Most of the walking tours offered in Paris are based in the more central neighborhoods—the Marais, the city’s islands, the Latin Quarter, Saint-Germain…. Although I try my best to avoid the metro, this trek was well worth it. The 16^th is not a touristy neighborhood, yet it has some great architectural gems (see my post about Paris Walks’ art nouveau walking tour) and it offers a unique glimpse into the lives of local (albeit some of the wealthier of) Parisians.

We met up at a boulangerie, where Lynne gave us an overview of the shops we would be visiting and a bit of background about her own journey to creating this walking tour company. Lynne is no novice to the food industry. She studied at the Cordon Bleu and has a background in pastry.

We then visited a series of local shops—cheese shops, bakeries, charcuterie shops, a chocolatier, a fruit vendor and even a meringue chef! What made these visits special is these are Lynne’s local shops. The vendors know her and we were able to get a real feeling for the neighborhood and the lifestyle of its residents. It is also a way to support local businesses.

Of course the best part was that Lynne purchased something at each shop (with our input of course) and we ended our tour with a picnic to sample all our purchases, along with a glass of champagne, bien sûr! The weather did not cooperate, but it didn’t matter, as Lynne invited us into her lovely home and we enjoy a cozy feast. No need for lunch after all that, making the price of the tour reasonable (110 EUR per person, including champagne, or 95 EUR without).

Lynne is full of insider’s knowledge about the food industry and the neighborhood and will answer any questions you may have along the journey. I highly recommend adding one of Lynne’s tours to your next Paris visit, or if you’re still figuring out what to buy your friends and family for the holidays, why not a Sweet Tooth Tours gift certificate?

Lynne has generously offered readers of Paris Weekender a discount for her tours. Be sure to enter code STT10 for 10% off. And make sure to reserve your tour in advance!

Home Sweet Paris Home from Paris Weekender on Vimeo.

I spoke of some of the bureaucratic challenges in my earlier post on property tax (paid by long-term renters, not just property owners).

My checklist for moving out included:

• Notifying the Centre de Finances Publics of my move so I could stop paying property tax on the house after this calendar year.
• Ending my internet/phone/cable service with SFR and returning the cable box and modem to the SFR boutique.
• Ending my contract with SAUR, the water supplier. Most rental agencies require that the water still be on when you move out. You send the counter/meter number to SAUR and the owner or next tenants have 5 working days to restart the contract or you are BOTH charged 60 EUR.
• Ending my contract with GDF, my supplier of electricity. Again, the electricity cannot be shut off until after your move-out date. You must call GDF with the final meter reading.
• Ending my renter’s insurance. They require a copy of your final walk through evaluation (état des lieux de sortie) to finalize the cancellation of the contract.
• Bringing all the junk to the dump and what was salvageable to charity. Luckily for me, my landlords volunteered to take just about everything I didn’t want to ship back.
• Coordinating with the movers (and packing, of course). I reserved the movers several months in advance and they came by a month or so before my move-out to drop off packing supplies and to assess the volume of my things I was shipping back to the U.S. Assuming the U.S.-side of the move goes as well as the France side, I will highly recommend this moving company and write more about them in September when my shipment is to arrive.
• Going through the checklist provided by the rental agent during the pré-état des lieux. More on that below.

To my surprise, your responsibilities as a tenant are much more involved in France than in the U.S. when it comes to maintenance of the property. In the U.S., you are entitled to some “normal wear and tear”. At least in New York, the owners must repaint at least every 5 years. In France, you really aren’t entitled to any wear and tear and owners must repaint only every 7 years.

The rental agent provided me with a very extensive list of all the things I needed to repair and clean. In the end, I spent countless hours and half the cost of the security deposit I was aiming to get back just on prepping the house for my move-out. I should note that the house overall was in FAR better condition than when I moved in–I left countless light fixtures where there had been bare bulbs. I left an equipped kitchen where before there was just a sink….

Somehow it all got done on time. With the help of cleaners from Nestor. A big thanks to the manager of the Vannes branch of Nestor, Clarisse Rouxel, who truly went above and beyond.

I figured the final walk-through would take 20-30 minutes; it took 2 hours. The agent looked at EVERYTHING. But I did get the full security deposit back only because my landlords showed up and insisted they were very happy with the state of the house.

Still, I am vowing never to rent long-term again. Ever. Only short-term rentals or buying from now on.

After seven years, I am moving out of my rental in Brittany. I still plan to visit the region every year, but maintaining a year-round house is too much.

I consider myself an expert at moving, but there are a few things that are different from moving in the U.S. and moving in France. One has to do with the condition in which you must leave the home (more on that in an upcoming post).

Another difference is that you have to think to “cancel” your taxe d’habitation, or so I thought. I couldn’t remember when I moved out of my rental apartment in Paris in 2012 if I had notified anyone in the tax office of my departure. But I don’t think I had to then, because I was moving within Paris.

After getting nowhere with this question by emailing with the Centre de finance public in Vannes (Morbihan), my local office, I decided to just show up in person.

The woman who helped me was very nice and there was no wait. But that is where the positives about my visit end. I explained my situation, that I was moving out of a secondary residence July 5th and needed to stop my monthly automatic tax payments. Then our conversation went something like this:

Her: You don’t have to do anything.

Me: But how will the tax office know I moved?

Her: They will see you live somewhere else now.

Me: But I am not moving to a new second home. This is/was never my primary residence. Will the real estate agent notify the tax office? [Note: I knew the answer to this question was no, but I thought the question might help her understand my overarching question.]

Her: No, it’s automatic.

Me: But how will they know I will?

Her: They will. C’est comme ça.

Me: It’s like what?

Her: How do I explain this…. [look of frustration with me]… There are people in each town. They know where people live.

Me: But how? They will come to my house and see if I’m home?

Her: They just know.

Me: But I have only been using the house occasionally. So how will they know this time when I leave, I’ve actually moved out? Will the owner of the house notify them? [Note: again, I know the owner will do no such thing, but…]

Her: No, it’s automatic.

Me: But I have automatic monthly payments set up.

Her: Then you can just end them.

Me: Right now? But don’t I owe for all of 2019? I am allowed to just end the payments without proof of moving out?

Her: Here, call this number [she hands me a very small piece of paper with a 1-800 number]. They can tell you.

Me: [Realizing we are getting nowhere] OK, thank you.

So to recap: I got absolutely nowhere. I will try calling the number she gave me on Monday.

I plan to finish the last few remaining pieces of this sentier cotier, also known as the sentier des douaniers (coast guard or customs officers’ path), in Summer 2020. I’m only missing the islands of Bréhat (Côtes d’Armor); Ouessant, Sein and Molène (Finistère); and Belle-Île-en-Mer (Morbihan). Belle-Île is a 100km circuit but the other islands will be day hikes.

Then I’ll have to find a new project!

Included in this post are some photos from my most recent hikes (the full Quiberon Peninsula, and finishing the GR349 liaison between the Presqu’île de Rhuys and La Roche-Bernard, the Petite Cité de Caractère on the border of the Morbihan and Loire-Atlantique.

Again, here are all my GR34 photos to date.

I’ve uploaded a few videos from some of my favorite moments of the festival. This first video is of the kick-off parade, just before sunset. My friends and I were lucky enough to be in the parade, to witness it from the water!

This next video is from Larmor-Baden, at the passageway (in low tide only) to Île Berder. This is where the flotilla of smaller boats showed their stuff on the Thursday afternoon:

Lastly, I watched the final boat parade from the rocks on Île-aux-Moines, as I did two years before. You can see my post about the Semaine du Golfe 2017 here.

Rumor has it they are only going to hold the festival every four years from now on, due to environmental concerns with so many people descending upon the region all at once. If not 2021, mark your calendars now for May 2023!

Follow Paris! It only dropped off in many of our lifetimes!

Now, three floors and 4,000 m2 of Italian gastronomy is just a 7-minute, 550-meter walk from my apartment. I think that’s doable even after pizza and gelato.

Here is the official website for:
Eataly Paris Marais
37 Rue Sainte-Croix de la Bretonnerie
75004 Paris

There are several ways you can donate to help with the rebuilding. Here is one reliable charity, the Friends of Notre-Dame de Paris, a 501c3 public charity (all gifts are tax deductible in the United States).

***

Lost in Frenchlation organizes screenings of French films with English subtitles in Paris with drinks before the film for the international community to meet!

– Grâce à Dieu
☞ Thursday 11 April at  Luminor Hôtel de Ville/Marais. Drinks from 7pm, screening at 8pm. €9.50 Full Price, €7.50 for students and other concessions.https://www.facebook.com/events/334859510490915/

– C’est Ça L’Amour☞ Thursday 18 April at Luminor Hôtel de Ville/Marais. Drinks from 7pm, screening at 8pm. €9.50 Full Price, €7.50 for students and other concessions.https://www.facebook.com/events/2439611786072540/

☆LOST IN FRENCHLATION CLASSICS #2☆
– Itinéraire d’un Enfant Gâté☞ Sunday 21 April at Club de L’Étoile/Champs-Élysées. Drinks from 6pm, screening at 7pm. €10 Full Price, €8 for students and other concessions. http://lostinfrenchlation.com/event/itineraire-dun-enfant-gate

☆COMEDY NIGHT☆
– Chamboultout
☞ Friday 26 April at Luminor Hôtel de Ville/Marais. Drinks from 7pm, stand-up comedy show at 8pm, screening at 8:30pm. €14.50 Full Price, €12.50 for students and other concessions.http://lostinfrenchlation.com/event/comedy-night-chamboultout