We've moved!

It's been nearly two weeks since I posted anything, and a lot has happened, namely, we successfully moved! It was quite a challenging experience which is still in the process. It all began with our first experience with a taxi strike. We had planned on using a taxi to transport our 6 large duffell bags along with all the rest of the stuff we had bought while staying in the hotel. We arrived in the hotel lobby only to find out that the taxi drivers decided to take the day off. We left our stuff at the hotel and ran to our apartment to meet our rental agent, arriving 45 minutes later than we intended. We spent the rest of the day figuring out how to get our stuff to the apartment. The delivery man from the second hand store where we bought the bedroom armoire agreed to help us out, and all our stuff made it by 7:30 that night. The next week was spent with setting up our aparment as much as possible while making room for the painters who had not quite finished (we agreed to move in while they were still working). I never thought that I would so willingly open up windows in the middle of winter, but the paint had to dry! It was quite cold. The painters finished, we're relatively stocked up on food, we finally have dishes and towels of our own, and in about another month we will have a couch and a coffee table (which we are purchasing from a kind lady who is moving back to the States). Whew! I bought a couple of chairs, so we have a place to sit down at least. Here's the tour:











We love our apartment. It's smaller than our place in Altadena, but it's smartly designed and in some ways is nicer than what we lived in before. Our favorite part is probably the view. We can see down through the trees to our 19th century neighborhood, where we know how to get to our favorite bakery, market, flower shop, laverie (to wash clothes), post office, brasserie, etc. It's only a 10 minute walk to a huge park (similiar to Central Park in NY, really), right across the street to the metro, and right in the middle of everything we wanted to experience in France. The only downside is that it is quite close to very busy train tracks (the old train station is right across the street, and is one of the most beautiful buildings anywhere). We see TGV trains, regular passenger trains, and cargo trains with all kinds of cargo. It makes dish washing more entertaining, as I can see them when I look out the window. When we close the windows, we barely notice the sound (thank goodness the windows are so effective at shutting out sound), but when we open the windows, we are reminded that we are now "city folk" by hearing all the cars, horns, and trains going by. We are very happy, though, and feel like this place was waiting here for us and that many happy things will happen while we are living here.

One thing is still missing, though (other than the couch, coffee table, rugs, pictures, telephone...uh, you know what I mean)...YOU!!! We already know that one of the best parts of all of this will be sharing it with you.

Ok...I am experimenting with making naan tonight along with veggie curry. I think the dough has risen to about double...gotta go...