1000 words without the picture - an update from Paris!

Okay. So we've been here for 3 days now and I am unable to get a single photo up on the internet. I can't even email them. There is something terribly wrong with our internet and the apartment owner is trying to help us fix it from Montreal. I guess there is a known problem which has also knocked out our apartment phone line. Today is a semi-holiday and tomorrow is a massive holiday so I am sure there isn't much incentive to get this stuff fixed immediately. For now we have turned on our At&t phones so we have something in the case of an emergency. I so wish I could be showing you all photos but alas, I cannot from the apartment.

I discovered that many of the parcs here in Paris have free wifi courtesy of Le Mairie de Paris. Tomorrow I am going to take my computer to the oh so gorgeous Place des Vosges, lay out a blanket, watch my children play on the playsets while I try to upload photos. If that doesn't work I will exlpore an internet cafe. For those of you who know Place des Vosges, I am sure you are ohhing and ahhing because it is simply one of the most beautiful places in Paris. It is a gorgeous square parc with all the frenchie things like white gravel, fountains, trained plane trees surrounding the edges and around the perimiter are shops, galleries, and cafes in an arched walkway. It is one block from my apartment and - I know - pity me- we must walk through it to get to the grocery store. This afternoon the kids and I went to the market to buy provisions for our Bastille day dinner picnic we hope to have at the Champ de Mars and on the way home I just sat down with the groceries and watched the kids play for a while.

So yes, tomorrow is Bastille day. We are supposed to have beautiful weather and can't wait to enjoy a holiday I have been dying to celebrate in France for as long as I can remember. To all my camp friends- this will definitely beat tossing people in the lake! Although, Stephie - I so wish you could be here with us. We will go to the Champs Elysee to watch the military parade and the aerial show, then play a bit and then hopefully grab a spot on the Champ de Mars for a concert before the fireworks are lit from the Eiffel Tower. I am wondering though if trying to get down to the Champ de Mars tomorrow night is INSANE! Like trying to get a spot on the Esplanade at 6 pm on the 4th of July?

Tonight there is a rock concert at La Place de la Bastille which is 2 blocks from our apartment. After dinner we may walk down there to see whats happening.

Aside from all the sights and goings on here in Paris, I am insanely happy. I simply ADORE our neighborhood and both SJ and I are thrilled to be back in an urban environment. I have the tinyest kitchen but it is so french and I love it. Even the French are being nice to me which is a first. When I lived here when I was 22, I was so frustrated with the french attitude towards me. I was constantly blown off by people in an air of frustration and irritation. Back then my french was wicked good. I majored in french, went to a french camp for 5 summers and was your regular young francophile. Then I went and lived with a french family for a semester and found the french to be pretty much intollerable. I spoke french to them, they rolled their eyes and spoke english back to me. Very disappointing for me. I am having quite the opposite experience now and am finding the french to be wonderfully helpful, complimentary of my language skills (which suck) and generally kind. So here is what I think it is. The french have a general appreciation for age. Young people probably annoy older people. Now that I am in my mid-30's and am walking around with my apparent offspring, I get smiles, nods, winks, and assistance whenever I need it. I had 2, two, deux! men help me purchase metro cards yesterday. They were falling overthemselves to help me, joking about how now our president is good and theirs sucks.

My kids are loving it here too. Sweet Pea misses her friends but all in all they are entertaining each other and as long as I keep them plied with chocolate crepes or croissants we're good.

Okay, I've got to run and make dinner now but I just wanted to let you all know that things here in Paris are perfect.