The New Apartment

I just realized I never discussed the new apt. We found one and it is beautiful. We have been living in our new apt for just about 2 months now. We both love the place. It is about the same size as the apt we had in San Diego. It is difficult to beat the SD apt but this one is pretty close.

It sits at the edge of the Old town called Vieux Lyon. The front room is equipped with an ornamental fireplace, high ceilings and huge windows extending about 6 feet high looking down onto the street below. The floors are traditional wood both light and dark grained depending on where you are standing. The main bedroom includes a small bathroom with shower and sink. As you enter the room some of the old rock structure has been left exposed to give character and decoration. The second bedroom is small but cozy fitting a double bed as well as a computer desk. The main bathroom has a full-sized bathtub and double-sink countertop. With plenty of room left over for a stackable washer and dryer. In the hallway there is a walk-in closet as well as a full regular closet. The rooms do not really include closets so they are used for everything. At the front door there is a toilet (the only toilet in the apt) recently remodelled with a small hand washing sink. The kitchen has also recently been remodelled and features beautiful cabinets with stainless steel fixtures and magnetic closures and the counter top includes an integrated faux-marble cutting board. We of course had to add a new oven and dishwasher along with all the light fixtures since the French take everything with them.

The view from the apt is inspiring. The apt sits at the corner of three streets and a tourist alley. To the north side you have the street below and the tourist alley which is alive with people walking all day long especially on the weekends. It reminds me of a television, I love to sit at the window and watch the people go by. Some day, I may even see someone I know. You never know. To the west there is a big tree-lined hill. Lyon was originally a fortified city built between three hills. The hill we sit next too is Fouviere. From the window it almost appears as if you are looking out into a forest and just above the forest lays the famous Fouviere church. At night it is incredible to look at with all the lights and its gold trim.

Oh, and I forgot to mention location. Being in the center of the biggest renaissance quarter in all of Europe there are lots of things to see and do. The beautiful gothic churches that sit in the center of the quarter are worth the visit. The famous Lyon Traboules (hidden alleyways) extend the interior of the apts buildings between streets give view to the beautiful architecture that characterized Lyon in the renaissance. At night the quarter is alive with restaurants, bars, and theaters. And of course my favorite Irish pub is a 2 minute walk down the street.

Customer Service or should I say lack of

Ha-ha, that is a good one. I am cracking myself up. Customer service is practically non-existent. We have written to companies only to have them reply with a mean and sarcastic response. During our moved we had planned to take our internet account with us which seemed to be easy enough. All you do is fill out a form online and send it by mail to the provider. Well they apparently lost the paper work and closed our account proceeding to bill us for the closure fees. We wrote several emails to them (it costs 35 cents a minute to call them) and every time we received a different response as if they didn’t keep the history of the email we were sending to them. The worst part is I sent back the box, since they closed the account I had no choice. 3 weeks later we inquired to see how our account was doing and they said it was stalled because they hadn’t received the box yet. Well, I checked with the Post Office and apparently it was delivered 3 weeks earlier. They conveniently located the box after Valerie called them.

So today marks 2 months and we have yet to receive Internet which sadly enough includes the phone and the television as well. Supposedly they have straightened it all out on their end but I am not holding my breath.

I bought a television online as well. I will never do this again in France. When I purchased it, they site said it was available and in stock which means delivery in 10 days. They got back to me a day later asking for credit card verification which is understandable since the TV was expensive. The following day they sent me an email saying everything was good to go and they immediately withdrew the money from my account. Well, 1 month later I still had no TV, even though they had my money. I wrote them several times (once again the cost of the call is 35 cents/minute) to demand delivery of the TV. Apparently the TV wasn’t really in stock. Finally, towards the end I threaten to cancel the order and demand reimbursement. Well the following week I received the TV. Funny how that worked.