Our Parisan Life

Paris has been really good to us. We only have one week left which is breaking my heart. I trying not to think about it and just enjoying the last few days we are here. I could live here for the rest of my life and be a very happy girl. I should have posted this a long time ago. It has just been sitting in my drafts pile for the longest time. Oh well at least it is getting done. 

We live in the 6th arrondismont in the Latin quarter (named that because many of the universities are located in this area and Latin was the main language spoken at them historically). Our flat is in the best location! All the main sites are within walking distance. There is a play ground two minutes away as well as a couple of grocery stores. We are set! 

Before we moved over here we looked up our place on Google maps and saw that it was above a Prada store. Google maps did not lie. We live above Prada! The Prada employees greet us whenever we go down stairs with a friendly "bonjour" or "bonsoir" depending on the time of day. Cosette has learned how to say bonjour from them. It is pretty cute to hear her say it.

I tried to get a picture of Cosette going down the stairs in her Princess jacket. That is the face she gave me. The face of angel. To the left she is riding on the carousel that is in the park by our flat. We ride it probably just about every time we go. She likes to ride in the truck, boat, and helicopter. Like I have said before on here, she likes her public transportation vehicles. 

We live in a five floor walk up in a studio at the top. I was worried about the walk up when we booked the place. I did not know how it was going to work out. Would our stroller even fit through the door of the building.  I was imagining having to carry the stroller up and down the stairs. We really lucked out. Since the Prada store is there, they have a couple of store rooms on the bottom floor so there is a large area to park out stroller. No carrying it up the stairs! Dreams can come true.

We are living in a studio which is trick with the kids, mainly Cosette. For Christmas we got her a little princess pop up tent and she also got a matching sleeping bag from Grandma Plothow. We thought that would work while we are here. It kind of has. Bed time is a real struggle. Thank goodness for Lyndon. I would not be holding up well with out him. Nap time is touch and go, mostly go, which is hard on everyone. Forget the kids needing naps, I have been so tired since being here. I need a nap! We are making it though. It is only for a few months and then things will go back to normal. We cannot complain, we are in Paris! I would rather be doing what we are doing here than any where else.

I find it hard to be discouraged or sad here. You walk outside and you are on a beautiful street. You walk a little bit and you can see the Seine or the Eiffel Tower. Sites like that will turn any frown upside down.

Our flat is great. It is very basic but meets our needs. Our mind set it that it's only for a few months. All our clothes fit in the closet. There is space to put Cosette and Henry's toys away. It works. We have the slanting ceilings and the gabled windows. It is very French. We are getting a very authentic experience.

There is no laundry in our building, but that is common here. We load up one of our suitcases and Lyndon takes it to the laundry mat while he studies. It works. The first time we did laundry we loaded it up in the bassinet on our stroller. That was really funny looking. We put it all in one of the sheets that needed to be washed and hauled down the stairs and in to the stroller. Several clean things fell out on the way back so we decided the suitcase was a better option. Oh, the crazy things we do. 

Happy campers. We are very blessed that they have done so well with the transition.

I think this is the fastest that we have transitioned moving to a new place. I did not really experience culture shock and neither did Lyndon. Once Cosette got adjusted to the sleeping she has been great. We just take it one day at a time. Most days have been really great. Even if things were not so great we are happy to be in Paris!