Stefan Fielding-Isaacs
(an expatriate in Paris)


My last trip to France ('93) is at: here.

Most current news
I'm living in the heart of Paris at: I'm now living in the 10th, at the border between the 10th, 9th and 2nd arrondisements. Turns out to be a "happening" arrondisement. All my French and Parisien friends say that it's the "in" neighborhood right now because of all the cool bars and clubs. Good for me.. the walk home is shorter.. :>

You may reach me by email or on my new cell: 011-33-6-68-70-63-96 (from the USA). My incoming calls are free!

I have my new cable modem hooked up so I should be easily reachable via email. I'm getting a Web cam soon so those of you who want to try video meetings with me are welcome to contact me.

April 2, 2002, 1100 hrs

Je ne regret rien (with apologies to Edith Piaf). I'm madly preparing to leave for France this morning. I've spent the last week here at my sister's place in Baltimore. We had a small family reunion, only a part but we had lots of fun.

It's been a struggle to find the time to manipulate the digital photos and put one up on the site. But here's a group photo, with more to follow when I'm in France.

family photo


Here are some photos of my friend Laura and her children (I spent some time with her in Baltimore and she was my roommate for years in San Francisco).



2 Avril 2002, 15:13 hrs

Time to put my money where my mouth is, as they say. I've been espousing the values of a united Europe and the better world view of Europeans for quite a few years now. So I'm finally hoist by my own petard as I've decided to move to France and see if I can live there. This is some 9 years (almost to the day) since I began my last trip to Europe and a great deal has changed in my life.

I had my Porsche until January or February of 2001 (when I wrecked it in my first accident in ten years). With the proceeds from insurance (bless GEICO) I bought a 1994 Q45. Wonderful car. Cost an arm and a leg to get it in 100% shape but it drove absolutely wonderfully. Convinced me that a modern car in good shape is a very worthwhile investment if you live in the American West. All of a sudden, driving fifty or a hundred miles was no longer a big strain.

I still have my cat Rocket (named for her speed in all things) and she is still healthy and relatively happy (though perhaps missing me a bit). I hope she doesn't forget me! I return to Seattle on or about 13 August. If I have a job in Europe, it'll be to rid myself of the remainder of my possessions or to move them to France. Of course, Rocket will return with me. If I don't have a job, I'll most likely move back to Silicon Valley and look for work, also with Rocket. I hope that the economy will have recovered by then.

My flight, on one of these little puddle-jumper planes, departs for Kennedy from Baltimore-Washington International (does anyone really fly to DC through this airport or is the name just to glorify the stature of the airport)? After an hour or so at Kennedy I board the American Airlines flight for Paris. Not that I really wanted to fly an American-flagged carrier after 9/11 but they had the cheapest fares by far.

I'm flying as a "student", though I'm 40 yrs old, because I was a student at the Alliance Francaise de Seattle and it seemed the best way to get lodging and an introduction to Paris. For those of you to whom I haven't explained this, I get a month of instruction and a month of lodging (studio apartment with my own shower and kitchenette - we'll see how big that is!) for about 750E. So something like $675 for the first month. After that, I'll have to find my own housing - something sure to be a bit of an adventure.

I'm planning on picking up a cell phone SIM card (I already have the Nokia cell phone) as soon as I've settled into my hotel, perhaps as soon as I've arrived at the airport if it's convenient. I figure that I'll probably be landing in Paris about the same time Mom and Dad are getting back to Seattle. Pretty funny if I landed in Paris before they got back to Seattle - a real possibility since I land in Paris about 8:30 Paris time (11:30 Seattle time I think).

Best sign off as my plane has landed and they are sure to board soon.

3 Avril, 17:59

Ok, it's been a pretty long day but I'm finally settled in my hotel room in the Rue Cler with my baggages. American misplaced it on my morning flight and had to deliver it to my hotel. Tres bon! This way I didn't have to lug 100+lbs of bags into the City or pay a taxi a huge amount. I took the RER from the airport all the way to Chatelet-Les Halles, then up to Strasbourg, and then on line 8 all the way to L'Ecole Militaire. Not much choice, it really required three changes. Couldn't have seen doing it with bags (lots of stairs).

I swear the gal at the info kiosk directed me in the completely wrong direction. I ended up walking away from the train station for about 15 minutes before deciding that I must have gone the wrong way (from the signs to the Gare). But I suppose I should just attribute it to my confusion rather than her malice. In any event, I managed to buy the correct RER 2-zone ticket and confirm at an information booth (in French) that it would take me all the way into Paris.

Bought a new Plan de Paris (metro, bus, street) map at the Chatelet station and did the Metro thing to the Rue Cler. Much easier with just a laptop bag. My sensibilities are a bit different this time round. I'm really noticing how small the cars are here compared to back home. It's funny, the Audi sports coupe and the Volks bug looked perfectly normal here - perhaps even a bit larger than usual compared to the little Renaults and Citroen everyone seems to drive.

In spite of Rick Steve's books, this remains a nice neighborhood. Probably a great deal fewer tourists than one would expect in another six weeks but I really appreciate that I'm not overwhelmed by tourists. I've noticed that quite a few people say they don't speak English when I ask (I've only asked three times, but two said "no".) I'm actually managing quite well though I ended up buying my SIM card for my phone in English because I didn't want to make any mistakes. Quite perturbed when I turned it back on after leaving the store to see that it required a PIN code - and I didn't appear to have it written down anywhere! Turned out that 0000 worked fine! Whew! Gotta love technogeeks. Must think largely the same in French as they do in English.. :>

Got a two-hour nap while waiting for my luggage to be delivered this afternoon. I don't think I want to deal with visiting Alliance Française today. I'm too whipped to go through a couple of more Metro rides during rush hour. I'll pop out and buy a proper dinner at an interesting Bistro I spotted around the corner (not in Rick's book - fantastique) and then I'm off to an Internet cafe to email all of you! I plan retire to my room to program my phone and watch the Liverpool-Bayer Leverkusen Champions League match (my mother will doubtless be horrified).

It just occurred to me that my new studio in Porte d'Italie will not have a TV. I imagine that will slow my learning a bit.. I did meet a Sony engineer (a Scot) on the plane over and we had quite a chat. He will have a nice apartment to rent come July or August (it's a 2-bedroom in the Marais for about 1200E/mo). Not a bad price at all if I'm employed.

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