So a while back the "clic-clac" i was sleeping on broke. It's a bit hard to explain...but the metal parts that connected the leg part to the bed frame snapped. For a while, it was ok...i was able to prop it up and sleep on it (but it wasn't really a "flat" surface anymore :) So, when Susan decided to leave the apartment (good riddance!!)...i contacted to landlord and asked if it would be possible to get a new sofa-bed since I wanted to make the living room into an actual living room and the old clic-clac no longer functioned both as a bed and couch in its broken state. He said sure, and I found a good deal on a pull-out sofa bed on craigslist. The guy selling it was super cool (and has one of the best apartments i have seen in paris!! he was an american journalist and his family has lived in paris for a while now...his wife went to UVM! small world!) The only snag was I had to figure out a way to get it from his place (waaay down in the 13eme up to my place, waaay up in the 18eme...basically across paris!)
Now at first I thought Dragon (my landlords go-to guy here in paris) would be able to do it...but apparently he has lost his license due to too many speeding tickets (not hard to do here in Paris). So I called Octave for some advice...
Octave said he would help me! We got the Ok from my landlord to rent a moving van (landlord agreed to pay for the van, couch, and a little something to give Octave for his help). However....when we arrived at the first rental place it was closed for 2hours for lunch!!!! Ridiculous! So we headed to Hertz....who weren't ALL on lunch break! yaaay! But....apparently to drive a rental in France you have to have a credit card/bank card in your name...and Octave had recently lost his!! He couldn't drive with mine....but I could!!! Yes my friends, Americans can drive with our normal driving licenses in France!!! eeeeeek The guy at Hertz was really funny about it...he was the manager...and because I'm so awesome, he waved the fee for people under 25 (and reminded his trainee never to do what he was doing haha). He reassured i was fully covered, and everything would be ok (laughing while telling me all this). Then Octave and I set off to find our new wheels in a mystery underground parking garage. After failing to master the code a few times, we got it right and found the van...see picture above for an idea of what this thing looked like! Ridiculous. We climbed in, and immediately I realized that there was no rear-view mirror....in fact behind our seats was a wall so you couldn't see behind you at all...and there were 2 small side view mirrors. Now, I'm used to driving large vehicles (woo woo small bus license!) But usually, I can see all around me (buses have wonderful mirrors!)...so this was a new experience. Also, it was at stick (as almost all vehicles are in europe are i think) which I can drive, but hadn't practiced in quite a while....
Octave was pretty excited I was driving...he's crazy, if i was him i would have been afraid! haha
He gave me a quick pep talk....told me not to hit anything (duh), not to run any red lights (advice i kept for the most part...ooops, you'd run a few too if they were all located on the side of the street not above!), and the most important (and bizzare) was that in France the rule of the road goes that anyone entering/passing/etc from the right has the right of way! Strange....and hard to remember! So we set off...
And I did really well!! This could be due to my wonderful navigator (Octave knows paris streets like no one i know). I was a bit nervous though...Octave kept telling me to relax and correct his english....to which i told him, no way I'm DRIVING! :)
we got the couch (man was it heave!), loaded it in with the help of the guy selling it, got across town without any problems (stopped for pizza on the way too!). Rolled down the windows and blasted Jazz....people probably thought we were insane :)
Finally got to my place and in the process of taking the couch out of the van, an older, somewhat sketchy man stopped and offered to help. We were in no position to decline, so we said yes...and it was not until we were half way to the apartment door that I realized he was DRUNK! haha We stopped outside the front door and thanked the guy....who then tried to get me to give him my phone number "in case i ever have problems with my electricity or water i could call him cause he lives on the next street over". Octave told him I was fine and we ushered him on his way. Then, realizing how big the couch is and how narrow the stairs are....we enlisted the help of one of the workers who has been banging on the interior courtyard wall for the past 4 months. With our powers combined we somehow managed to get it up to my apartment. It was possibly one of the hardest things I have ever done! At one point, the worker helping us asked if it was at all possible to take it apart....yikes! But with a lot of pushing, repositioning, and only getting it stuck 3-4 times....we got it in!! yaaay
Then we returned to our van (illegally parked) to find a police officer about to write us a ticket. Octave sweet talked her into letting us go, and we were back on our way. Octave insisted that I drive our "mercedez" (yup even the moving vans are snazy here) on the champs elysees....so off we went. Octave also really wanted me to try the round about at the arc de triumph (the hardest in the WORLD i think) but to my relief, we didn't have enough time. So he navigated us back to the Hertz, we returned it in once piece, and octave drove me to babysit in his car. It was a great day...full of lots of laughs...and now my apartment feels more like a home!
