Drivers Ready?!

On Wednesday morning, we packed up our belongings, said farewell to our manoir and the owners, and headed out of the Normandy countryside.  After dropping Chris off at work (he would train to Paris later) and getting our French phones in working order at the mall....we were off.  Mimi & Honey with the boys in one car and the girls & I in another.  Not to mention Jeannette & Pierre to direct our every turn.  The motor ways in Normandy are really pretty easy to maneuver - its the big cities & round abouts that are a bit eventful.  We made it through the 3 hour drive in rain, sleet, & snow (truly), being hit by the toll booth wand (that was interesting), and being routed through the busiest part of the city by our lovely GPS system at rush hour (awesome).  Aside from there being no order to the round-abouts around the Arc de Triumph, and any other round-about we encountered - we loved getting to see some of the sites as we came in.  We drove right through the Champs Elysees Christmas market, took a right and drove past the Notre Dame, and on in to find a parking garage.  We had been told we would probably have to park a few blocks away due to the property not having any parking.  We found the garage our landlord had told us about and parked the cars 3 floors down.  As we were unloading and realizing the walk we had ahead of us, we decided to take the roller suitcases and backpacks & we would come back for things like air mattresses, food from the manoir, laundry, etc...  Thankfully Mimi decided to leave her bag behind to help with the kids.  As we exited the garage, we realized we would be going up a 2 ft. wide stairwell up 3 floors with 3 adults and 4 children, rolling the bags up the staircase.  This made Atlanta airport look like a joke compared to this.  The kids were doing well & we were so super proud of their perseverence and sense of adventure.  We got to the top of the stairs in pouring down rain and made our couple block trek to the apartment. 

 I put all the laundry, food, games, & schoolwork in different grocery sacks.  This may have something to do with why we had so much trouble.  ;)


We were greeted by Leslee - an American from Wyoming who is here getting her French degree and helping her brother (our landlord) with his apartment rental business.  She was super helpful and very welcoming to our apartment.
This trip is amazing & such an incredible experience.  And yet - in those moments where you are soaked, where it had been quiet and now it is busy and loud, the apartment is quaint and cute, but its not the manoir, adjustment or culture shock inevitably occurs and the dreamyness of it all flies out the window and doubt of our choice to do this, to live the city life with 4 kids for 4 weeks begins to come into question.  Then the internal pep-talk begins.  No, it took a few days for us to adjust in Normandy, it will be the same here as well.  We just need to get settled, have a good night of sleep, and things will begin to come into perspective.
We decided to take the kids to a pizza place downstairs and they were super kind to us.  We ordered cheese & ham/cheese pizzas for all of us to share.  The kids thoroughly enjoyed it & were ready to begin their Paris experience.  Chris got in around 8pm, and after eating a few slices of leftover pizza - we told him we had to go back to get the rest of the stuff.  Thankfully, the rain had stopped and we were hoping it would be a quick zip zap back.  Um..... no!  We opened the car doors and he said - I think this is going to be more than one trip.  We decided to go with a single trip & later mom & I said we thought it was harder than the first.  Picture two of us walking with large grocery sacks full of laundry, an air mattress, one full of food, two remaining suitcases & the 3rd person with Halle's stroller with all the remaining bags & such.  Let's just say we got quite a few stares with a look of amazement and wonder as to what we could possibly need all of those bags for.  We wholeheartedly agree! :)