navigot and marche

getting any kind of official card in france is usually a paperwork nightmare, and typically will take 3 tries before you succeed. there is always some piece of paperwork that you don’t have or some part of the french system that foils you. after several previous attempts involving lack of various papers, bad timing, special summer hours, and reduced staff because of vacation time, j and i were successful in getting our “navigot” cards - a metro card that you can put a week or month pass on. we actually wanted the cards because they allow you to get a subscription to the cheap bike rental all around paris, called “velib”. this is sort of like zip cars, but for bikes. on our last try, everything went so smoothly, we were shocked and then even pleasantly surprised to find that there was no charge for the card.

“velib” is a publicly funded cheap bike rental program that has bike stations throughout paris. this is really a wonderful and forward thinking program. first, you subscribe – either 1 euro a day, 5 euros for a week or 30 euros for the year. you can pick up a bike at any velib station and ride it for ½ an hour for free, and then minimal costs for more time. then, you can drop the bike off at any other station. there is a deposit of 150 euros to prevent people from keeping the bikes. it works very well. you can see people all over paris on the slightly funny looking velib bikes.

anyway, after getting our cards, p’s parents wanted to see our new neighborhood, so we went there and walked around and went to the open air market. for me, one big reason to be back in paris is everyday life things like going to the marche for food. fish mongers, meat vendors, fresh vegetables and the rotisserie chicken guy. it’s not just the restaurants that have good food. the basic ingredients taste better. i don’t know why. are the vegetables picked when they are ripe? are the chickens treated better? even the potatoes taste better. is it just fewer days from harvesting to the table?

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