French language Q&A Forum

in this sentence from  a roman policier La salle des meurtres by Phyllis Dorothy James 

L’appartement, qui donnait sur Kensington High Street, arborait l’ordre excessif et impersonnel d’un logement préparé pour la visite de nouveaux locataires. L’atmosphère était un peu confinée ; bien qu’occupant un étage élevé, Dupayne avait pris la précaution de fermer ou de verrouiller toutes les fenêtres avant de partir en week-end. 

Here  bien que was not followed by subjonctif ! is that correct ? and would you replace it by bien qu'occupant un étage élevé, Dupayne ait pris la précaution .....

Why is "j'ai regardé dans le frigo" not accepted ? 

  I notice that in the written and dictation practice exercises, the material drawn upon is mainly focused on the level that the exercise is from, and doesn't seem to build as much on the progress of grammatical topics from previous levels.

   I find that in doing lessons from lower levels, I often catch myself not knowing something, and it's very humbling. But that's what I'm here to do (I have a premium subscription to progress with Lawless French), to learn another language.

  Thank you in advance for any feedback.