Guides
Useful Paris writing, with a little ink on its hands.
More guides, more drawings, more of the practical tenderness that makes the first year feel possible: banks, healthcare, apartments, markets, visas, scripts, trains, neighborhoods, and the tiny ceremonies in between.
Retiring to France from the US: the visitor visa, plainly
The VLS-TS visiteur is how most Americans retire to France. What the consulate actually wants to see, in the order the process will meet you.
Paperwork, gentlyOpening a French bank account as a newcomer
What to bring, what a RIB means, and what to do when a French bank says no.
Healthcare, calmlyThe carte Vitale, gently: healthcare for new residents
The three-month wait, PUMA, temporary paperwork, and life before the green card arrives.
The words to sayWhat to say at the fromagerie: a script
Ask for advice, buy the right amount, and leave with cheese instead of stage fright.
Finding homeFurnished vs unfurnished: renting your first Paris apartment
Leases, dossiers, guarantors, deposits, red flags, and choosing the first home base.
Everyday ParisA gentle guide to French supermarkets vs markets
Where to buy what, how to greet, and the small etiquette of Paris market days.
Settling inYour first 30 days in Paris: the gentle checklist
What actually needs doing in month one, what can wait, and the one habit that makes everything easier. A calm order of operations.
Paperwork, gentlyValidating your VLS-TS long-stay visa, without the panic
Ten minutes, one official website, three documents. The plain-words walkthrough of France’s first piece of homework.
The words to sayWhat to say at the boulangerie: a script for your first week
The four-line ceremony that makes you a regular, why une tradition is the insider’s order, and pronunciation you can actually use.
Everyday ParisThe French pharmacy: your neighborhood’s quiet superpower
Why the green cross is the first place to go for small troubles, what pharmacists can actually do, and the phrases that open the conversation.
Trips awayFive gentle weekend trips from Paris by train
Reims, Rouen, Chartres, Auvers-sur-Oise, Fontainebleau: unhurried escapes under ninety minutes, with the station to leave from and a rainy-day plan.
Beginning againMoving to Paris at 70: what actually matters
Lessons from the move that started L’Aube, on pace, dignity, eleven streets, and why courage looks smaller and better than you think.
NeighborhoodsThe 13e: a love letter to Paris’s most underrated arrondissement
Village squares, the best Asian food in France, murals nobody tells tourists about, and the quarter where L’Aube was born.
Everyday ParisParis transport for newcomers: Navigo, and taking it slow
Which pass fits a first year, how the métro actually works when you’re not rushing, and the courtesies that mark a local.
The guides are free. The year is L’Aube.
Everything in these guides becomes living mornings inside the app, written for your street, your pace, your French.