Musée Jacquemart-André.....an unexpected treat!

I know...I have been a real slacker when it comes to the blog.  Rick has done such a good job, that I am feeling a little inadequate!  But this afternoon, I was inspired to write after visiting the Musée Jacquemart-Andre.
Let me start by saying that every afternoon, we try to take in something cultural around Paris.
We are running out of time, and there is still so much to see.
Today, we decided to go the Musée Jacquemart-Andre.
Neither Rick nor I (nor Joanie) knew anything about this museum, other than what was written in the Rick Steve's guidebook (aka our travel bible).  We wanted something a little smaller than the other museums that we had recently visited....mainly because Joanie was not digging the "museum" idea.  I cannot say I totally blame her.  The Louvre is so big;  I appreciate it for what it is, but I cannot say that it is my favorite.  The Orsay is wonderful, but it is crowded and requires a fair amount of time to truly appreciate it.   So something small that could be covered in under 90 minutes was what we were hoping to find.
All I can say is....WOW!
If you are planning to come to Paris, make sure this museum is on your list.
The museum was the actual home of Edouard André and his wife Nélie Jacquemart.   They had no children, so they could spend their money on art and their furnishings, rather than on college funds.
The home is filled with paintings by Botticelli, Rembrandt, Fragonard....just to name a few.

My favorite part was the double helix staircase that is located in the Winter Garden room.  The man who designed it lost out to Charles Garnier when it came to designing the Paris Opera House.  So this guy was no slouch. It is made of marble, iron,  stone and bronze.  It is breathtakingly beautiful.  

At the top of the staircase is a fresco that the couple purchased from an Italian villa in 1893.

There is so much more to this house, but words do not do it justice.

I asked my minion what she thought of it, and she said that she actually liked it. 
I'll take that as an endorsement!

This was a panoramic shot that Rick took on his iPhone

After the museum, we walked to the beautiful Parc Monceau and had goȗter.  
All in all, a pretty nice way to spend an afternoon.

Bastille Day (aka La Fête nationale or Le quatorze juillet)

La Fête nationale (the National Celebration), which is commonly known in France as "Le quatorze juillet" (the 14th of July) and in the United States as "Bastille Day," is the celebration of the storming of the Bastille on July 14, 1989, at the beginning of the French Revolution.  In Paris, it is celebrated with the oldest military parade in Europe, balls at local firehouses, music, free arts events, and fireworks.

We decided that we had to see the famous military parade (which I suggest renaming to "the Parade of Funny Hats") so we dutifully arrived an hour early to find a good spot at the end of the parade route near the Assemblee Nationale (formerly the Palais Bourbon). At our vantage point, the parade began with all forms of military aircraft flying overhead. After the airplanes, it seemed that every branch of the military, police and fire departments had an opportunity to strut their stuff.

The parade had everything you would expect from a military parade - bands, platoons of singing soldiers, swords, guns with bayonets, tanks, artillery, soldiers on horses, soldiers parachuting out of the sky, generals with chests full of medals, and (of course) lots of funny hats.  Even the firemen had machine guns with bayonets and shiny helmets.

Not to be outdone, the protesters (not pictured here, but you can watch a video at http://www.zie.nl/video/fa4zvgtfhazp) had their own funny hats and songs (their favorite seemed to be "L'Internationale").  At least one protester decided to lie down in front of the parade, but he was quickly carried away by the police.  Although the protesters were relatively ineffective at blocking the parade, the swarms of newsmedia trying to get video of the confrontation, as well as the gawkers and platoons of police watching the protesters, managed to effectively block the parade route, which caused a large part of the parade to be diverted away from us,  Eventually, a line of paddy wagons arrived and parked across the street from the protesters.  That seemed to quiet things down.

Pompiers (firemen) retuning their shiny hats

Unfortunately, after the parade, it seems that everybody except the protesters had to return their swords and funny hats. We didn't have any funny hats to return so we treated ourselves to lunch at a small (5 tables), very French, cafe near our apartment. We had a very relaxed lunch on the sidewalk with great food at a reasonable price.

Tonight we head to the Champs de Mars to watch the fireworks display at the Eiffel Tower.

First Week in Paris

We've been in Paris for 11-1/2 days and every time that I think that we are starting to figure things out, I realize that we have not yet begun to scratch the surface of understanding life in Paris. We still get lost occasionally, but we are learning to do the basics such as buying groceries, renting bikes, banking, getting around on the Metro, and ordering food in a restaurant.  Our biggest blunder so far was to purchase a rotisserie chicken at the local organic food market.  It ended up costing around 40 euro.  I think that I need to learn to understand how to understand the answer when I ask "how much is that?"

Grande Epicerie

Of course, we've also been visiting a couple of tourist sites every day including Notre Dame Cathedral, the Picasso Museum, Sacré Coeur, the Eiffel Tower, the Monet Museum, and the Bastille (or at least the remains of the Bastille), as well as lots of chocolateries, patisseries, and gelatories. Despite all of the walking, I don't think I am likely to loose any weight in Paris.

For the past week, Joan and I have also been taking a French immersion class.  My class has 8 students representing a wide range of nationalities (Venezuala, Mexico, Indonesia, Phillipines, Canada, South Africa and the U.S.), ages (18-64), and backgrounds.  When we signed up for the class we given a description of each level of instruction and asked to choose the appropriate level of instruction. At the bottom level of instruction there was a choice between "beginner" and "complete beginner" According to the materials, I should categorize myself as a complete beginner if:

                    - I can spot if someone is speaking French even if I don’t understand the meaning.
                    - I know a few very basic words.
                    - I cannot complete basic needs in French.

Bronwyn using her phone to navigate

Beginners were supposed to be able to ask and answer basic questions, understand directions, order food in a restaurant, and many other things.  Clearly, I was a complete beginner.  Unfortunately, I accidentally did better than expected on the placement exam despite answering six pages of questions with "??????".  As a result, I was thrown into a class that included at least two people who were much more advanced than me.

At first, the class was overwhelming and frustrating.  Although I only understand about 20% of what is said in class, I do feel like I am learning a little French and my presence in the class makes the others feel much better about their language skills.  For example, I have been a source of entertainment for the rest of the class as I struggle to correctly pronounce basic phrases.  Even a simple phrase, such as "I live in the United States" is a tongue twister for me.  The French version is "J'habite aux États Unis."  It looks simple and if I saw the words written on paper I might guess that "États Unis" refers to the United States, but unfortunately it sounds nothing like it looks on paper.  The French like to run words together and ignore consonants just to confuse people like me.  Pronounced properly, it sounds something like "jah-beet ah-say-tah-zoo-nee."

People on the sidewalk outside fashion show

One thing that I am enjoying learning is French idioms, which are full of politically incorrect expressions.  My favorites are "femme de foyer" (housewife) and "lèche-vitrine" (which means "window shopping" but literally translates to "licking the glass").

As we enter our second full week in Paris, we are falling into a routine - fresh croissants for breakfast, an afternoon snack (goûte), an evening stroll (with great people watching particularly during fashion week), and a late dinner,  Paris continues to produce new surprises, such as stumbling onto movie stars and fashion designers exiting from a John-Paul Gaultier fashion show. I find myself looking forward to learning to speak and understand French a little better so that I can absorb even more of the fascinating culture.  Maybe I will find time to learn to play boules with the old men in the park.  Maybe AT&T will finally send me the unlock code for my phone so that I can insert a French SIM card.  Who knows what the new week will bring?

The Reason for the Banking Crisis in Europe (or the Bureaucracy Challenge: AT&T vs. BNP Paribas)

Only our third day in France and we've already figured out the reason why some European banks don't have enough capital.  It seems that European banks don't want new deposits.  Actually, to be fair, it seems that a bank in France is much more than a bank in the U.S.  When you have a banking relationship in France, the bank is implicitly and explicitly vouching for your credit and character.  Thus, banks in France want a lot more information than a U.S. bank before they accept your money.

Nonetheless, we were resolved to open a bank account today because we wanted to get a cell phone. Why are the two related?  The French cell phone companies that we talked to yesterday wanted us to have a French bank account before opening anything other than a prepaid account with a new phone.

After researching French banks, we decided that the best bank to use was BNP Paribas so at 9 a.m., we marched into the nearest BNP Paribas branch and after several minutes of discussion between Bronwyn and bank officer (in French), we think that we were told that they could not open an account at the local bank branch, but that we should try the next branch down the street.  What kind of bank has branches where you can't open an account and deposit money?

After eventually locating a slightly larger branch "down the street" we were given a long list of documents that they would require in order to consider our request including:

• Proof of residence (such as phone, water and electricity bills) authenticated by the French Ambassy [sic] / Consulate in the United States [it is no wonder that the French consulate in Atlanta has such limited time to review visa applications when they are also expected to verify telephone and gas bills for French banks]
• House insurance certificate
• Last salary slip 
• Proof of legal residency in France (residency visa?)
• Banking letter of recommendation in French and English detailing at least the address, the family name, the surname, our birth dates, the value of all of our bank accounts, the value of our other assets, the normal "flow" through the bank accounts, the length of time that we have had accounts with the bank and a (further?) proof of residence in the U.S.  Naturally, this would need to be verified with all possible seals and ribbons (mere notarization would not be enough)

After Bronwyn and I conferred about the difficulty of the request, Bronwy politely lied in French to the bank clerk and told her that we could get the necessary information.  This obviously surprised the clerk, but she advised us that they would not be able set up an appointment for us to open up a new account until next week.  We were beginning to get the impression that European banks really don't like opening new accounts and having people deposit money in their bank.

Fortunately, Bronwyn is not easily deterred.  Since BNP Paribas is a major international bank and it is headquartered is in Paris (apparently there are about 20,000 employees in Paris), she asked if there was anybody in Paris who might be able to meet with us to discuss opening a new account before next week.  Although the clerk seemed skeptical that the bank could free up an employee to accept a deposit she eventually was able to find one employee on the opposite side of Paris who appeared to have an opening in his schedule today at 11:30 a.m.

We went back to the apartment, gathered as much financial information as possible, and then hustled across town (using our new Metro cards) hoping we would not be late.  We arrived a couple of minutes early.  After we waited for 30 minutes with minimal acknowledgement from the receptionist we were eventually informed that a mistake had been made and that the appointment had been scheduled at a time when the person we were supposed to meet was to be at a meeting outside the office.  At first we were told to wait, but eventually the receptionist suggested that we return next week.

After hearing our tale of woe, the receptionist returned to her desk and had a telephone conversation with the bank officer.  Just as we were about to leave she informed us that the bank officer was going to return and meet with us.  An hour after we arrived, we were greeted by the bank officer and invited to come back to an office.  He was actually very nice, he spoke excellent English and it seemed that he really was missing a lunch appointment to fit us into his schedule.

Bronwyn explained our situation.  One of the first things that the bank officer wanted to know was our phone number.  It seems that you have to have a phone number to open a bank account (and a bank account to get a phone number).  We dodged that bullet by giving him the phone number of our home in Charlotte and cell phones, which were no longer operative.

Although the bank officer was very accommodating and waived many of the requirements, the bank officer informed us that in order to open an account we would still need to get an original signed letter of reference from our home bank verifying our financial life history. More significantly, we would need to deposit 15,000 Euro for at least two years as collateral, in addition to whatever amount of money we wanted to actually use in France.  (I was tempted to remind him that we just wanted to deposit money into a checking account, not take out a loan, but fortunately I kept my mouth shut.) After two and one-half hours at the bank we walked away with a long list of information that the bank would need, but no bank account that we could use.  It seemed that we would not have a bank account for at least a couple of weeks.

Fortunately, all was not lost.  Bronwyn found a cell-phone provider that appeared to not require a bank account as a condition to getting a cell phone.  Even better, the cell phone company had an office on the same side of Paris as the bank offices.  This cell phone provider (the name of the company is "Free") was much more flexible and gladly handed us a sim card for our iPhone and required only a credit card for unlimited calling and data to Europe and the U.S.

The only catch was that our cell phones were still locked by AT&T even though we had begun the process to get AT&T to unlock the phones three weeks earlier and had been promised by AT&T that we'd be able to unlock the phones by the time our AT&T cell phone service ended on July 3.  After multiple trans-Atlantic calls to AT&T we finally succeeded in unlocking Bronwyn's phone and installing the new European SIM card at 9 pm.  Still, we are declaring the day a success.  We may not have a bank account, but we have a working cell phone and we are no longer dependent on free Wifi.

AT&T thinks that they might be able to get around to unlocking my phone within two weeks.

Thus, in the end, it appears that AT&T is even more bureaucratic than either French banks or French telcom companies.  On this 4th of July weekend, it makes me proud to know that after only 240 years, an American company is even more bureaucratic than the European companies.

We celebrated by walking around the neighborhood.  My next goal is to learn to play Boules like the amazing gentlemen pictured below who were playing in the local park.  What better way to learn the culture.

Hot Time in Paris

It has been another day of record heat in Paris.  As a result, other than a walk to the Eiffel Tower this morning (when it was still relatively cool), our sightseeing mostly has been limited to touring the inside of stores with air conditioning (note that the French concept of air conditioning is to place a large portable AC unit near the door to create an initial blast of cool air, but to keep all of the doors open to assure that the temperature in the store never goes below 90 degrees Fahrenheit).

Actually, our time in the stores was probably more educational than any sightseeing tour.  Figuring out how to do the simple things such as grocery shopping is really daunting for me and would be almost impossible if Bronwyn was not fluent in French.  Most of the products in the stores are just enough different that I can spend several minutes just trying to figure out if a box contains laundry detergent, dishwasher detergent or something else.  

Today our big accomplishment was getting month-long subway passes.  Hopefully, we got the right kind of pass because there were a multitude of options.  Even getting the pictures required for the passes was difficult.   We knew that we were supposed to bring to the subway office small min-passport photos which would be placed on the subway pass, but we couldn't quite figure out where to get the mini-photos.  Eventually, we were directed to a photo booth in the subway and the fun began. The photo booth had a long succession of screens with instructions that were mostly indecipherable to me (we did decipher that no smiling is allowed in the photo).  The photo booth automatically determined whether the photo complied with official standards and it prompted you to retake the photo if it concluded that the photo was inadequate.  After several tries, Bronwyn and Joan managed to get a photo that the machine deemed acceptable (photos that make mugshots look flattering), but I was never able to get a photo the ;machine deemed acceptable.  Eventually, I just printed some substandard photos and fortunately the man giving us the passes never looked at my photos to see whether they had the official stamp of approval (which they did not).

If something relatively simple like getting a subway pass or buying soap is challenging, you would have really enjoyed watching us trying to investigate different types of cell phone plans.  The options are baffling and the clerks seemed to be trying to sell us the most expensive option possible.  It sounded like we were being told that it would be cheaper to buy a new phone than simply put a French sim card into our unlocked iPhones, which is what the guidebooks say is the best option.  We gave up before we started a discussion about exactly what type of plan to purchase, but I think that we understood correctly that we have to open a French bank account before they would even consider putting us on anything other than a prepaid plan for tourists.  Thus, tomorrow we try to open a French bank account (in addition to registering with the French police as required by our visa).  It is sure to be another fun day navigating the French bureaucracy.  I've tried to research French banks, but it is difficult to compare "apples to apples" so I've decided that my sole criteria will be whether the bank offices are air conditioned.

(By the way, for some reason, Google assumes that I speak French when I use the web in France, thus I have no idea which button to click to publish this blog entry.)

Nous sommes arrivés!

We have arrived in Paris!

It is hotter than ever here, with no ac, but I am just so happy to be here, I do not care!

Love the apartment….it is in a great location and has a great balcony overlooking the street.

Rick is in the other room snoring away….and it is 6:30pm!  The heat has sucked the life out of him…..oh, and the 5:00am wake up this morning to catch the train to Paris.

We had a little bit of a scare last night because we found out that the Eurostar train were on strike and that the workers in Calais, France (the entry into France) were lighting fires on the tracks to prevent trains from entering into France from London.  Several trains were canceled yesterday, and it was questionable as to whether things would be resolved by this morning.

The good news is that there were no issues….except for the fact that my luggage jammed in the X-ray scanner because it was too fat!!!  Not kidding!  They had to reroute passengers to other lines while they reset the system!  How embarrassing!

Once we arrived in Paris, it took over an hour to get from the Gare du Nord to our apartment in the 6eme….the traffic was horrible.  We are super glad that we do not have a car until after we leave here.

We have already done some preliminary grocery shopping.  I put that in bold, to alleviate any concerns that mon chéri might have.

Rick had a weak moment and got Joanie one of her favorites.

Tonight, we will have a “picnic” dinner….baguette, cheese, sausage, and red wine.  It’s much too hot to cook!

I see London, I see France (almost)

We had an easy passage across the Atlantic Ocean and landed in Southampton, England this morning. It is hard to believe that a week on the ship passed so quickly.  There were lots of activities, but mostly we dressed up for meals and ate.  Bronwyn and I took a Bridge class, we saw some theatrical productions, we went to some musical shows, we played a few board games in the lounge and Joan made a friend so the days passed quickly.  Did I mention that they had an incredible amount of food, including a chocolate extravaganza on the last night. 

The biggest frustration was the high cost and slowness of internet access.  Thus, we pretty much unplugged ourselves from the world for a week ... which was not a bad thing.

Yesterday at around 5 pm we sighted the first point of land (Bishop Rock) and started to make our way southeast toward the English channel.  By dawn, we could see England and the ship was starting its way inside the Isle of Wright and eventually into the harbor for Southampton.  Both Bronwyn and I slept poorly worrying about different things relating to the trip ahead so once I felt the ship turn and change its speed I decided to get up ( at 5 am) to watch the ship thread its way up to Southampton.

The early rising was worth it.  The view of the English shoreline was fantastic and included farms, fishermen, and ancient fortifications that looked like castles to me.  Watching the ship make its way up the winding channel both made me wish that we were sailing our own boat and glad that I was not trying to pilot the Queen Mary 2 through the confusing maze of channel markers.

The ship was docked by 6:30 a.m. and by we were on a bus headed to London by 9 a.m.  The beauty of taking an ocean liner to Europe was that we were so well rested that it wasn't hard to adjust to the time.  Of course, we left the ship about 10 pounds heavier than when we boarded the ship in New York.

By 11 a.m. we were standing in Victoria Station wondering how we were going to get all of our luggage through the crowd and down the steps into the Tube (there was no elevator), which we had planned to take to our bed & breakfast.  Eventually, we opted to take a taxi.  The good news was that London taxis can hold a lot of luggage.  The bad news is that we really didn't know where we were going.

While Bronwyn searched her phone and computer for the location of the B&B, and eventually used the taxi cab driver's phone to search the internet for the phone number of the B&B so that we could call and get an address.  After a few stressful minutes, Bronwyn talked to the owner of the B&B and got the address.  It turns out that the B&B was about as far as it could be from Victoria Station and still be in London.  However, the price was right.

Once we got settled in the B&B, we ate lunch and made our way back to Victoria Station on the Tube, where we picked up a bus tour of London.  It is hard to tell from the picture, but the highlight of the tour for Joan was riding on top of a double decker bus and getting to see Big Ben.  Well that might not be quite accurate, ... the highlight of the day for Joan may have been that we now have internet access again.

Tomorrow, we begin to visit some of the main attractions.

The Beginning of our Transatlantic Journey

After an uneventful morning in Brooklyn, we loaded our luggage into a taxi to take us to the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal.  We were I was a little anxious about our luggage, as Rick’s bag was way over the 22kg maximum weight!  I never realized what a clotheshorse my husband was!  Fortunately when we arrived at the cruise terminal, we had a very strong porter who did not seem phased by the weight and was pleased with the bribe tip.

After getting situated on board, we made our way to the outer decks to check out the pools, view, etc.

After a long life vest drill, the ship finally departed from the port.

What a beautiful afternoon to set sail in NY harbor.  

As we started to pull out of the port, I started to get weepy.  It totally took me off-guard, as I was not expecting this emotion.  But the reality of what we were about to do really took hold, and I realized that I was not going to be back in the US for a year.  Since I knew that we were not going to have cell phone service once we left the harbor, I quickly called my mother to tell her we were on our way.  I held back the tears as I talked to her…. but she could hear the homesickness in my voice.  She gave me some reassuring words, and then I could not help but laugh as I looked out on the deck and saw Joanie’s skirt practically up over her head.  It was very windy, and she could not keep her skirt down.  I needed that comic relief to break the wave of sadness that had crept in so suddenly.  Fortunately, Joanie had on a cute pair of undies!!  Several other passengers were also having wardrobe malfunctions, and those were not quite so pretty!

Planes, Trains and Automobiles

Ok.  The title of this post is not accurate.  No airplanes will be involved in our travel to France, but "Trains, Automobiles and Ships" didn't seem to have quite the same ring to it.  Regardless of what you call it, we are finally on our way to France.  The vehicles are all sold, the mail is forwarded, the house is rented, the bills are set up for electronic delivery, and all the loose ends at work are tied up (hopefully).

We finished the ordeal of packing up our house (because it will be rented while we are in France) and we are on our way.  The last few days were like the end of a marathon.  Each night we would push our bodies to pack until we simply could not get our legs to climb the stairs one more time.  Just to add to the difficulty, at the same time we also decided to empty out our lake house so that it could be renovated while we are in France.  I don't remember being as tired and sore since the first week of summer soccer practice in high school.  Every night we asked ourselves if it was worth it.  Fortunately, we have wonderful friends and neighbors who took pity on us after the movers took our furniture bringing us food, providing childcare, inviting us to dinner, allowing us to use their washing machine (and actually doing our wash for us), and letting us sleep at their home (one night sleeping on the floor was enough).

Mary helping to pack up the kitchen

Mattie wiped out every closet and drawer!

Amid all the chaos, we also decided to have the kitchen floors refinished!  Yes, we are definitely certifiably crazy!

The day I most dreaded came on June 15th....the day we would have to say farewell to our four-legged family member, Frankie, for a year.  I know that he is in wonderful care with my friends Susan and Luke, but I definitely shed some tears that afternoon.  Susan took some wonderful photos the week before, so I have this one to help get me through the year...

We will look forward to connecting with Frankie through FaceTime over the months ahead!

We finally finished packing, and selling our last vehicle, shortly before midnight on Wednesday, June 17.  Fortunately, our wonderful friends again came to our rescue and allowed us to spend the night with them before we started the first leg of the journey - the drive to Lancaster, Pennsylvania to visit my mother and her husband.  We also were pleased to get to see Rick's brother Robb and his wife Jennifer before we left.  They drove all the way from Media to Lancaster (a 2-hour drive) to have dinner with us on Friday evening!


After two and a half days of rest, bowling and good food in Lancaster, we set out on the next leg of our journey today - a train ride from Lancaster to New York City.  

Ready to bowl

Tomorrow, we board the Queen Mary 2.  Bronwyn plans to spend the 7-day sea voyage in the spa, I plan to read and hibernate for a week, and Joan is looking forward to the kids activities.

All aboard.....the ride from Lancaster to NYC

Thanks to everybody who helped us get on the road.  It is times like this where we really appreciate our wonderful friends, neighbors and family.

Panic Stage

It is panic time!!!!!  We are 5 weeks away from leaving Charlotte and there is a lot to be done before we depart.  We need to finalize the lease of the house, pack up the house (who knew that you could spend an entire weekend packing up a small utility/storage room), make all of the necessary financial arrangements, sell all of our vehicles, pack our suitcases for France, finalize travel arrangements, figure out the best health insurance, visit our doctors and do a million little personal tasks that should have been done months ago. Walking around the house has become a navigational challenge due to the maze of boxes everywhere.

The good news is that we know what needs to be done and we have lots of "to do" lists.  Bronwyn asked me how I am doing on the task list that I put together back in December and I explained that I was still working on the portion of the list that was supposed to be completed in January.  This did not instill her with confidence.  Fortunately, Bronwyn is doing much better at checking things off her lists.

Oh yeh ... I am also supposed to be learning how to speak French.  Those of you who know me will not be surprised to learn that I am tackling this learning opportunity the same way that I approached my studies in school and preparation for the bar exam.  My first strategy is procrastination.  When procrastination fails and guilt forces me to study, I am making the task manageable by strategically deciding which portions of the French language are really necessary to learn.  So far, I have spent virtually all of my time learning how to order food.   My French skills may be abysmal, but I will not starve.

  

The one part of the preparations that I am truly enjoying is learning about French culture and history. We've been watching a lot of French movies, and I've read several fiction and non-fiction books.  It is amazing how much I did not learn in school about the culture and history of France.  The movies also make me realize how little I understand of conversational French language spoken at a normal (rapid) speed.

So as not to end this entry on a negative note, I am happy to report that I am doing very well on my research about the route of the Tour de France and potential bicycles that I might purchase to ride the route of the Tour de France. Hopefully, my family will rest better knowing  how I have used my limited preparation time judiciously.

Oh Happy Day......our VISAS arrived today!!!

I am really starting to see that we were meant to spend the year in France...

* We found the house in Angers almost immediately on SabbaticalHomes.com.

* We found a fabulous French tutor for Joanie through the Alliance Française.  Céline, tu es magnifique!

* The owners of the house found a school for Joanie to attend.  She will be attending a French catholic school, a nine-minute walk from our house.

*I bumped into my dear friend Elizabeth, whom I know from an Alliance Française class that I took seven years ago,  at Freedom Park.  She invited me to join her conversational French group that meets weekly.  This has been so helpful in preparing me for the coming year....since apparently everyone is going to be relying on me to communicate.

*When we were making our cruise reservation, we found out that the ship only allows a certain number of children.  We were told that there might not be enough space, and we would have to wait until the following business day to see if there would be space.  Joanie got the last space!

*The final "French" piece of the puzzle.....the visas.  We drove to Atlanta on March 23, with our visa applications, cash, and a boatload of documents (Rick, the Eagle Scout...be prepared!)  Not only did we hope and pray that we had all the necessary documents, but also that they would allow us to apply for the visas as a family.  Fortunately, the gentleman who was processing our applications was very kind and allowed us to apply as a family.  We were able to drive down and back in the same day.......and had a wonderful dinner at Georges Brasserie upon our return!

Well guess what.....the visas arrived in the mail today!

Yippee!  Or as they say in France.....Youpi!