Je vous presente notre nouvelle voiture. (I introduce to you our new car.)

Voila la voiture!

we love the license plate

at our RER station, Courcelle sur Yvette

actually not a very small car

One of the coolest features of the car is the keyless start.  The car did not come with a regular key.  Instead, it came with this:

as big as a credit card 

As long as this card is inside the car, all you have to do is press the START button.  This can get pretty dicey.  We had parked the car at the RER station and left Gaius in the car while we went to the parking machine to figure out how to pay.  Gaius got out of his booster and moved up to the driver's seat.  It would have been an easy matter for him to press the START button.  He probably would not have been able to release the emergency brake, put the car in drive and step on the gas.  But, you never know.  Since the key card was in my purse and my purse was in the car, it could have happened.  Note to self, don't leave Gaius alone in the car with the key card!

car aficionados will not be impressed by the start button

One of our first errands after obtaining the car involved driving to the RER station and parking and taking the train into Paris.  Even though we now have a car, it's just easier to take the train into the city (usually).  So, we took the train to check out one of the huge flea markets in Paris, le marché aux Puces de Saint Ouen - Port de Clignancourt.  Lots of furniture and knick knacks there.  I even found some floaty pens!  But what I will remember most is the squat toilet I happened upon that instantly brought me back to last summer in Japan (in a bad way).  Although this may be TMI, let me just say that I walked in and walked right out.  But first, I dropped my purse on the ground.  Y U C K!  

So then, we headed to Les Halles (which looks just like an American shopping mall) and went to FNAC (their version of Frys) to buy a GPS.  Meet my new best friend:

on our way to Paris for the coolest party EVER 

We call her Jill, but pronounce it in a very french way, "Zheel."  She speaks English and she helps us get from here to there quite well.

In fact, we actually drove to Paris a few hours later to attend the coolest party ever at Gilles' house.  I'll have to post about that one later.

a bientôt!