Our first days…

We have been here about 29 hours and all is good.  We are still waiting on one bag to be delivered from the airport (but we know they have it).  One out of 20 (plus a dog) is pretty good.  Yeah, Icelandair!  We loved their service (and the flight attendants wore very fun hats).  The kids got full meals on the plane (lasagna), each seat had a different Icelandic phrase on the headrest and the pillow of the night had the verses of an Icelandic lullaby.  There was still some sunlight in Reykjavik when we landed at midnight.  Weird, but a very cool airport and Northern Lights on our flight from Iceland to Paris a couple hours later.

After we arrived at the house and were eating a quick bite, Tom made a little speech to everyone about how we were going to power through and not go to sleep until evening so that we would adjust as quickly as possible.  He told us, “I know it will be hard, but be tenacious and do everything you can to stay awake”.  I only wish I would have taken a picture of him sound asleep on the couch about 20 minutes later.

Our house is old and creaky but has character!  The kids are completely moved into their rooms and when I tucked Elizabeth into her bed last night her room looked like she has been here for years.  Yesterday she had her big windows open and was writing/drawing while leaning on her wrought-iron railing (the view from her room is pretty bad but the image of her doing this was very city-like).  More on the house another time.

Tom and I ventured with our landlord, Danielle, to the bank yesterday afternoon to finalize the opening of our French account.  Our sweet, young banker was explaining everything and doing his best at English.  Making every attempt to use French whenever possible, I continued to respond to him with “Muy bien”.  Tom finally leaned over to me and said, “That’s Spanish”.  Ugh.  The first of many missteps, I am sure.

Late afternoon we ventured out (in an attempt to keep the rest of us awake; Tom was full of energy) and got our bearings on the closest Metro station and took a quick trip to the Eiffel Tower along with dinner.  We were home and in bed before nine.  Day One under our belt.

I was up first today and decided to get a little run in.  I had heard there was a market near us so went running in that general direction.  Viola!  Found it, returned home for Tom and ventured back with euros in our pockets.  Croissants and apricots for breakfast!  We spent the rest of the morning walking around the Louvre and Notre-Dame before venturing back after a quick lunch of crepes and a brie-tomato-cucumber sandwich on a long baguette.  We are back working because most of you are now awake. 🙂  Not totally sure what the kids are doing but I think it has something to do with detective work and all the funky old keys in all the doors and dressers.