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.

Toto, we're not in Kansas anymore!

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

And this little piggie went oui oui oui all the way to Paris

We're off. Will be back in touch from the land of croissants and
crepes! A bientot mes amis.
xoxo
S

Ahhhhhhhhh

All bags checked. None over the weight. Through security and now
relaxing with French Onion soup and a glass if wine.

Weigh Station

3 Months
4 People
2 boxes shipped
9 bags
6 carry-ons
and ONE wild ride to Paris








Each checked bag can only be 23 Kilos/50 Lbs

Nice View!

Anyone else watching the Tour de France? Well, I am not surprised. I never did either. Not until now when we are on the verge of moving to France and will be there for the spectacular finish at the Arc de Triomph. Today is stage 5 and they are racing from La Cap D'Agde to Perpignan which is in Languedoc-Roussillon. They are racing through beautiful mountians, charming towns and eventually down along the Mediterranian coast to Perpignan. We will be on vacation in these parts the first week of August. I am very excited because this part of France looks beautiful. Perpignan is very close to Spain so we will definitely venture over the border perhaps as far as Barcelona. I've done the typical French Med, Provence, Brittany, Normandy, Loire, Alsace-Lorraine, Alps and the Champagne Valley before so this is the one part of France I feel is the last big mystery for me.

As for the race, I am finding it surprisingly interesting. I always thought that those tight racing suits were silly with the bright colors and advertising. They just look so dorky. Well, follow the race closely and you will find that cyclists are a surprisingly good looking bunch. I now find it quite easy to spend time watching all those tight suits zip by ; )

Here is a map of Stage 5 which is bascially our vacation map!

How did this happen?

Today marks the three year anniversary of filing the paperwork for our adoption from China. It was however almost 4 years ago that we decided to bring our third child into our family through international adoption instead of pregnancy. It wasn't a difficult decision at the time but I look back at all that has happened since and know we would not have made the same choice had we to do it all again. I now have a 7.5 year old, a 6 year old and a referral no where in sight. We are taking a good hard look at the reality of our family now and will be trying to figure out if we are meant to stay the course after waiting for so many years. It is a heartbreaking process with lots of tears, anxiety, frustration and anger. The one thing I know for certain is that I love my family and will try to do right by them.

School's Out for Summer!

Here are my little pickles on their last day of first grade and
kindergarten. Sniff sniff.

The day was sweet with pizza parties and long hugs goodbye.

Both kids got glowing report cards and wonderful teachers for next
year. They both have been separated from good pals next year so that
is bumming them out a little. Sweet Pea especially. She's been
stomping around the house being bratty ever since. We're hoping she
works through this soon!!