Although in general I think the quality of life in Europe is really good, there are a few North American luxuries that I do miss. Namely abundant hot water and reliable apartment heating.

In the first apartment we stayed at in Paris, there was enough hot water for 1 1/2 showers (you would have to wait an hour for more water to heat up) and even with the heating at maximum the apartment could not be warmed up to a comfortable level during the coldest days of winter.  

In our 2nd Parisian apartment we were rationed hot water for the entire day, and although there was enough for 2 1/2 showers, once we used it up (with showers, washing dishes, etc) we wouldn't have any more until the next day. But at least the heating worked well.

In Poland we had plenty of hot water but the heating in our Krakow apartment was not that great, it took the full two days we were there to heat up the apartment to a comfortable temperature.

Finally in our last Parisian apartment we only had enough hot water for a quick shower (and then had to wait 30-45 mins for more) and the heating in the building was turned off once it got warm outside (which would have been fine if it didn't get cold again at night. I guess it had never crossed the building manager's mind that evenings in March could get pretty cold).

Granted, we weren't staying in luxury apartments, but they weren't dumps either. I think these are just luxuries that are overlooked when the wine, food and chocolates are so darn good!

 

Some older apartments in Paris were designed to have a shared bathroom on each floor, not in each apartment. When modernized, the apartments needed to have their own bathrooms but the plumbing in the building wasn't designed for it, so a special kind of "electric" toilet was installed in those units. Our first apartment in Paris had one of these, and although the end result is the same as a regular toilet, you have to use a special kind of toilet paper that comes in individual sheets (around the size of 2 regular toilet paper squares), and you have to be careful not to throw anything into the toilet. 

We arrived in Paris just in time for the Great Cold "Le Grand Froid". Although it's only around -3 Celcius it feels a lot colder, maybe I'm just not used to the cold or maybe it's the humidity level, either way it's really cold and tough to enjoy walks through Paris for more than an hour. But I did end up getting a really nice French sweater (or "Pull" as it's called here) to keep me warm, and it was only 15 Euro!

Last weekend it even snowed a little bit and the Canal St. Martin partially froze, which was actually kinda cool to see. We can't wait for it to warm up a bit, especially since the electrical grid in France is being pushed to the limit so we end up turning down our electric heaters in the evening for a few hours to reduce the strain on the country. 

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After a great week in London, we boarded the Eurostar to Paris. Traveling on the train at 250 MPH was a great way to go and the trip only took 2.5 hours. Unfortunately there was no Wifi on the train and no checked luggage, so the luggage area is a bit of a mess and worrisome that someone could just grab your bag before you get to it. 

We arrived in the afternoon and walked about 10 minutes to our first apartment. As we booked online, we didn't want to commit to a place for the whole month without first seeing it, so we booked our first place for just one week. And a good thing too, the next day we heard a horror story from another traveller who prepaid for a few months and ended up at a terrible apartment she couldn't even stay in (and didn't get her money back).

The apartment is fairly large for Paris, it has a nice bedroom and living room, with 2 desks so we could both have our own workspaces. The kitchen and bathroom on the other hand are a different story, both are very tiny (typical) and not very clean (kinda typical). We may eat out a lot this week as the kitchen is so cramped. But other than that we felt very at home and the owners were very nice and helpful. 

Unfortunately this was going to be the coldest week in Paris, and the next day our pipes froze so we couldn't use the bathroom or any sinks until the plumber arrived in the evening. Everything was then fixed and now things are back to normal.. time to eat some delicious crepes! 

 

We had a great time in London and had the opportunity to visit Stonehenge, Oxford and Windsor castle. It turns out that you can no longer go up close to the actual Stonehenge rocks and have to stick to a path on the perimiter. Too bad, I was looking forward to seeing what kinds of powers would be bestowed onto me when I stepped into the center of the circle. 

We also got a chance to see an incredible Hindu temple that took over 14 years to build using traditional building techniques from Hindu scriptures. Much of the stone was flown in from India and it looks like there's still work to be done before the temple is finished. More info on this temple can be found here. 

OXFORD

Apart from housing world famous Universities, the center of Oxford features the charms of a medieval city. The oldest building, appartently close to 1000 years old, is located on the main shopping street (Cornmarket Street) in this part of town, but it's not the building you would expect from these photos, it's the Saxon Tower of St. Michael just across the street (below).

WINDSOR CASTLE

One of the most fascinating things about Windsor Castle for me was the fact that people actually live there. Yes, inside the Castle. Many families that work in the Castle or service the various ceremonies actually get apartments inside. Neat!

Ok, on to Paris...