August 25, 2004 - Paris
Paris in August is a relaxed, almost sleepy city and we made it from the plane to the apartment in a record breaking 45 minutes. Many Parisians were still on holiday and the streets were quiet and easy to navigate, both by car and on foot. The tourist areas around the Louvre and the Notre Dame were still pretty dense, but I can’t remember the last time I was able to have a free full stride down rue Francs Bourgeois. Sure, some of the little shops were closed for the August holiday, but all of our favorite restaurants and department stores were open, the markets were overflowing with fresh fruits and vegetables, fish, cheeses and meats, and the museums were welcoming anyone who had the entrance fee. Then there were the added surprises of free music concerts and the 60th celebration of August 25th 1944 liberation of Paris.  By the time we arrived, most of the festivity had ended; the parades of tanks and costumed 1940’s soldiers that closed off many boulevards, the grand 1940’s costume “swing” ball in Place Bastille, the private parties that engaged every party planner in the city. But we did get to see them loading out the grandstands, lighting and audio systems and we saw the French tanks (les chars) being maneuvered back into their tank trailers, ready to go back to whatever museum they came from.

Last summer’s heat wave might have scared away travelers to Europe, but this summer was mostly cold and rainy. Yet, even with the lower temperatures, our renters got plenty of use from the air conditioning; what a whopping bill we got for June and July. We caught a few grey rainy days when we first arrived but an early Autumn arrived by the last week of August; bright sunny days and cool nights. Strangely enough, the Parisians refer to this as “Indian Summer” as if it was their own expression. Who knows, maybe it is?

We spent the week repairing broken doors, tightening screws, building new shelves, replacing dishes and glasses, cleaning behind the furniture and washing towels. Those of you with rental apartments are probably smiling right now. Gretchen must have spent four days cleaning and doing laundry. We brought over large, thick towels from the US. Oh how we hate those wimpy thin European towels you find so often in apartments and hotels over here. Unfortunately though, our cleaning staff washed our big American style fluffy towels and air-dried them into large stiff sheets with the consistency of a dry loofah sponge. Luckily there’s a big industrial laundromat across the street. Hopefully, this is the end of the crunchy towels.

And so, one again we left the apartments in what we considered to be a “really beautiful condition” and ventured off to pick up our leased car. If you rent a car for longer than 17 days, check out the lease a car program from Renault or Peugeot, you buy the car, but only pay for the time you use it. You get a brand new vehicle with all insurance and when you return it, you sign the papers back to them. It’s just as easy as renting a car only much less expensive. You can lease a Peugeot or Renault through http://www.europebycar.com. You can also go directly to Renault USA at http://www.renaultusa.com. Personally, we like the Renault lease a little better. It’s less expensive, you can deal directly with them in the US through their New York office, they have good pick up and drop off locations, including a convenient location in Paris and the agents in France speak English (if you are have any language problems). Oh, one other thing. They give you a car manual in English when you take possession of the car. This alone is worth the price. The only thing you’ll need to do is gas up the car. They’ll give you enough gas to make it to the gas station around the corner.

All that was left to do was put the "NO BUSH" sticker on the back of the car and we were off to Normandy.