sad.... first cake baking "experiment" in France

so I have this one cake that I make all the time the the States called. Chicago chocolate buttermilk cinnamon cake that is soooooo yummy. so I thought, I have made this a thousand times and of course it should be just as yummy in France, but of course not. The one ingredient that I needed but cannot find is baking soda. Do you think that baking soda exists here??? Apparently not for cooking. I have been told that I have to go to a pharmacy to buy some and am still not quite sure that it would be the same so I decided to use baking powder instead and even though the photo makes the cakes look yummy the consistency was all wrong. So I am going to have to go to the pharmacy and see if it is on fact the same baking soda that we have in the States. It just seem like a funny thing to have to go to the pharmacy for don't you think? "Yeh I am making a cake and was told that I could buy some baking soda my last ingredient here".... weird. I'll keep you updated since you are all on the edge of your seats. Oh and just a reminder I do not have an oven and my angelic neighbors really they are the nicest let me use their oven tonight for a cake that I'm not sure they are even going to enjoy, but I did give them some. Embarrassing!