Foreign Perspectives

The so called me is very much a slice of the life of its author in New Jersey.

It’s quite a plain site but that “do it yourself” feeling refects the content of the blog very well. This is very much “life as it really is” which isn’t what you find in a lot of blogs these days and it makes it more unique for that.

You’ll get tales of the trials and tribulations of raising a two-year old, visiting mom, and the like.

Anyway, a place to look to see what normal life in New Jersey is actually like.

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In France, it’s called “le quatorze juillet” but everywhere else it’s definitely Bastille Day on July the 14th.

This is the biggest celebration in France and, whilst it’s marked by processions everywhere in France, Paris is definitely the best place to see it.

The centre of Paris becomes a huge pedestrian zone over the course of the morning up until the parade is finished. The metro system usually isn’t fully operational either and the stations close to the route are closed in the run-up to the start of the parade around 10am. After the various roadblocks are removed, the traffic is much worse than normal (hard as that may be to believe if you’ve experienced the normal Paris traffic!). Therefore, to see the parade you’ll need to be staying somewhere within walking distance of the centre; it’s not too late to book a hotel and there’s also the option of one of the network of apartments, many of which are quite central (we stayed in the Citadine at Les Halles).

Unless you’re up very early, you’ll probably get a better view of the parade in one of the side streets rather than attempting to force your way through the massive crowds along the main parade going down the Champs-Elysee. You’ll miss seeing the president if you do this but realistically you’ve little chance to do that anyway as the best spots are taken up very early in the day. If you’re really set on seeing the president, the thing to do is to walk to the Elysee Palace just after the parade where you’ll see a continual stream of dignatories heading in for lunch.

The evening sees the fireworks show based around the Eiffel Tower. The crowds here are massive but that doesn’t matter as by far the best way to get to the perfect spot is on one of the evening dinner cruises down the Seine. If you choose the second sitting, the boat arrives at the perfect spot just as the fireworks are starting. Although the prices obviously aren’t cheap, they are far from the astronomical level that you might expect on such a day and sailing down the Seine on the evening of Bastille Day is by far the most civilised way to end the day.

What about the Bastille itself? Well, the prison was demolished in 1789 by the revolutionary government and today Place de la Bastille is a massive roundabout.

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The French excel at administration. If there’s something that can be documented, it is required to be documented. Or, to put it another way, this section of the guide will be long.

We’ll be covering the more essential areas of French administration and will cover the areas of health, education, social security and tax of course but will also be touching on other areas such as employment in France, retirement and the like plus other aspects of French life such as the electricity company, mobile phones, TV, the electrical system and so on. We’ll also touch on a number of aspects of what to do about your life back home’ as these also impact on the administration that you will come across in France.

The number of abbreviations and terms in French administration is astronomical but don’t worry as we’ll define the terms required as we go along.

Finally, in this section of the guide, we’ll be moving further into the topic of how to settle in France although we will also cover the issues involved from the point of view of those who are buying a holiday home in France. For example, with a holiday home you deal with the health system in a totally different way from that if you are living in France.

To begin with, we’ll be starting with the most common sets of documents that you’ll be asked for: the ID card, Livre de Famille and proof of address.

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