Q: Is your new neighborhood like Charlottesville?
A: No. It is very different because it has shops on the street with the houses. It is also much busier and everyone speaks French. We have a store right next to our apartment called Monoprix, and it is really awesome. You can get everything there. If you wanted, you could never leave our block. We have restaurants, grocery stores, clothes shops, shoe shops, hair salons, toy shops, crepes stands, banks, chocolate shops, two movie theaters, and even a school.
Q: How is the food?
A: There are a few American restaurants, but most of the restaurants are French bistros, and they’re really good. What amazes me is that our grocery store, Monoprix, has really good food and cheese that would be considered gourmet, $20 cheese in America, for 3 Euros. We have tons of little cafes where you can get chocolat chaud, which is much better than regular hot chocolate because it is not too sweet. We have a really good bakery in our neighborhood, which Professor Kaplan says is the best bakery in France. We can trust his opinion because he is a world-renowned historian of bread.
Q: Have you made any friends?
A: No, not yet, because everyone in our apartment building has gone away for vacation or is just not my age. Another problem is that they speak French and I don’t, which is why I’m hoping that at my bilingual school I will be able to speak English with my friends.
Q: Have you been speaking any French?
A: A little bit, when I go to restaurants or cafes and I order food, but otherwise, not really.
Q: Can you understand any of the French?
A: I can understand about three-quarters.
Q: What’s your apartment like?
A: We have a small but pretty apartment with a lot of shutters. We have a beautiful wood spiral staircase, which I like, even though only one person can go on it at a time. I have a clubhouse and a bedroom, the clubhouse being the spare guest room, which is about the size of a small shed. It is nice and I have a drying rack, which I use as a table to put all my stuff. I paint there, and I have several books, too.
Q: What’s the weather like? Is it the same as in Charlottesville?
A: No. It is a lot cooler and in the 50s and 60s usually, occasionally the 70s. Today it started to rain, but the rain is very different from the rain in Virginia, because the air is cold and the rain is cold. But in Virginia, the rain is room temperature and the air is hot and humid.
Q: What surprised you about Paris?
A: That the Tour Eiffel was as great as people say it is. Because usually people make famous things sound better than they are and this was not the case because the Tour Eiffel was bigger and grander and better than people made it sound. It was quite pretty and I liked the fountains surrounding it.
Great way to share your experience – from a child’s perspective. Sounds lovely. Enjoy yourselves!
So charming! Sigh… I want to be a great historian of bread! Great to get a glimpse into your new world from such a bright perspective.
Really enjoyed Ella’s journal entry. Your apartment sounds lovely. Ella was very descriptive about your Paris neighborhood and your apartment. Sounds great.