a weekday. This time I was prepared and planned to be waiting for the technician by 11 am, an hour before our scheduled appointment. Our doorbell rang at 9:30 am; the technician was two and a half hours early.

I recently received a letter from the electric company stating that they were sending someone to our apartment to get an updated meter reading on April 12, between 8:30 and 10:30 am. I cringed a little, wondering what time I would need to be ready for an 8:30 am appointment given my previous experiences. I had my answer this morning when our doorbell rang around 8:45 am, a full day before the scheduled appointment.