Oh boy. I guess that is all I can say at 9:30 at night when we are all bleary eyed from a long day of travel and strangely long afternoon naps.
The day was good. I am overlooking stuff. I am nearly always guilty of getting wrapped up in the small details of life when should just grease up my back and let them roll off.
The flights were excellent. Left on time. Arrived early in both cases. No problems with passport control asking how long we were staying. No lost luggage. Driver waiting directly outside customs. He drove a little too fast on the way into Paris but I didn't complain.
We arrived at our apartment at 9:45 am having landed at 8:30 am at CDG. Oui, oui, things were going that smoothly until I turned the key and opened the door.
Hum.
The apartment and its building are in a great location but the owners did not take as much care to move their stuff out of our way as we did for our renters nor did the so-called cleaning lady do a bang-up job. The fridge was full of junk, rotting fruit in a bowl, clothes in most of the drawers, medicine cabinet full of toiletries like used soap and meds, wet laundry still in the washer, and the piece de resistance was when someone tried to put some of our books on the bookshelf (which was also nearly full) in the living room and the whole think collapsed. It is now in pieces in the office.
I am a classic overpacker. I bring too many shirts, shoes, books, toys - you name it and I will pack it. After lugging those 9 suitcases up to the apartment I said aloud, "I am admitting that I packed too much stuff.". There, I said it.
But now having gone through the apartment in great detail, I am more than pleased that we maxed out Lufthansa's baggage piece AND weight limit. The towels here aren't all that usable - which is probably due to the hard water here in paris rendering laundry a little rough around the edges. After my initial panic we quickly unpacked to find all the crazy things I brought. We rapidly unmade the beds and put our own sheets on them. We stored all of the owner's things in his ONE closet to make room for our clothes and yes, our OWN towels which thank GOD I brought.
The kitchen is tricky. Very small. No storage but I have to say entirely workable. There is no Jules and ZERO counterspace but it has gas and a larger than normal (for Paris) fridge.
So we unpacked until we realized we needed provisions before stuff closed on Sunday. We went out to the grocery store nearby. We returned 2 hours later with groceries from Monoprix, du Vin from a great store nearby, & baguette and croissants from our local boulangerie. We cleaned out the kitchen, put away all our stuff, lit some nice smelling candles and I Febreze'd the hell out of the apartment. We all took a 3.5 hour nap and then I made dinner around 8:00. Things are looking up and it is feeling more our own.
The neighborhood we are in could not be better, so for that I am insanely thankful.
Here are some pictures from the day:
...I am having a terrible time uploading pictures. Simon can't seem to stay on the apartment network with his PC. Ahh, we'll figure it out and get pictures up asap!
xoxo
The day was good. I am overlooking stuff. I am nearly always guilty of getting wrapped up in the small details of life when should just grease up my back and let them roll off.
The flights were excellent. Left on time. Arrived early in both cases. No problems with passport control asking how long we were staying. No lost luggage. Driver waiting directly outside customs. He drove a little too fast on the way into Paris but I didn't complain.
We arrived at our apartment at 9:45 am having landed at 8:30 am at CDG. Oui, oui, things were going that smoothly until I turned the key and opened the door.
Hum.
The apartment and its building are in a great location but the owners did not take as much care to move their stuff out of our way as we did for our renters nor did the so-called cleaning lady do a bang-up job. The fridge was full of junk, rotting fruit in a bowl, clothes in most of the drawers, medicine cabinet full of toiletries like used soap and meds, wet laundry still in the washer, and the piece de resistance was when someone tried to put some of our books on the bookshelf (which was also nearly full) in the living room and the whole think collapsed. It is now in pieces in the office.
I am a classic overpacker. I bring too many shirts, shoes, books, toys - you name it and I will pack it. After lugging those 9 suitcases up to the apartment I said aloud, "I am admitting that I packed too much stuff.". There, I said it.
But now having gone through the apartment in great detail, I am more than pleased that we maxed out Lufthansa's baggage piece AND weight limit. The towels here aren't all that usable - which is probably due to the hard water here in paris rendering laundry a little rough around the edges. After my initial panic we quickly unpacked to find all the crazy things I brought. We rapidly unmade the beds and put our own sheets on them. We stored all of the owner's things in his ONE closet to make room for our clothes and yes, our OWN towels which thank GOD I brought.
The kitchen is tricky. Very small. No storage but I have to say entirely workable. There is no Jules and ZERO counterspace but it has gas and a larger than normal (for Paris) fridge.
So we unpacked until we realized we needed provisions before stuff closed on Sunday. We went out to the grocery store nearby. We returned 2 hours later with groceries from Monoprix, du Vin from a great store nearby, & baguette and croissants from our local boulangerie. We cleaned out the kitchen, put away all our stuff, lit some nice smelling candles and I Febreze'd the hell out of the apartment. We all took a 3.5 hour nap and then I made dinner around 8:00. Things are looking up and it is feeling more our own.
The neighborhood we are in could not be better, so for that I am insanely thankful.
Here are some pictures from the day:
...I am having a terrible time uploading pictures. Simon can't seem to stay on the apartment network with his PC. Ahh, we'll figure it out and get pictures up asap!
xoxo
1 comment:
Ooh, I can't wait to see the pics!! Was thinking about you guys while sitting on Jetties today.... :)
I'm sure you will have the flat looking like home in no time!!
Xoxoxo
Gabi
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