Red Tape

We spent much of yesterday and today discovering the joys of French bureaucracy. For example, to enroll the kids in school, we need to provide evidence of their vaccinations. To do this we need a Carnet de Santé in which to enter the information (available in another office) and then we need to find a doctor to translate their American medical records into French. To find a doctor, we need to talk to the pharmacist. Etc. Etc. Similarly, all the immigration information tells new residents to go to the local Marie (town hall) to get their residence card. However, when we got there, they gave us a slip of paper with the address of the Prefecture de Police in another part of town. Nothing is easy, but it’s all an exciting adventure. This evening we walked from the Bastille to the Place des Vosges and then to the Ile de la Cite. Abe was excited to find two synagogues along our route. One was in the Place des Vosges (marked by a very discrete sign), the other was closer to our apartment in the 11th arrondisement (a four story façade with rose and arched windows). We had a wonderful picnic dinner in the garden behind the Notre Dame cathedral (French bread, cheese, fruit, etc.) while listening to street performers playing in the background. Jonah thought the sculpture in the fountain looked like Belle from Beauty and the Beast.