Update

We signed the lease for the new apartment last night.  We will do the walk through inspection the morning of the 30th and move in beginning on the 1st.  Our sea shipment will be delivered on the 2nd and 3rd.  Looking forward to seeing our stuff again.

Julia left for Geneva early this AM(7 AM flight) and she will not return until early evening on Wednesday.  It is her first night away from Samuel since he was born and it is my first evening alone with Samuel.  The only one that is not said or worries(so far) is Samuel.  He is our rock as nothing seems to faze him.  The other day i was carrying him and as I walked into the living room, through the double doors, he threw out his right arm and it banged against the door. He looked at me for a second, cried for about two and then he returned to normal.  We would write a book about how to raise a perfect child but we have no idea how we have been so lucky(so far!)

An interesting side note on our current apartment.  Julia received a message today from the management company and they said that they had no idea what was going on and that this was the first they had heard of any issues that we have with the apartment.  Their representative wants to visit on Thursday evening to examine our complaints.  Considering that we just signed the new lease yesterday their timing is exquisite.

We spent Saturday afternoon reconnoitering our new neighborhood.  Their is a covered market very close, with many food stalls and many small merchants such as tailors, upholsterers and small kitchen stuff.  We discovered that most of the places we will need to utilize are on the opposite side of the avenue.  Which is good as there should be less pedestrian traffic on our sidewalk but we have to cross one of the busiest streets in Europe to access the businesses.  We checked out the Monoprix (across the street) and it is a large store. It not only has food but also a large health/pharmacy and clothing for men, women and children.  We actually purchased Samuel's first pair of mittens while we were there.

Random thoughts and pictures

This is a picture of Samuel and me that Julia took on the 10th.  I will miss the days when he is no longer able to fall asleep on my chest.  There is no better feeling in the world than having your little one fall asleep on you.

It occurred to me last night that I have not been in a car since we returned from London on August 10th.   And I do not miss the experience.  I have not yet been able to get into a regular workout routine but I am still losing weight as I walk everywhere.  Even if you have to take the metro there is inevitably a walk to get to your destination from the station. 

It also helps to be carrying an extra 15 pounds(Samuel) when he is in the baby bjorn.

Went to the new apartment yesterday to measure and take pictures of light fixtures.  It will be a challenge fitting everything into our bedroom but we do have a small office/dressing room next to our bedroom that we can use for overflow.  Every time I see the new place I am more assured that we have made the right decision.  There are a few cracks in the floor but the floor is much more solid and the cracks are in such places that they can be covered by rugs.   The new place is much more intimate.  It is 37 m2 smaller than where we currently reside.  It feels more intimate every time I walk in.  It feels like home.

Another good day

Samuel and I had a good day today.

We took a trip to the covered market this morning. This was our first solo trip to the market.

Discovered that all of the vendors speak some English.  It was interesting as a fish monger said that he would prefer to speak English as he was learning and I told him the same in french.  For the most part the vendors spoke English slightly more than half the time and I spoke french about 80%.    I think I ordered everything correctly.  Julia will tell me when she gets home if I bought the wrong item(s).

After lunch Samuel and I took the metro to the quatre temps mall at la defense.  A intimidatingly large mall.  We were able to find almost everything we were looking for.  Most importantly we found a space heater for Samuel's room( as the temperature is supposed to be in single digits(c) this weekend and we do not know when our shared heat will be turned on.  We were also able to find the Leonidas and pick up some good Belgian chocolate.  Julia and I usually have 1 piece after diner each evening.  Unfortunately I was unable to find a book.  I was unable to find a book by an author that I am familiar with.  I think it will help me greatly with my french learning curve to read french but I also think it would be best if i read an author with whom i am familiar.  Discovered this morning that teenagers are the same throughout the world.  As we were returning from the market(Samuel was in his stroller) and walking down the avenue Longchamp, there is apparently a high school on this street.  I figured this out as about 1000 the sidewalks and the street were completely blocked by teenagers.  Cars were honking hoping to be able to navigate the street. I was shouting, Pardon!!, some of them moved but some did not.  I was forced to run into a few ankles with the stroller to get the space to move through.  Reminded me of the neighborhood where I lived in Kentucky.  I was across the street from a high school and every  morning the kids stood and walked in the middle of the street and refused to move out of the way of the cars.

Good news, we have heard from the agent at our new apartment and they had difficulties when they attempted to clean the walls.  Because of this they are going to paint the walls and this means that we may not be able to move in on October 1st.  But we are encouraged that they are willing to do what is necessary to make the apartment livable and that they are also communicating with us about the details.

We still have yet to hear anything from the current management company concerning our impending move.

Weather depending we will go out this weekend and reconnoiter the neighborhood of our new apartment.  It will not be as easy living as the market, boulangeries are not as close or as numerous.  But there is a monoprix (large grocer) directly across the street and they do deliver.

Will post ore after we have seen exactly what we have available to us.

Samuel is scaring me.  As I have been typing this he has rolled/scooted more than 6 feet and rolled over.  Appears that we will have to keep our eyes on him at all times.  Wonder what will happen when he actually starts to crawl.

-Dave

Good times, bad times

This parenting thing is going to be difficult.  Samuel now rolls from his back to his front with ease.  We have been awake for about 1 hour this morning and he has already rolled over twice.  The first time he completely rolled himself off of his activity mat.  Keeping up with this kid is definitely gong to keep me in shape.

Samuel and I had a good day on Tuesday.  We went to the park and fed the ducks. We learned that pigeons and ducks do not like to share.  We were feeding about 30 ducks when a flock of pigeons decided to descend on the walk next to the water.  Immediately 3-4 ducks came out of the water violently flapping their wings to scatter the pigeons.

Our housing situation is nearing a breaking point.  Last week we saw again the apartment that we bid for when we made our house hunting trip in June(The original deal fell through when the leasee was unable to sell his home).  We put in another bid and Julia received a call on Monday asking a few questions and she was told that the owner would make a decision and we would be informed by Tuesday morning.  Well, Tuesday morning passed with no news.  Our confidence is waning that we are going to get this place.  With no evidence, we just have a feeling that the owner does not want to rent to non-french.  We have instructed our agent that if we do not hear by close of business today that I will look at apartments on Friday.

We have reached the point where if nothing comes from the Friday search that we will consider renting a house in the suburbs,  It would not be ideal but we would have a place to call home.  Living with rented furniture is a pain in the a**.

It is difficult to grasp that it has only been 7 weeks since we left Cincinnati, it seems like an eternity.  I had the flu over the weekend and Julia has it now, so she will be staying home from work today.  We are both control freaks and neither of us feel as if we are currently in control of our lives.

As Roseanne Rosanna Danna(An American TV character) used to say, "Never mind."  As I was writing this Julia was in the bedroom speaking to our agent.   

 WE HAVE THE APARTMENT.

We just saw this apartment again last week and while there are a few issues they are minor and can easily be addressed by the owners or us, if necessary.

For those of you that are curious our new address is 109 Avenue Charles de Gaulle, Neuilly-sur-Seine, 92200.

It is a very nice apartment. It is on the top floor(5th) with 5 bedrooms though they tend to be on the small side.  We will have a dedicated guest room.  It is a much nicer apartment architecturally with elaborate molding on the ceilings and around the light fixtures.  It also has an Ikea kitchen but it is only 2 years old.  The apartment size is 163 M2 which is smaller than the Madrid apartment.  Never thought I would say this but smaller seems better in this case.  de Gaulle is much more intimate and homier than Madrid.

There is no problem with noise, unless we open the windows that open onto de Gaulle.  There is some ambient background noise but if you live in the city that is acceptable.  Luckily, the kitchen will hold the equipment that we purchased for Madrid.  We will not have quite as much storage space in the apartment but we will have a larger than standard cave(cellar).

We are still living near a metro stop. The le Sablons stop is no more than 50 meters from our front door.  The bois de bologne is actually closer, though the walk is not as nice.  We are closer to the area of the bois that has a very nice children's play area.  We are also closer to the Neuilly pool where Samuel will be taking baby swim lessons beginning in January.

The water went out in our apartment this morning. I had to go to Franprix and purchase bottled water so that I could make my flu ridden wife chicken soup.  One wonderful thing about living in Neuilly.  To make chicken soup we walk around the corner to a butcher and purchase a rotisserie chicken(11 euros) cut the legs and wings and put into a soup.  We then have the remainder of the chicken for another soup, casserole or whatever our imaginations can come up with.

Samuel rolled over again.....

Samuel was laying on his back on his activity mat.  He was holding his favorite toy up in the air when it fell out of his hand and rolled away to his left.  He rolled on the his left side and was desperately reaching for the toy when he violently kicked his legs into the air(to the point where he kicked the arches on the activity mat).  He completed the roll and was able to grab his toy. Very impressive.

Had to punch out the gate that was preventing us from reaching the radiator in Samuel's room last night.  Unfortunately after this adjustment the radiator did not work.  Very, very frustrated with the management company/owners of this apartment.  Hopefully we will hear good news today from the apartment that we have bid for.

Frankfurt pictures

Pictures of Samuel and around Frankfurt.

Weary travelers

We are now back in Paris.  I hesitate to call it home as this apartment just does not feel like a home.

Above is a picture of Samuel and I atop the main tower in Frankfurt.

Long day on Wednesday.  Can someone who is familiar with european airlines explain to me why both of our air france flights did not de-plane at the terminal.  Are terminal fees too high or are their too many flights and not enough gates?  This is especially frustrating at Charles de Gaulle as the bus ride from where the plane eventually parked was over 10 minutes to the terminal.  This on top of the plane taxiing for almost 10 minutes to its designated parking space.  Overall, it was 35 minutes from the time that we landed until we stepped foot inside the terminal.

Enjoyed Frankfurt, it was a pleasure to visit after being in Paris for a month.  The people are friendly and courteous. The beer is, well, the beer speaks for itself.  Cold and large steins, filled to the rim.