Settling In

Afternoon pilgrims,

Other than a few boxes left over and some clothes that will need to be given away (I'm working on that among other things) it's beginning to look like a place we'd be living in albeit significantly smaller.  After living here a while there are sounds that we've all gotten used to or at least partially.  In Lynchburg the trash collectors came once a week and here they come every day which is a bad thing for our older cat Nelliebelle as she's always associated the sound of big trucks with something negative (I have no idea why that is) so when the trash guys came every week in Lynchburg you would always find Nellibelle "slinking" across the floor headed for the underside of one of our beds until the noise was gone.  You can imagine then her consternation when the cacophony of trucks begins every morning here at around 6 AM and just in the last few days she's stopped panicking when she hears it.  The first few weeks however she lived in a constant state of abject terror and often her tale could be seen sticking out from under our bed.  I really felt for her.  I had mentioned in an earlier post that the preponderance of horn honking here completely obliterated what I used to consider lots of horn honking in the states.

We heard today that all of the owners of the apartments in our building have decided to install a large net over the space between our building and the adjacent building to essentially build all of the frantically fornicating pigeons out which will be another noise abatement miracle for us all considering what is being paid for the various apartments here.

College starts again for the twins next Monday and they're preparing for it even as I write this post. 

To bypass some of the lack of customer service here I've taken to ordering things online using the Google translate program to understand how all of the ordering mechanisms work here which was tedious but in the end rewarding.

Last Friday evening Cassie took me to a small "genuine" Parisian restaurant called "Chez Geraud" that was TO DIE FOR.  The service, ambiance, food, presentation, and everything else was at least 4 steps above anything I've ever experienced in Lynchburg and for that matter just about anywhere else in the US.  Anthony Bourdain is correct and naming France as the ground zero wellspring of the culinary arts and last Friday night was a tutorial on how a meal should be done period.  Needless to say we'll back to Chez Geraud in the very near future and YES I can definitely get used to this.  Virginia?  Where is that?  Never heard of it.

Lastly, the simplicity (minus the French proclivity for generating a lot of paperwork) of our lives here is also quite refreshing and we've all gotten used to that and it's agreeing with everyone although the cats might still be on the fence about it.  Cassie had heard from other ex-patriots that simplifying their lives was a good thing and they were definitely right.

We're currently in a stretch of very cloudy and cool days but I'm sure that will give way to Spring sooner than later but what the heck.......it's Paris after and all days here are good ones for this old ex-pat.

Wish you were here with us........

Love to all everywhere....

Sid 

The Portrait Is Up

We're working eliminating the final piles of stuff laying around the apartment after our personal shipment arriving last Monday and when we moved Kian and Niall's portrait that was painted by our dear friend and amazing artist Jon Roark we decided to hang it after pulling one of the other paintings already in the apartment was taken off the wall.

So..........with this painting up it really IS beginning to feel like home around here.  We still tear up looking at it.  Thanks again Jon Roark for capturing our sons while they were still young.

Longer posts follow this one later this weekend.

Love to all everywhere.....

Sid

My Second Blog - But with Pictures this Time

It has been over another week since being in Paris and things have still been interesting. The rest of our stuff finally arrived a couple days ago and things in both our apartment and how we operate things in it have improved since then. One time during the week we actually went to the local McDonald's and I was shocked to see that most of the customers there were around I and Niall's age, and this made us believe that it was a popular spot for college students to hang out, eat, and converse with each other. Nowadays we still shop at then Inno (I think I spelled it right - it's the large mall that I couldn't remember the name of before) where we get most of our groceries, though we sometimes go to Casino to shop in the early hours of the weekdays. Now our friend Meagan Jones back in Virginia has been calling us through Skype instead of us trying to call her first (and we still communicate through email). We also had our first ride in the subway, and during the ride we saw the Eiffel Tower and crossed the Seine river. We even went to the American bookstore there which has a vast collection of books, and we're even thinking of working there if we ever find an opportunity. Once again, things in Paris are going well and I hope they continue to in the future.

By Kian Hagan

Here we are again.

Saturday (3/20/10), my brother and I took our first ride on the RER Metro rail system. And I must say, I liked it better than the typical metro. It was more comfortable and there was even a second floor in the rail cars.

While on the RER Metro, we all got to see more of the city once the train emerged from the tunnels into the town areas above it. We even got to cross the Seine River and get a nice view of the Eiffel Tower. It was quite a sight from where we were in my opinion.

Our destination was the American Library. It was one of the places I was most eager to check out. It is a library that has a whole score of American prints of books and even films from the U.S. Quite frankly, I liked the place the moment we set foot inside. It was nice and quiet, and the building itself was also quite a thing to see, both inside and out. Mom got us all membership at the library, while Kian and raided the shelves for something to read. The library's assortment of books (both fiction and non-fiction) was very expansive. I found there were 2 floors filled with them, and I am told that there is even a basement. There was also a video and DVD rack right next to the receptionist tables.

In our search, we were able to find 4 books to bring home, I believe. Before leaving the library's area however, our parents took a few pictures of Kian and me near the Eiffel Tower, which was very near to where the American Library is situated. I'll say it was an even nicer view of the said landmark than the one on the metro.

All in all, I'll tell you that I found very much enjoyment in the venture to the library. And another thing; we do intend to return in the near future, since there is more fun to be had from this, I believe...



On Tuesday (3/22/10) morning, our other materials from Lynchburg finally arrived at our apartment. We had to go through a lot of boxes to sort out all of our things; to see what belonged to whom and where to put it. It took some hours, but we got most of it sorted out. I can now say that our apartment looks and feels more like home.

That night, Kian and I went to our first cafe restaurant with our Mom and Dad. I will admit, we had an enjoyable time. The workers there are very nice people and the food was good as well. The place itself was nice and quiet, it was not even that busy, really. I liked the design of the place as well, it was kind of swanky in some details. I do expect return visits there (the name escapes me right now) as it is a nice spot for a relaxing dinner outing.

By Niall Hagan

Hail Hail And The New DVD Player

Mornin Pilgrims,

There was a hail storm here yesterday afternoon.  Interesting to watch it from 4 floors up after being on the ground floor for so many years.

Before we left the US I ordered an "all regions" DVD player from a company in Chicago that was owned by someone who sounded like they were from either India or the Middle East who assured me that I would love it and be glad that I purchased it.  Well, HE WAS RIGHT!  For the uninitiated ALL DVD players and televisions in the EU work using a PAL signal path whereas the DVD players and TVs in the US work using the NTSC signal path not to mention that EU electronics are all 220 volts as opposed to 110 for the US.  I'd never even unpacked the DVD player until our personal shipment arrived last Monday and Wednesday night I hooked it up to the 36 inch Sony LCD TV in our apartment and it worked flawlessly with the DVDs we had shipped from home.  Cassie and I watched "Raising Arizona" and were very pleased to be able to watch one of our favorite movies ever without having to replace all of them in a new format or wait for it to turn up on French TV overdubbed.

Ahh, the little things that make one feel right huh?  Still getting the twins ready for college to start.  I have to print some forms and have them sign them and then scan them and email them to Strayer University which is the online college they'll attend while here.  Hopefully it'll go better than our experience in Lynchburg at Central Virginia Community College which is a hostile environment for folks who exist within the Autism Spectrum.  So far everyone at Strayer has been very accommodating and for what they charge they should be.

It's another day heading to the store after lunch and perhaps me and my bride will have a date tonight somewhere in Paris.

For the time being, no more Saudi dance numbers on the TV.  Life is good indeed.......*

Love to all everywhere.....

Sid

Sunday Shopping And No Space Bar

Hi folks,

Just short note today. The space bar on my laptop went south last Saturday and naturally the Dell service center here in Paris wasn't open but I did place a call to their international service number and got someone from probably India named "Jeff" who took a work order for me and sent it along. "Claude" showed up today and switched my entire keypad out for no charge (I have a 3 year international service contract with Dell) and I'm back!

Sunday Cassie and I went shopping at a "covered" open air market near Passy (about a 10 minute walk from here) and it was REALLY GREAT! We took pictures which I'll endeavor to attach after I finish writing this. They had just about everything in there and we got some amazing produce and bread. Then went across the street and found a grocery store that was open on Sunday too and we're able to stock up on what we needed for the rest of the weekend.

While out this last weekend we saw a Maserati parked right in front of our aparment building and when going across the street from the covered outdoor market Sunday there was a Rolls Royce parked in front of the grocery store we went to. Add those to the Lamborghini Cassie saw on the sidewalk a couple of weeks ago and the partially cracked up Aston Martin I see regularly down the street I really do have a sense of living in a bourgeoisie neighborhood.

Our personal shipment arrived yesterday and that'll be the gist of my or Cassie's next blog entry.

Will leave you with pictures of the shopping expedition last Sunday that lastly included a mime in the street.

Love to all!

sid

Cable TV In Paris

OK, Cassie got cable TV for us here a little over a month ago with a company called "Numericable" and I must say it's been entertaining watching or at least pausing on some of the channels from Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Algeria, China, Germany, Poland, Al Jazeera, BBC, ZDF, France, and the list goes on and on.

Last night however on ALL of the Arabic channels was what looked like what could have been a Buzby Berkley song and dance extravaganza on a huge stage backed by a gigantic eagle with wings spread with over 100 or more Saudi or Arab men dressed in the ankle length robes they wear there with the head dresses and waving swords while lip syncing badly to whatever it was they were trying perform. I thought I'd seen it all on the tube until I saw this and for the life of me I have no idea what they were trying to get across to the audience. There were even flames coming up from the stage at varying intervals but that didn't seem synced to the music.

Right now on the concert channel there's a bald guy with strange tattoos singing somewhat classical songs in a soprano voice with a classical guitar accompanist. The concert channel is actually really cool and I've seen some really different acts there too like a British band called "Bat For Lashes" which was another musical downshift for me. I liked the band but for the life of me can't recall any of their music now even though it was quite arresting.

I gotta tell ya though, this bald guy singing classical songs with a huge vibrato is something else. I guess it's a good thing I don't take mind altering drugs any more.

Here's wishing all of you "regular" music listening for the future. I'll be here with the bald guy and the Saudis gettin down with their swords.

Love to all everywhere.....

sid

First Birthday In Paris Since 1976

Mornin Pilgrims,

34 years ago I was in Paris visiting my friends Chris Madison and Christine Holtzbauer in the 10th arrondissement and it happened to be my birthday. I don't recall all of the details of that day but I DO remember them taking me to dinner at a large family style (not sure if this is the appropriate description for this particular restaurant but it'll have to do today) restaurant which was very crowded and some of their friends also came with us (both Chris and Christine were in college here at the time at the Sorbonne and Science Po respectively). I think I had some kind of baked chicken and heart of the palm salad which was quite a revelation to me at the time never having had anything like that before. Wine was imbibed and good cheer and conversation was everywhere. When my friends sang Happy Birthday to me (I was 23 that day) a large group of Irish folks were at a table nearby and they joined in the singing. Shortly after one of them came over to me and handed me a small cardboard match box that was filled with real Irish shamrocks.
What a special birthday!

We continued drinking and celebrating and on the way home got lost somewhere near the Church of the Trinity and just barely made it onto one of the last Metro trains to our destination (Republique) in the 10th. I was single, poor, happy, and truly feeling the magic of Paris as only a young man can.
To say that my visits there (I was there almost every other weekend for almost 3 years) changed me is an understatement.

To be back here with my family (I never dreamed I'd ever come back) is a dream come true and last year I actually reconnected with my old friends Chris and Christine who how have a daughter named Melody. More on them in another blog entry later.

Today I'll spend the day with my sons Kian and Niall (Cassie is in Geneva today) and we'll have an incredibly pleasant day together and go out to dinner somewhere this evening, maybe Brasserie 16 although I'd like to take them there for the first time with Cassie so we can get a photo of us all there.

I'm a happy man indeed and so fortunate to be here with my family.

Life truly IS good and I have the best friends and family a person could ever want.

A bientot

sid

Viola!

The money is here! As my wacko sister would say, "F**&^n Saints Be Praised"

Je taime!

s

Show Me The Money

Welcome to the wild and wacky world of wire transfers which is essentially like inputting data into a computer or searching for something using a search engine but maybe having misspelled one of the words.

When I started working on the wire transfer of funds from our bank in Lynchburg to our bank here in Paris it's become apparent that I failed to be specific enough about what we wanted deducted out of Cassie's check and what we wanted "left" in the account which again was my fault, not that bank's. I had wired some money to Cassie in the previous months but with everything else I had happening I never checked to see how long the wire transfer took although we found out how dollars translate into euros which was quite a revelation.

There are also vagaries within various data systems that don't post deposits or transfers in a timely or "real time" fashion. Then add in the time difference and you have what my colleagues in the Army used to refer to as a GRF (Giant Rat F*&%) which is what happened yesterday which was the first day of the "automatic" fund transfer. When I checked our account online in the US yesterday evening (noon there) our checking account was zeroed out completely. Since we'd programmed some payments to be drafted out of the account you can imagine the panic I felt but naturally I was unable to immediate reach our banker there and an astronomical amount of money had be wired to our bank account here but checking that account it showed we had (and still have) 13 euros which won't buy much here in the 16th arrondissement. Cassie is in Geneva today and even though it's 10 am I might consider doing what our pals Tray and Joanne Eppes call "day drinking".

I was concerned our bank had made the error but it was me who made the error by not being more specific. Lesson learned. Gee I hope our money shows up somewhere. Perhaps Angela would take us in if we need food.

Love to all......*

sid

Kian Hagan's First Post

It has been over a week since my family and I arrived in Paris, and things have already been interesting. When we first got here, Mom got us an amazing apartment that has still been doing well for us. For breakfast I have been having croissants (special baked bread in Europe) right now instead of the usual waffles I've had back in America. We started shopping at a store known as "Casino" when we first got settled in, but it got too crowded too often, so we searched more of the city until we found a big mall (I forgot the name of it though) and had all of the things we needed (and still does now). Though we've had some problems with the program in the beginning, we've now been using Skype (a new communication program on our computers) in addition to emails to communicate with our friends back home in Virginia (especially with Meagan and her family). We're still waiting for the rest of our stuff to arrive so we can try out more of what we want here. Everything has been very good and interesting so far and right now the only thing I have not like has been the cold temperatures that have been around at this time of the year, other than that, things have turned out pretty much alright.

By Kian Hagan

Niall's First Post

Well we have been in Paris, France almost a week and a half (since 3/3/10) and I must say, we are adapting alright at this point.

The flight over the Atlantic went well in my opinion, but it is not something I would like to do as often as Mom.

When we first arrived, we were so out of our typical time schedule. i don't think I was ever so tired in my whole life. After we came to our apartment by means of a taxi, the first thing I did after setting down my things was hop right into bed and I fell asleep less than a minute later (Mom, Dad, and Kian would follow). Later, we just settled down into our French area and relaxed a couple days, though Mom and Dad did do a few shopping ventures (without me or my brother at first). The apartment itself is quite a comfortable setting; quite suitable for our purposes, really.

A few days into our stay, Mom and Dad started taking Kian and I on walks through our part of the city: To shops, street corners, and the like; so that way we could get a sense of our district. The streets themselves were and are an interesting sight, as some of the buildings came off to me as looking much older while others looked more recent. During said excursions, the both of us aided our parents in their grocery related ventures. Quite frankly, the main difference of grocery shopping in France compared with the US, in my view is the selection of goods available. Particularly in how the stores here do not have products that the US have, and vice versa even

A short time later, Dad introduced the both of us to the Skype program. It is with this we are now able to maintain great contact with our pals back in the US. Kian and I are using this with our friend Megan Jones, back in Lynchburg, and we will use this with our other friend, Jonathan Nichols (hopefully). Other than that, we also make contact via emailing. Chatting with our friends in the States is always a pleasure.

Our other supplies from Lynchburg should arrive soon, and I expect our stay will become even better. In the meantime though, we will soon be exploring more of the town.

By Niall Hagan

2nd Sunday At Rue Nic

Afternoon folks.  It's lunchtime here and leftovers from last night's pizza extravaganza have already been scarfed and the twins are making sandwiches as I write this.  Laundry is being done, some cleaning was accomplished, everyone slept in and Sylvain Luc is on the stereo. 

Yesterday was a busy day that included grocery shopping at the Inno (BIG grocery store by Parisian standards) in the Passy market area, a trip to the boulangerie for crescents and baguettes.  Back home to drop off groceries and twins, then back out to shop with Cassie for some new clothes to take with her to London and Geneva tomorrow and then off to "Le Emperor" for drinks with friends. 

Sometime either this week or early next week the cartage company here will deliver our personal air shipment.  I'm a bit afraid to see how my guitars fared and everything else that is even partially breakable.  When all of that arrives it'll be a busy time here for sure.

Tomorrow's project is to order Kian and Niall's books for their inaugural first quarter with Strayer University which begins April 4th.  Just think of it, going to college completely online.  That was unheard of when I went to school so many years ago not to mention a program called Skype which  is a FREE video phone algorithm that enables us to see and talk with friends wherever they are in real time which is AMAZING.  The 21st Century indeed.  Tomorrow we'll also see if the first of our wire transfers from our home bank in Lynchburg will automatically kick in for the first time.

Work on our house in Lynchburg by our friend and compadre Paul Alcock is coming along nicely and our Realtor Betty Burch tells me the house will finally be officially in the multiple listings next Friday which is only 4 days from now.  Betty seems to think our house is going to show really well and since we purchased it 2001 we certainly improved it so we'll be curious what shakes out as far as selling it goes.

Our bank checks arrived and I'll have to get up with Veronique this week to settle the schedule for paying Angela and going online to pay the French Social Security system.  Also, I've never written a French check before.  Should be a fun week.  I'm attaching a picture of the E'toile which was in sight of the little cafe we had drinks with Denise and Judy yesterday.  It was over cast but it still blows me away that we're actually here.

Love to all everywhere.......

A bientot, (I've been misspelling it) 

sid

Angela At Last...............

Our building's "Guardian" is a Columbian lady named Angela who by virtue of that also comes to clean twice a week too which is an odd feeling for me as Kian and Niall and I always kept the house clean in the past but that was in Lynchburg and now we're in Paris so like the absence of the car I suspect I'll pine for the vacuum cleaner and all of our trusty cleaning supplies.

I've heard of "Texas Tornadoes" but had never witnessed a "Columbian Tornado" before Angela came today at 1 PM (not 2 like I thought) and Kian, Niall, and I, tried mightily to communicate with Angela (double whammy of both French and Spanish) but to really no avail and she brusquely shooed us away from the various rooms we were in and the cats both fled when she turned the vacuum on (a Miele) and within a couple of hours the apartment was shinier than a dime in a goat's ass (an old saying from my First Sergeant in Germany that's stuck with me through the years).  Then came the moment where I'd try to explain that we have no checks yet as the bank never sent them to us but which are now on the way.  She probably thought that the crazy American was telling her that she'd get bupkus for cleaning our place so I need to call our French savior Veronique Perrot to save the day tomorrow.  Hopefully she can help me meet with Angela so we can iron out when we can pay her and exactly what her cleaning hours are so we won't miss each other and she won't be giving me the evil eye as only Columbians can do.

I'm cooking hamburgers for me and the guys tonight as Cassie has "another" business dinner.  I went  looking for ground beef in the Casino grocery store here today along with spices and sauces (I used to use Worcester Sauce) but did find Catchup, hamburger cheese, and something called Arome Saveur which has pictures of poultry, beef, and fish on it that I'm taking a chance on tonight.

More on the outcome tomorrow.

Cassie heads to Geneva to a major conference Monday but since our personal shipment hasn't arrived yet, she has to go shopping for a new dress and shoes.  Everything else was packed into the shipment that won't be here until another week passes.  Golly gee whiz and there's no place to shop around here.....*  Actually there are a SHIT LOAD of shops, pedestrian malls, you name it around just our neighborhood.  There were other things planned this weekend but we canceled them to get her ready for her debut in Geneva.

Everyone is fine and again especially fine due to the cleaning our  apartment got today.  I hope she doesn't think we're too funky.  But then again, when Veronique came by yesterday she inadvertently rang our neighbor's phone thinking it was ours and when she told him (we haven't met him yet) who she was and why she was here he pumped her for information on the "Americans" next door.  He's evidently seen the twins who he thinks are handsome and perhaps Angela told him that they're Autistic, not sure, but Veronique asked him how it was for him having us as neighbors and he told her that we were so quiet that he wasn't sure if we were actually here.  She told him of course that we were quite nice even as Americans went or something to that effect........*  What a hoot it is living here amidst the "Gross Bourgeoisie".  If they only knew.......*

More tomorrow pilgrims.......*

Time to whip up some bourgeoisie burgers.  How's that for a restaurant name??????

Love to all everywhere.....

A biento,

sid

Angela.......*

Hmmmmmm...........*  It's almost 2 PM and she's not here yet.....*

Voice Messages

There are voice messages on our home phone but I have no idea how to retrieve them.  I tried for over an hour this morning and nothing........*  Got the box down from the shelf and there are instructions in French, German, and Turkish.........*  Hope none of them are important.  I've got nothin........*

The guys are showering and then me before Angela, our building's "Gaurdian" comes to clean for 2 hours today.  I think shes coming at 12:00 but I could be wrong.  She's from Spain and does speak French but my attempt to have a conversation with her yesterday was something out of the "who's on first, no who's on second" realm but after a comical back and forth with gestures I DID find out that she was coming today.  Initially I was a little ambivalent about the apartment manager cleaning in my apartment but evidently all of them here do some of that.  I've always been the housekeeper of late and having someone else do that is going to be different like so many other things here.  We also have to get online with the French Social Security website and make sure that we pay into that for Angela's benefits whatever those are.  I'm sure we'll be experts in all of this before we leave here.

Denise Woernle is here today from Lynchburg and we're having dinner with her tonight.  That'll be fun and we'll be able to catch up a bit with her.

We have another store run to make today (really at least one every day here) and tomorrow I go to try and get a cell phone......*  The main provider in our neighborhood is called "Orange".  Also, it's IN to wear your mobile phone around your neck with a specific necklace thing that everyone has.  Perhaps I'll get one although I've never been much on fashion accessories. 

Lastly, there was a cacophony of horn honking outside in the street starting VERY early this morning.  I think a truck was parked outside and since the street is very narrow (almost all of them are here) there were evidently an extremely pissed off bunch of drivers down there that had no sense that it was 6AM AND ALL OF US WERE STILL SLEEPING...........................................................................................*
We.............DO..............love................this..................place.................*

This morning brought back memories of my old First Sergeant of my unit in Germany who would walk into everyone's dorm rooms at 5 am and blow a whistle every morning.  Needless to say everyone got up when that happened.

Love to all there and everywhere........*

sid

Truckin..........*

Evenin pilgrims,

I suspect Kian and Niall and I have probably walked at least 15 to 20 miles since arriving here last Wednesday or at least it seems that way.  We walk everywhere now and the memory of owning a car is fading fast.  When going to the grocery store (we discovered a BIG grocery store in Passy this afternoon!) we always have our trusty pull cart Cassie purchased several weeks ago when she moved into the apartment so we are now just another small bunch of Parisians on the street.

There is dogshit everywhere even though there's an ordinance for folks to clean it up and like Cassie I'm finding some pretty exotic cars (a jet black Aston Martin the last couple of days) right on the street outside our apartment. 

We're meeting some very nice French folks who are pleased we're endeavoring to speak French even if we mangle it a bit when trying.  To a person they're always patient in correcting us like the waiter Pascal at our favorite watering hole Brasserie 16 (pronounced "se-zem") who was really pleased the first time we were there last Thursday when we ordered from the French menu.  We went again this last Saturday to meet the Veronique Perrot from the relo company to ask some questions and the owner told her and us that because the 16th arrondissement which is our new neighborhood is so far removed from normal tourist areas there are seldom ANY Americans there so he too was VERY pleased that there are Americans who want to hang out in HIS place and made us feel VERY welcome indeed.  The food here is extraordinary and even Kian and Niall are eating things regularly that they would have NEVER eaten in the US.

I'm adjusting to being here again and it's agreeing with me.  We all are and I'm hearing from friends back in Lynchburg that they're all betting that we never come back.  We will come back eventually but with "eventually" being the key word here. 

Cassie is here working late drinking some red wine from Aux en Provence and I'm having another 1664 bier from Strasbourg and all is well.

More tomorrow when we go to find..........cat litter.........*  Mon Dieu!

A biento,

1. sid

We came. We saw. We’re tired.

By Cass

The Hagans descended upon Paris Wednesday morning, having landed safe and sound in the pre-dawn hours. The entire trip was truly as perfect as it possibly could have been – I never even dared hope for such a stress-free, nea, pleasant journey with two first-time flyer sons and cats. However, it didn’t start out as promising.

Despite being tackled and pilled by three adults on Tuesday morning, our younger cat Gracie HOWLED the ENTIRE drive from Lynchburg to Dulles. She has a ferocious heart, even when stoned. It appeared we’d have to put her in the cargo hold, but there wasn't a peep during the flight.

From the Hertz attendant who insisted on driving us to the terminal himself so we wouldn't have to unload and schlep 6 pieces of luggage plus 2 cat carriers and 4 carry-ons...to the TSA staff who shepherded us – cats in our arms – through the brand new security area at Dulles...to the Air France crew who fairly adopted us – as well as Sid's Turkish seatmate who adopted the cats...and the driver who met our traveling circus at the airport...everything went without a hitch. Kian and Niall did just fine on the flight and even tried some new food, finding that mango and steak aren't so bad after all. They’re beginning to bloom already!

After an initial grocery run and morning nap, all were well. Sid and I enjoyed dinner at the neighborhood brasserie, and we brought Subway sandwiches home for the guys.

After an exhausting week and a half of packing, purging and getting the house ready for sale, it was a far more successful transport than expected. I went back to work on Thursday, anxious to get back on track and into a routine. But, after living and working for so long by myself in Paris, it was far from my routine to return home that first day to a home full of family, flowers, and food on the table. Sid did a great job taking the guys to the store for their first trip, fumbling with new grocery products and an unfamiliar kitchen set-up.

We met my good friend Sabine for dinner at her home Friday night, staying out past 1 a.m. And Saturday brought a deliciously late morning for us all, the guys not waking until after 10 a.m. My “Bloom Where You’re Planted” book explains that one of the symptoms of culture shock is a need for excessive sleep. What a relief. I thought I was just getting old.

Saturday In Paris

Mornin' folks.

We ended what was a tumultuous week last night at Cassie's (and now mine) friend Sabine Gross's home with champagne (which I NEVER drink), sushi, snacks, red wine (also something I seldom drink), lots of conversation, history, work, heritage.....and finally a digestif, which was a liquor distilled from prunes and made in Normandy.  Needless to say everyone was buzzed (at least I was....) and a large time was had by all.  I'd been hearing about Sabine for a long long time and had actually spoken with her on the phone before.  Her apartment was a typical Parisian place, small but warm and cozy with great world music (Sabine is a HUGE music fan) and tons of cool-looking books.

Sabine is actually a German from Stuttgart, but has lived in France for many years.  She has no idea what kind of crew she's tied in with.  She's the latest member of our posse.

I must say that we're settling in here (me and the twins) and I cooked dinner for us all Thursday evening after our first major food expedition to the grocery store (Casino) which was a real eye opener but we got through it and I head over there this morning for a few items now.  Cassie and the twins are still sleeping.
More on all of this later.

Love to all!

sid

Home At Last

Hello everyone,

We arrived in Paris at 5:50 am local time this morning after what started as a very long day that was also emotionally trying as we had to say goodbye to our neighbors and dear friends Betty, Alfred, and Paul Alcock but before that.......we had to pill Gracie Mae and Nelliebelle and put them into their soft Kitty Carriers (by Sherpa, very very chic...) for the trans Atlantic flight from Dulles to Paris.  Nelliebelle was easy but Gracie Mae...............let's just say that it took me, Paul, and Cassie to chase her down, grab her, wrap her up in towel (papoose) and almost 6 tries until we were able to get the kitty tranquilizer down her throat (full dose!) and then left her in closed up in our family room for 30 minutes so the drugs would kick in before trying to get her into the Carrier (another 10 minute ordeal with me and Paul).  Nellie naturally was easy to get into the carrier but pretty unhappy about it.

Gracie yelled all the way to Dulles (about 3 hours) to the point we were going to put her in the cargo hold of the plane but the Air France Agent told us that she would have needed to be in a hard case instead of the soft one so we would end up carrying both cats on to the plane.  I'm getting ahead of myself here.  After arriving at Dulles, things finally started to go right.  Hertz assigned us a driver to the Toyota Sienna we'd been driving to drop us off at the terminal so we didn't have to drag all of our bags onto the shuttle (a miracle!) and as soon as we unloaded our bags and the cats, Gracie fell quiet!

We checked in and THEN had to go through security...........with the TSA...........and we had to get the cats out of their bags..........with hundreds of people behind us............without our shoes on..........it was quite a circus but the cats were so stoned (THANK YOU GENEVIEVE NEALE!) and the TSA guy was so nice that it went smoothly (another miracle!).

Then it was up several long escalators (Kian hates these) and onto the concourse where we'd board the Boeing 777 (BIG PLANE) for the flight to Paris.  We had about 45 minutes to kill and hung out in the Business Class Lounge (sweet) and boarded from there. 

The Air France folks (ALL OF THEM) were superb and once we boarded the plane the flight attendants cooed over the cats, twins, and our entire family.  Kian and Niall had never flown before so this was also a watershed event for them (as soon as we boarded we gave them each small doses of Valium) but after we arrived both told me that they really didn't feel any different after taking the pills.  I still suspect that the Valium took the edge off.

Anyway, the plane got ready for takeoff and the flight attendants strapped the cats into their own seats and then brought them back to us after we were in the air.  The guys did great and even slept for a while on the plane after supper (steak, potatoes, green beans which they snarfed).  I sat next to a really nice lady who is originally from Turkey who just adored the cats and who is starting a jewelry business in Paris. We chatted about lots of stuff and I introduced her to Cassie and we exchanged business cards.  The flight was pretty uneventful and after close to 8 hours we arrived in Paris at Charles De Gaul airport where NOBODY wanted to see any of the paperwork on the cats nor did anyone wand the cats to check their bar codes Genevieve went to such great lengths to do for us.  Go figure.....*

Cassie's colleague Frank Freudiger had already arranged for a driver to pick us up at the airport.  The driver spoke little or no English and was listening to what sounded like one of those wacky morning shows we used to hear in the US with horns honking and they played euro-pop music and hip hop so we had that for the final drive from the airport to our neighborhood at around 7 AM and everything was REAL QUIET but the apartment is magnifique!  Kian and Niall immediately wanted to rest although Kian set up his computer first followed by Niall after a short nap.  Gracie climbed into Niall's bed and Nellie made the rounds until she calmed down.  Everyone settled in and after some emailing and other calls Cassie and I napped for a while.  It's going to take Gracie a while to recover from this.  Nellie has eaten but not Gracie although I suspect she will while everyone sleeps tonight.

Cassie took me to dinner tonight at Brasserie 16 which is about 3 blocks (big Parisian blocks) from our apartment and we had a KICK ASS dinner including desert which featured corrections on our French by our waiter who was very gracious and pleased we ordered from the French menu as opposed to their English one.  I suspect this will be one of our haunts here in the 16th.  On the way back we picked up 12 inch Subway (yes, THAT Subway....) subs for the twins who were well pleased with the early taste of home.  It's 8:40 here now and we're in for the evening.  I'm going to stay up as late as I can and so will the twins and we'll begin exploring the hood tomorrow.  So ends one of the most momentous days in the history of our family.

And after all these wonderful and amazing things..........pigeons are screwing on the ledges of our back windows.  I can hear them now.  Gotta get a couple of large rubber snakes and the Great Horned Owl that Tray gave us before we left.

Love to all everywhere!

Sid

Goodbyes Last Night At Traveler's

Damn what a great party!  And almost everyone that is near and dear to us was there!  Kristen and her crew at Travelers were awesome and the food and drink and good vibes left everyone not wanting to leave.

The packers come very soon this morning and our dear friends Dana and Sharon Horton are here from Poquoson to assist us so everything is right on time.

Gotta go for now.  It's "wheels up" tomorrow evening and my next post will be from Rue Nic!

Love to all!

Sid