I arrived in Paris on the exact same day as my ‘Babe’ friend Mia, her kids – Jonathon & Shelby, and her mother – Mary Jane. They’ve been on a “European explore” and their final stop is a week in Paris.   How nice to know that there’s another Babe in town to ease my transition to this new city.  And, as a bonus, they rented a cute apartment less than a 10-minute walk from ours.  This happened purely by chance without input from me. Personally I think it’s “Barma”, that’s ‘Babe Karma’ that always seems to kick in just when you need it the most.

The week passed in a whirl of basic domestic activities – unpacking, figuring out what we still need to make our apartment a “home”, buying groceries and cleaning supplies – coupled with more “touristy” activities with Mia et al including a private tour at the Louvre, riding the Roule (ferris wheel) at the Tuilleries and the ritual late night visit to the Eiffel Tower.

As an added bonus, together Mia and I developed a healthy and hearty appreciation of French Rosé wine and made great contributions to the French economy by taking advantage of the massive July sales in most stores. 

It was a wonderful week and we couldn’t have asked for better inaugural visitors.