Papa and I set off this morning, hoping to open a French bank account. It’s not easy opening a bank account in France, because they require clients to live in the country or do business in the country. Currently, we are doing neither, but will need an account as soon as our house in Lectoure closes, in order to pay utility bills and property taxes, etc. We were turned away at our first try, so we took the metro to the Arc de Triomphe, and walked to the next banking stop. They directed us to another, so we walked a bit further to the Eiffel Tower, then past Invalides, and onto the metro again to the Bourse, the French Stock Exchange, to another bank, and then another. Alas, the last bank asked us to come back tomorrow morning with a stack of documents.
We walked from the Bourse toward the Louvre, with stops at the Bibliothèque Nationale, then the Jardin du Palais Royal, where people were enjoying the beautiful afternoon, surrounded by the Palais Royal, now used as the seat of the French Ministry of Culture. Our final stop in the Church of Saint-Germain l’Auxerrios. The Church door was open, so in we went. The stained glass was beautiful! Since September 2019, when the Notre Dame burned, the Cathedral’s services have been held at Saint-Germain l’Auxerrios. Still no French bank account, but we had an interesting day trying!
