So this week has been a lot about the apartment hunt. Chasing down apartments, checking out new areas of Paris, trying to figure out if it might make more sense to buy a place than rent. So, in a word, not super interesting or photogenic.

What’s been keeping me a bit sane, though, has been getting together with new friends. Last night, Dani and I had a lovely dinner at Le Potager du Marais, a vegan restaurant that I suggested since Dani is vegetarian. France can be challenging for vegetarians since restaurants do tend to be meat-forward, although fortunately the French are also very into their cheeses and eggs. The French obsession with dairy products, whether it’s cheese or cream or butter or yogurt, is just mind-blowing. I swear half the supermarket is dedicated to dairy products. I mean, of course, outside the wine section.

Today I went on a VR experience of the Notre Dame Cathedral with my new friends Trish and Denise. Since the fire in 2019, the cathedral has been closed as they work to rebuild it. So through the VR experience, it was very cool to see the neighborhood as it was when the cathedral was first built, hemmed in by half-timbered houses, and then see how they built the wooden structure supporting the roof originally and how they’re restoring it now. Looking forward to seeing the cathedral again IRL when they open it again next year (fingers crossed!).

Afterward, we went to a cafe for a glass or two of wine…

And one of the things that’s been a little rough about the apartment hunt is trying to figure out the lay of the landscape and get my bearings. Do I actually have any shot at renting an apartment, or should I shift my focus to buying a place? I’m so used to figuring this stuff out on my own, and I think this is one of those times when I might actually need to ask for help to figure this shit out.