'Tis the Season for Marche de Noels

The first weekend of December I had my first experience at a European Christmas market, and I am already an addict!  After two weeks of moving pains, we took a little break and enjoyed a quick weekend getaway to the city of  Bordeaux.  Actually, we planned the trip weeks ago, and it just so happened to fall right when the majority of our moving tasks were wrapping up.  We only had a couple of days, so despite the fact that Bordeaux is famous throughout the world as a wine destination, we skipped wine country entirely in favor of a chance to see some of the city sights and of course, for the Christmas Market, or as they are known throughout France, "Marche de Noel".

Christmas Trees at the Marche de Noel

We arrived in Bordeaux on Friday night with just enough time to settle in to the hotel, walk the dogs (they were invited on this trip), and catch the tram to dinner.  We had reserved a table at La Tupina, a warming, cozy, "institution" of a restaurant, specializing in French comfort food - a perfect choice for a chilly (below freezing) evening.  We happened to be seated next to another American couple, and after 15 minutes of eavesdropping and enviously eyeing each others foods, we gave in and all but pushed the two tables together for the remainder of the meal.  One of my favorite parts of traveling is meeting new people and hearing their stories about how they got to be where they are.  So while some people might think our dinner date was interrupted, I had a fantastic time listening to this couples family stories, impressions of France, and general philosophies on life.  After dinner I drug Kerry through the freezing cold to a jazz bar, Le Comptoir du Jazz, where we listed to some live music, did a little dancing, and had a middle aged man tell me I looked like famous "princess locked in a castle" in France.  I'm not positive and I haven't seen the movie, but I think he might have been talking about the movie Brave, which really made me want to go brush my hair.

Le Comptoir du Jazz

Saturday was our day for sight-seeing and Christmas fun at the market.  The market wouldn't get moving until around 10:00, so we spent the morning wandering around the heart of the city, called the Triangle D'Or, taking in the Esplanade des Quinconces, Grand Theatre, and peaking at Rue St. Catherine, the longest pedestrianized street in Europe (shopping!).  Our eventual destination was Cafe Dijeaux for breakfast, coffee, and what is supposed to be the best hot chocolate in Bordeaux.  While the hot cocoa was certainly delicious, it was the waffles that I couldn't get enough of.  They were easily the best waffles I have ever had!  Us Americans dump sugary syrup all over our waffles, which is yummy, but in France, waffles come with whipped cream and some sort of sauce, we chose raspberry jam.  After having waffles like this, I am a convert, I will never go back to syrup again!

By the time breakfast wrapped up, the market was in full swing, so we bundled up and headed to the Allees de Tourny.  Over 100 vendors set up with everything from handmade jewelry and toys, to hot food and drinks, live Christmas trees, carnival games for children, and of course, Santa!  It took us over two hours just to walk around and see everything.  The entire market is outside, and temperatures during the day were in the low 40's, so even with our warmest coats and scarves, it didn't take long at all before we were searching for a hot beverage to keep our fingers from freezing.  We thought we would find ourselves a hot tea or more hot chocolate, but it turns out the French have another piping hot beverage they are quite fond of: "vin chaud" - hot wine!  We had to try some!

Hot spiced wine

They heat up wine in big vats and steam it with spices and fruits, the smell alone is intoxicatingly delicious.  I do think most of the alcohol burns out during cooking, which is a good thing, because we kept going back for more and more.  After a couple hours of browsing the merchandise, we stopped for a quick snack at a booth selling one of Bordeaux's specialties: oysters.  I have never actually enjoyed oysters before, but Bordeaux is very proud of their oysters and consider them a classical part of the Bordeaux experience, so ya know, when in Rome... But it turns out, we have been doing it wrong in Texas - not crackers, French bread and butter!  They were really yummy!  I enjoyed them so much I went back for more at dinner.  However, oysters are served very cold.  Which meant that by the time we finished our plate, we were ready to head inside and warm up for a bit.

Oysters and Champagne

Our next stop was an innovative wine tasting room called Max Bordeaux.  The genius of the place is that all of the wine is served from a vending machine in one, two, or three ounce pours.  You purchase a card at the desk, then stick it into the machine, press a button, and out comes wine!  Each tasting is priced relative to the cost of the bottle.  This means that while you can try plenty of affordable wines for just a couple euros each, you also have the opportunity to sample very expensive wines, up to 650 euros bottles, for only 25 euros.  It's still expensive for such a small amount of wine, but where else do you have the chance to try just one ounce of a really nice bottle of wine?  So if you have ever wanted to taste the difference between a 10 euro bottle of wine and a 650 euro bottle of wine, Max Bordeaux is the place to go!  Our personal opinions though?  We couldn't tell a difference.  Blame it on our "unrefined palettes" I guess.

Max Bordeaux

The remainder of the day was spent much like the morning.  We returned to the Christmas market to make our purchases and fill up on vin chaud.  We also walked the dogs to the river to see the Pont de Pierre and the Place de la Bourse with it's Miroir d'Eau (water mirror), which I was very bummed to find was turned off for the day.  Kerry then pointed out that, yes of course it is off, you cannot have fountains running in below freezing weather.  Oh well, we'll catch it next time!  We had been snacking most of the day at the market, so we more or less skipped dinner, but did we stop in for appetizers at Le Bar du Boucher, a popular meat restaurant where you can go up to the meat counter, select the exact piece you want and tell them how you want it cooked.  But in France, you will find much more than cows on the menu, so it's best to study up a bit on your french animal vocabulary if you ever make it to this part of the world.  Before the night was over though, there was one last sight I wanted to see: La Porte Cailhau.  You will find arches built into great stone walls in cities all throughout France.  They are almost always remains of defense walls built up hundreds of years ago surrounding the entire city, with the arches being the only entrances to the city, thus the arches are often termed "gateways" or the french word for door, "porte."  This particular one is no different really, except it is perhaps a little fancier than most others, and I thought it looked really pretty lit up at night.  So we made a pit stop on our way back to the hotel.

La Porte Cailhou

It seems that almost every city in France, if not in Europe, sets up outdoor Christmas markets very similar to the one we visited in Bordeaux, which is a good thing, because I think I will never tire of them!  This one is not particularly famous, but it is one of the larger ones in France.  I found it a perfect way to kick off the Christmas season, and as much as I hate cold weather, it really does make it feel more like Christmas.  Montpellier has a Marche de Noel also, and I think we will be frequent visitors over the next week.  We need to get our fill of vin chaud while we still can!  

           
The full set of Bordeaux pictures can be found here:
Bordeaux - December 2012

   

Giving Thanks For A New Address

I realize Thanksgiving was two weeks ago, and I'm way behind on a turkey day post, but I figured better late than never.  Plus, I have some really good excuses, I promise!

The last two weeks for us have been jam packed with moving and all of the fun that comes along with it.  I have tried very hard so far not to have a blog full of complaints, which is why often I write nothing at all, but this time I cannot avoid it.  Two weeks ago, I think Kerry and I went through the hardest week we have ever had together, and, not to be dramatic, but perhaps one of the worst of my entire life.  Now you expect me to drop some horrible news bomb of a dramatic event that occurred, well no.  Just moving hassles.  But every single day, many times each day, we were surprised with new struggles and disappointments.  When every effort you make over a number of days fails, over and over and over, and you cannot even manage the very basics of life (like a hot shower), it really starts to take a toll on you, mentally and physically.  What started off as an exciting and promising week, very quickly turned into a living nightmare.  

The week of Thanksgiving, we were due to receive the keys to our new apartment Monday afternoon.  Based on this, we scheduled movers to deliver our things on Wednesday and check-out of our hotel on Thursday (Thanksgiving Day).  We arrived at the apartment on Monday to discover there was an issue with the contract, and they would not give us the keys.  In addition, we were allowed in the apartment for a check in inventory and we find that the heaters, which barely worked, had not been replaced as promised.  We have had lows in the upper 30s almost every night the last two weeks, so this is a big deal!  They had not even attempted to schedule an appointment to have the heaters replaced.  Pretty much everything over the next week went about as well as this.  To make a long story short, in one week we dealt with: delays in receiving keys, one week with broken heaters, two days with no hot water, bank cards failing at ikea for no apparent reason (on two separate days), incorrect instructions and a missing key to our storage cellar, broken toilet, movers that broke our television and a vase from our wedding, unpacking 125/130 boxes before finding scissors (sometimes its the little things), three light bulbs burning out, a blown up power supply on our desktop computer (this one is actually our fault), a repairman that shows up one hour late, twice, and a brand new, expensive, cell phone that can only catch a signal about 3% of the time.  Maybe it doesn't sound that bad, but for us, it was awful.  While dealing with all of this, we are still faced with all the basic tasks of moving: back and forth on the tram from our hotel to our apartment to get everything out in time, we lost a day since we didn't get keys on time, rushing to the appliance store to pick out a washing machine, fridge, and microwave, so we can at least have clean clothes and food other than Pringles, unpacking boxes until our fingers are bleeding, assembling 8 boxes of Ikea furniture, and Kerry still had to go to work every day!  So, like I said, it's been a struggle.  

Ok now that thats out of the way, I'll get to the good stuff!  In the midst of all this moving mess, we were fortunate enough to have been invited to two Thanksgiving celebrations.  First, we attended the American Women's Association's Thanksgiving Dinner the Sunday before Thanksgiving with another Schlumberger family.  We met lots of new people, ate all the traditional American Thanksgiving foods, and had a great time enjoying some English conversation.  I don't get a whole lot of that these days so it's really a treat for me!  I did a poor job photographing the event though, must have been too busy talking!

Our second Thanksgiving was a smaller celebration at a friends house.  This was the Friday after Thanksgiving, which means it was right in the middle of our moving nightmares, and therefore a wonderful and very much needed break from all the headaches we had been dealing with.  We were both exhausted by the time Friday night came around, so it was nice to relax with some friends and meet a few new people, although I imagine we didn't make the greatest first impression, we were lucky not to fall asleep in our pecan pies.  Thank goodness for after dinner espressos!        

The spread:

Kerry with one of our gracious hosts:

And one snapshot of us:

During dinner, in traditional Thanksgiving fashion, we each took turns saying what we are thankful for this year.  It was a nice reminder for us that, even though we have faced many trials during this relocation process (many more than most people) we are still very fortunate to have this opportunity, and we are lucky to have each other to lean on when things get tough.  I am also especially thankful that since we have been here, neither dog has come down with any medical concerns, because I am completely unprepared for a French vet visit.  And last but not least, despite all the troubles that have come with it, we are both very happy with, and thankful for, our new apartment!  For the next few years home for us will be:

2bis rue Chamayou

34090 Montpellier, France

We have a lot of work to do to get the place fixed up, but we are thrilled to finally have a place to call our own!

  

          

Excess Baggage : Max and Min Go To France!

We have been in France for about 2 months now. And I think finally, after this much time, I have recovered enough from the experience of moving two dogs overseas that I can write about it. It was that bad. So that's what this post is about, everything we went through, all four of us, to get our pups from the states to our new home in France.

All packed up and ready to go!

Lets start with the prework, all the paperwork required to get pets into the European Union. I spent days, literally, researching the requirements for this. There is not a single website anywhere in the whole of the Internet, I am convinced, that plainly states what you need to do and how. It's unbelievable really. I could tell we needed microchips, followed by rabies vaccines (in that order), and some sort of health certificate (in actuality, you need two, which I found out 7 days before we left), but it was very unclear which certificate to use and who needed to fill it out. I should also mention that all these forms are in French, which doesn't help the situation. I also knew that once the certificate was signed, it would only be valid for entry into the E.U. for 10 days (including weekends and holidays), and that at some point, it needed to be signed and stamped by a special vet in Austin. So as our moving day approached, I realized I could not ignore this mound of confusion any longer and I ended up calling the vet in Austin to get clearer instructions. I should have started with this, it would have saved me hours online. The regulations for this change frequently, and they are guaranteed to know the latest info. This is when I found out there were actually two forms I needed to have filled out, and that they needed to be done by a USDA approved vet. I already knew that our vet was qualified, so I called to beg for a last minute appointment. Turns out, even though she CAN fill out the paperwork, she doesn't like to (too much responsibility), so she said no. At this point we have 7 days to get the papers completed and back in our hands, and now we have to find a new vet to take care of the papers for us. This is in addition to the million other things we were struggling to take care of before we left! We ended up at PetSmart, where we had to pay $200 to get these silly papers taken care of. Then first thing the next day, we overnighted them to Austin and prayed they would make it back in time.

We left for France on Tuesday, and received the papers on Monday. Barely made it! Now comes the actual flight. We knew Max was too big to fly in the cabin with us for the actual plane ride, and that left us no choice but to fly them in the baggage compartment. Fortunately, AirFrance will allow two small dogs to ride together in the same crate as long as they do not exceed a certain weight limit. So I had a tiny bit of comfort at least knowing they would be together the entire time. We checked ourselves in at the airline ticket counter good and early, dogs require a minimum of two hours prior to departure, and made sure everything was all set to go. We chose to fly out on September 11th, and everyone thought we were crazy. I did too a little. But I'm so so so glad we chose that day. The airport was empty! Really, I have never seen it like that before. But for us it was great, we could take our time checking in, ask lots of questions, and not feel rushed at all. And I was less concerned that my dogs would be forgotten about or overlooked in the hectic mess that usually plagues airports. It was a huge comfort to me. But then came the hard part: saying goodbye. Everyone that helped us was extremely nice and reassuring, they do this all the time! But I still cried, for a good 15 minutes I think. We brought them to the "oversized luggage" area, the same place you would bring large musical instruments or sports equipment and other odd things you can't stuff in you suitcase. TSA checked them out, then placed the crate on a conveyor belt and we just stood there while they disappeared into the unknown. In reality, they went just right beyond the curtain into a holding area until it was time to board the plane. But I could not see the space or see them, I did not like it at all.

Fast forward about 12 hours, and it's touchdown in Paris! The only thing on my mind is finding my dogs. They are both old, and not all dogs can handle the stresses of such a long flight, although most can, without any problems. But I was still very nervous. We finally make our way to the baggage area, after what seemed like a hundred delays, and I can't believe what I find. Had I not already been so exhausted and stressed out, I would have been furious. Since we had a few delays in getting from the plane to the baggage, the luggage beat us there was already set out waiting to be picked up. And that includes the crate with Max and Min!! There they are, sitting in their crate in the middle of the airport, confused and scared, and very much all alone. There is not a single airport employee around. Anyone could have snatched up the crate and walked off with them. That's what we did. Anyone could have also opened the door to the crate, and they would have been off, free reign of Charles de Gaulle! I couldn't believe it. And all that paperwork we stressed over for days and paid hundreds of dollars for? Didn't need one bit of it. I carried around 3 copies of every paper I could find on them, all for nothing. We literally picked up the crate and walked off, just like a regular suitcase. Except there were live animals in it. The dogs were fine, they managed the flight ok as far as I could tell, but we were all tired and uncomfortable. However, if tired and uncomfortable were the biggest complaints we had, then I think it was a big success!

At this point, seasoned expats would probably have hopped in a cab to the nearest hotel and gotten some sleep. Instead, we decided to take a four hour train ride from Paris to Montpellier. While I was very happy to have my dogs back in my arms, they do have a way of making everything more difficult. And since I had two dogs to handle, this means Kerry got stuck with all of the luggage. We searched for a spot for them to potty, which was pointless because they had both wetted the crate. I felt bad about that, but I felt much worse about the fact that I still could not feed them. But since we still had hours to go and we would all be stuck on a train for a while with no possibility of relief, I could not give them anything. Looking back, I see this as a huge oversight in our planning, and another very good reason to have stayed in Paris for the night. I felt horrible. They took it like champs though, and after 45 minutes of squirming to get comfortable, they slept most of the train ride. By law, dogs must be muzzled during train rides, at least in France, but this was not enforced one bit. Ours never needed their muzzles, and we saw plenty other dogs without muzzles as well. We have been told that "some laws are meant to be broken," I suppose this is one of them. As a side note, it's also a law that you must clean up after your dog if he uses the sidewalk as a toilet, and I have never seen anyone (except for us) bother to do this.

Prior to our journey aboard, I had read many articles on flying pets overseas, and almost all of them concluded with "if you don't have to do it, don't!", and I can definitely see why. It is an experience I certainly hope never to repeat. In the end though, I am very thankful to have them here. They keep me company during the day and make sure I am never lonely. Max had his 13th birthday last month (I realized I've had him over half of my life now) and as he gets older I am more grateful for each day I have with my happy, healthy boy, even if he does sleep 20 hours a day. These two little stinkers are a mess, I don't know what I'd do without them!

Location, Location, Location!

Kerry and I got some very exciting news a couple days ago. On November 19th, the keys will be handed over and we will finally have our HOME here in Montpellier!

Our apartment search began one week after we arrived. Before I understood what European apartments were really like, I was excited to return to apartment living, or at least looking forward to some aspects of it. I had in my head images of large apartments with new kitchens and granite counter tops and big, fancy community pools. Silly me... The buildings in this town were built hundreds of years ago. Some of them look like they are lucky to even have electricity and running water. So after an abrupt adjustment of my apartment standards, we set out on a full days journey around town with our real estate agent (provided by Schlumberger) to view apartments. What a disappointment. Everything either looked like a run-down cheap motel or was located "on the wrong side of the tracks." We were prepared to make some sacrifices in what we were looking for, but these were just too much.

We continued searching over the next few weeks, every day I checked the listings online. We saw a couple other places, but nothing that made us think, "yes, we want to live here for the next three years." The problem is simply that there is no availability in this city. Within a month, we were feeling very discouraged. There were only about three new listings each week in all three neighborhoods I was monitoring, so the chances of one being a good fit for us was extremely low.  Add to that the fact that our temporary apartment is not comfortable (we only put up with it because no one has complained about our barking dogs) and you can see why it was easy for us to feel down about the apartment search.

But one month ago a listing showed up online that caught my attention. It was smaller than we had hoped, and while the location is fantastic and very desirable, it was not actually our first choice. However, as I had suspected from the online ad, the positives of the apartment outweighed the negatives. It is small, not very nice, and does not have air conditioning (visitors, you have been warned). But it is right next to the tram line, has an elevator (very rare), is well under our budget, and has two balconies, which will be fantastic during the warmer months. We had a number of reservations, but we decided to apply for it anyway, since there are so few apartments available in this town, and it was easily the best option we had seen yet. Finally, after an entire month of waiting, we got our answer! On average, people move into an apartment about two weeks after the application is submitted. Somehow, for reasons we cannot fathom, it will be five weeks for us by the time we finally get the keys. Three extra weeks is a big deal when you are stuck in a tiny, smelly hotel room! But we see the light at the end of the tunnel, and we can't wait for next Monday to hurry up and get here!

Our work is just beginning though. We are immediately faced with a tough, but overall fun, challenge: the kitchen. It is very common here to find apartments with "unequipped" kitchens. Since each unit is individually owned, you never know what you are going to get! Things we take for granted in America as coming with the apartment are absent; if you want it, you buy it and install it yourself. As a prime example, our new kitchen:

Nothing but a sink.  As a friend in my French class pointed out "it's not a kitchen."  So somehow, we are faced with the task of fitting an oven, dishwasher, fridge, counters, cabinets, stove top, and oddly enough, the washing machine, all into this little space! As if that wasn't hard enough, the entire kitchen has three electrical outlets, and unlike the double outlets in America, it's one plug per outlet over here. Which means there are not even enough outlets for all the appliances, not to mention a coffee pot or a toaster! But the upside of this type of situation is that we have complete control over what we want to put in it, so we can choose to fix it up however we like. I know it will be a lot of work and a lot of creative thinking, but I'm looking forward to transforming this little space into my new kitchen!

Here are a few other pictures of the apartment. As you can see, my decorating skills are about to be put to the test.

Living / dining area:


Good sized balcony:

The smaller of the two bedrooms. Our agent tried to convince me that it was a "big" bedroom. I wanted to tell her that in Texas, people have closets as big as this room.

This is a big step forward for us, and the 19th can't get here soon enough. But in the mean time, I have a kitchen to plan, off to IKEA I go!

December trip to America is BOOKED!

We are counting down the days until we arrive back in the wonderful, English speaking, Starbucks crowded, over-polluted (so the French say) land of America! I can't believe it's only a month and a half away, which means we have already been here for almost two months!

Here is the itinerary:

So please please please if you will be in any of these cities when we will, let us know!

Not that I don't have my own agenda... We try really hard not to be too homesick here, to only think of home when we are not missing it. It's a tricky subject. How does one find the balance of enjoying the moment, the life we have right now, but still remembering and cherishing everything and everyone we left behind? It is easy, when we face struggles here (which is daily) to wish ourselves back in the simple and familiar life. But it is not constructive. On the other hand, refusing to remember things we love at home, because they bring about a longing we cannot soothe, is not good choice either. So we limit ourselves. We limit our phone calls to when we are already in good moods, and contact with home won't double the desire to be there. And we remind each other why we are here, and all of the positives that will come from this, eventually. A couple of weeks ago I also started a list. Every time I found myself missing something from home, I made a note. This way, I can remove it from my head, and when it's time to go home, I have a list of all the things I wanted but couldn't have while away! This doesn't work for everything of course, I cannot have my old, organized, plenty-of-counter-space kitchen back, but I can have some things!

Here's what I have so far:

1. Lattes - from Starbucks or otherwise. I have found the land where Starbucks does not exist.

2. TexMex. Torchys Tacos, Chuys, here I come!

3. English television. We don't have a single English speaking channel here. Not one.

4. Macaroni and Cheese.

5. Enjoying shopping, in stores I already know and love (Nordstroms).

6. Catching up with friends. This is obvious, but worth mentioning.

7. Holidays and traditions. We already missed Halloween entirely, and if we don't get an apartment soon, we will miss Thanksgiving too. I am terrified I won't have my own place in time to decorate for Christmas. But at least we will be HOME for it!

8. Half Price Books. I'm bringing an extra suitcase for this.

Needless to say, it will be nice to back in America for a few days, and have a little break from the French life. 43 days and counting!

 

Parlez-vous français? Nope.

I finally managed to get myself signed up for some French lessons. Everyday it became more and more apparent how urgent it was for us to at least get the basics of life down, so I researched some schools, picked my favorite (Accent Francais), and dragged myself over there to sign up.

Here's what I expected / hoped for from French lessons:

A small class of people, at least some close to my age, who all spoke English and wanted to learn French. I expected a teacher that would help us learn the basics of the language, who taught in French and English. I looked forward to a learning structure with textbooks, worksheets, and homework. (Yes, I wanted homework.)

Here's what I got when I showed up on day one:

8:30 a.m. - all new students meet at the reception desk, there are probably about 40 of us. One of the administrators walks in. He then says something very quickly in French, waves his arms, and then starts to leave the building. Everyone else followed him though, so I did too. Most of us look pretty lost and unsure about it. He leads us to another building, sits us down, and starts talking again, in French. It is day 1 of beginner French, don't you think we could have a little English, at least for the administrative stuff!? Next thing I know another lady is calling my name, so I get up and follow her. We sit in another room, across from each other, and she too starts talking at me in French. Mostly I just sat there shaking my head and saying "uh" a lot. This is my oral test. I see her circle the number 'zero' on her paper a few times, and then I'm finished. It just seems like they could find a less stressful and humiliating way to determine that I am, in fact, level zero. Which I had already told them. Then I sat and waited for an hour while everyone else had their oral tests, which they would later use to split us into groups for the actual classes. This is where you might think I could sit and have some nice, English conversation with some people. Nope. Here's what I got: Spanish, Spanish, Spanish, German, German, Japanese, Armenian, and South African. It was a very quiet room. Finally, at 10:00, we have our class schedules. I got put in the afternoon class, from 4:00-7:15. And now I find out I'm expected to go on a two hour walking tour of Montpellier. No way was that happening! So I left. Frustrated, stressed, and disappointed. And class hasn't even stated yet!!

Fortunately, it got better. Things usually do. I went back at 4:00 for the actual lesson and enjoyed it very much. The classes are all in French, but at least the rest of the class is on my level. And the teachers are very nice, and very animated!  The pace is good for me, and the lessons are very practical.  Every week we have new teachers, which is helpful in gaining new perspectives and hearing differences and similarities in the way words are pronounced and sentences formed.  

 Four weeks later and I can see a huge difference.  It no longer matters that most of my class does not speak English, we know enough French now to get by.  I'm still awful and a long way away from being able to really talk to people, but dining out is now more enjoyable than stressful, and every now and then I'm able to have something that resembles a conversation with someone. It's a very neat feeling!

Flat Stanley Goes to Paris

We knew it was coming. During Kerry's first week of work in France, HR told him that we would both be required to go to Montrouge, a suburb of Paris, for our medical immigration appointments. They said they had already requested appointments for us, and that they would let us know as soon as they received the details. Well, on Wednesday of last week (Oct. 3) we get an email: our appointments have been set for Friday, October 5th at 1:30. Only two days notice!! Two days to find and coordinate a sitter for the dogs, book train tickets, find and book a hotel, and to put together a rough plan of what to do while we are there. It was two very hectic, stressful days!

By far, the most difficult part was the dog sitter. We had a recommendation and an email address, so that was a huge help. But she was not prepared for two crazy weenie doggies (they aren't very popular here), and she speaks zero English. We managed it alright in the end, but we learned our lesson. It is just too difficult to communicate all the necessary information when all you have is google translator. We are going to have to keep looking and try again.

In the midst of all this last minute planning, Thursday also brought a very well-timed surprise from home: Alyse's Flat Stanley arrived! For those not familiar with Flat Stanley (as I was not), it is an elementary school project based on a children's book about a boy who is flattened and then gets to travel the world via mail. Each student sends their own Flat Stanley somewhere, and when he returns home he brings pictures and information about the place he visited, and then everyone in the class shares their Flat Stanley adventures. So Alyse decided to send hers all the way to France!

Early Friday morning, with the dogs already off to the sitter, Kerry, Flat Stanley, and I boarded a train to Paris. I am happy to say that this train experience was MUCH easier and less stressful than the last! Four hours later we checked into our hotel and headed to our medical appointments, which were generally unfun and boring, so I'll just skip ahead to dinner. In Paris, every restaurant except Subway requires a dinner reservation, and it's not uncommon for many of them to fill up weeks in advance. So instead of searching and calling around on our own for last minute availability, we asked the hotel for recommendations and easily snagged an 8:00 table at Chez Flotte. The experience was stellar from start to finish, and if I ever found myself unprepared for dinner in Paris again, I would absolutely go back! My duck confit was cooked perfectly, and I think I could eat French cheesy bread every day and never tire of it.

After dinner, since we had virtually zero time to prepare for this trip, and therefore no plan what-so-ever, we wandered over to the Louvre to see the famous Pyramid lit up at night. In general, the whole of Paris lights up at night, it's mesmerizing. We toasted champagne and celebrated our first trip out of Montpellier (and first trip to Paris!).

Since Paris is overflowing with things to do and see, on Saturday morning we picked a few of our favorite sights to visit as a rough plan for the day and decided to just see where the day went. So of course, we started at Paris's #1: La Tour Eiffel!

Here it is! The Eiffel Tower!!! It is very neat to see, and no trip to Paris is complete without it, but unless you climb all the way to the top, there isn't a whole lot to do once you get there. Luckily, we came prepared. Flat Stanley found a macaroon shop on our walk to the Tower. Yum!

They are all over the place, and we just couldn't resist. If the weather had been nicer, it would be fun to bring a picnic and enjoy lunch with a view. Maybe next time! For today, just the macaroons.

After we had our fill of the Tower we took the metro (subway) over to the Notre Dame Cathedral. Ornate, grand, beautiful, and buzzing with tourists! They allow you to walk through the cathedral on your own at no charge, or you can wait in line and pay for a tour. We took the free option. The long line to get in moves quickly, and once inside you can move at your own pace. We also walked the outside of the building. At a very leisurely pace, it took about 45 minutes. But it's totally worth it to see the little surrounding gardens along the side and the back, some of the best views of the cathedral in my opinion.

Just across the river from the cathedral sits the Shakespeare and Company bookshop. The shop tourists visit today is the second location of Shakespeare and Co. Originally named "Le Mistral," it was renamed in 1964 as a tribute to the original. The first Shakespeare and Co. opened in 1919 and was a known hangout for a number of famous writers, of whom the most notable is probably Hemingway. It closed in 1941, around the times of the World War. Both shops have served as icons of Paris's literary scene over the last century, so as an avid reader and lover of books myself, I had to go! I was pleasantly surprised to find that despite being such a popular tourist attraction, the shop seems to operate as a normal, neighborhood bookshop, with regular book readings, discussions over Sunday tea, etc. It was a very neat, touristy-even-though-it-didn't-feel-like-it place to visit (and shop!).

From Shakespeare and Co. we went in search of lunch. I had jotted down the name and street corner of a place I wanted to try (l'Avant Comptoir). After a wrong turn and at least two distractions in the form of chocolate shops, we gave up and headed down this little alley:

Here I learned that these adorable cobblestone streets that seem so cute and picturesque, are miserable to walk on in heels! I don't understand how all the girls do it.  We stopped for lunch at Vin et Terre. Cute and cozy atmosphere, but disappointing food.  At this point our list of "major sights" to see was complete, and we were pooped, so we spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing and window shopping on the very high fashion street near our hotel, rue du Fauborg Saint-Honoré.   I think this is when Kerry told me that "he missed Nordstroms."  Thanks Paris!!!

Saturday evening we booked a dinner cruise on the Seine, the river that runs through the city. Super touristy, but we didn't know what else to do and the reviews were pretty good.  Unfortunately for us, it rained.   And the windows on the boat fogged.  However, I think even if it hadn't rained, it would not have been a great choice.  Paris is beautiful at night and a cruise is a great way to see it, but not if there is a roof over your head, the effect just isn't the same.  If the weather is nice, an open air boat ride would be worth the time, otherwise, I'd skip it.

Sunday morning we hunted down breakfast and headed home, back to "real life," whatever that means these days!   It's amazing how a place as foreign as Montpellier can feel so familiar after a weekend in Paris.  We are also still in awe of the fact that Paris is just a weekend trip away.   Hopefully, this was the first of many visits for us to this enchanting city!

The complete set of pictures can be found here:

Paris - October 2012

Settling In: The First Few Days

Months ago, I made a resolution to myself that we would settle in quickly once we arrived France. The sooner we could take care of all the "un-fun" business, the sooner we could enjoy ourselves and get to the good stuff! I realize this is not a new concept, but it is one that we tend to be notoriously bad at. Anyone who ever visited our house in Houston can attest to this - in three years we never got around to buying a dining room table, and let's not even mention the landscaping... So in order to make the most of our time in France, I decided to work against my procrastination tendency and get to work!


So after 10 days, how am i doing? Well, moving to a new house is stressful. Moving to a new country? Totally different ballgame! Nothing is the same here. We went to four different stores before we managed to find dog food, and it felt like a big success when we finally found it! If dog food takes two hours and four stores, imagine setting up a French bank account, or understanding cell phone contracts - which in my opinion are confusing enough in English. But we are getting there. We do have a bank account, although we don't know how to use it yet. On a related note, did you know that credit cards in Europe have chips instead of magnetic strips? This was news to me, and it will be a big relief to have "European Visas," because very few places will accept "American Visas." We have also received recommendations for vets and pet sitters for Max and Min, which is crucial, since we can't pick up and go anywhere if they aren't taken care of. We've started the apartment hunting process, and are learning our way around town pretty quickly. We have the inner-city tram system mastered! I even managed to figure out how to do laundry, which also took me a few tries before I got it right. We thought this would work fine as laundry detergent, see the clothes on the box?

Too bad we didn't notice this until we got home.

I went through a similar process with dishwasher soap. Automatic dryers are also very rare here. Everyone uses these thingys:

I guess I'm going to have to make fast friends with my clothing iron unless I want a closet full of wrinkly clothes.

 

But along with the stresses of moving have been a number of pleasant finds as well. Our temporary apartment is in a neighborhood called "The Antigone." It is one of the newer parts of town (i.e. air conditioning and elevators), and we are really enjoying the area. If it wasn't a full hour each way to the office everyday, we might consider settling in around here. They have big outdoor markets every other day, plenty of green space for the dogs, and of course, my favorite pizza joint! They don't speak a word of English, but they are super nice and the pizza is delicious!!

I have already been three times in two weeks. It's a surprise every time we go: point to something on the menu, nod and smile, and see what you end up with! We are still learning our "menu French."

 

We are finding that every day here is a struggle and a surprise. Nothing is simple or expected, but with a lot of patience and humility, we are figuring out our new lives in Montpellier, one task at a time!

 

"Getting There Is Half The Fun"

What?? Who came up with that quote? Well whomever it was, he has clearly never flown a nine hour flight between two major international airports, followed by a four hour train ride, and a twenty minute cab, all with two stinky, misbehaved dogs. I assume he also didn't venture to lands where no one spoke his language. Getting to Montpellier, France was NO fun, but thankfully, after two short days, I think it's going to be worth it. I am thrilled to finally be starting this blog (as I promised so many that I would!) as a means to capture our journey as two Texas transplants to the South of France, to hopefully lend some travel advice to those interested, and of course as a way to keep in touch with all of our family and friends back home!



We left our home in Houston at 12:30 P.M. on Tuesday. We arrived at our new (temporary) home in France at 4:30 P.M. Wednesday. Figure in the seven hour time difference, and that amounts to a solid 21 hours of travelling. Yikes! And I can assure you, lesson learned - I will NEVER do that again! It started out fine. I was especially nervous about flying the pups in the baggage hold, but Air France is a great airline, and they did a fantastic job of explaining the process and making me feel better about it. Of course, I still cried like a baby when it was time to say bye. After the dogs were sent off, everything was pretty smooth sailing until we landed in Paris. That's when things got interesting.  After touchdown in Paris, we experienced a number of minor delays: 20 minutes to reroute and taxi to a new gate, and 30 minutes to get off the plane.  After a 9 hour flight, this 50 minute delay was significant.  And all I can think of is that my dogs have stuck in their crate for 12 hours.  We exit the plane and head toward baggage claim.  Delayed again! The trams were not running between terminals due to "security reasons." This is obviously not welcome news. We never did figure out the reason the trams were down, but after another 30 minutes of waiting, one of them started up again and we stepped on a very crowded tram headed towards baggage claim (and the doggies!). We snatched our suitcases and hauled over to the "oversized baggage" area in search of the pups. For now, I will just say that we located both dogs successfully and continued on. (More on this subject another day.)



After picking up Max and Min, it was time to find the train station and give the dogs a potty break. In retrospect, this was a huge mistake. Stress levels were already high for all four of us, and energy levels very low. We should have found the nearest hotel and gotten some rest. But we didn't. We knew we had just under two hours from the time the plane landed to the time our train left. Have you done the math yet? If you factor in a few minutes of walking time around the airport, it leaves us about 20 minutes to find the train station, print out our tickets, and board the train. Yep, we missed the train. By about five minutes. The next one didn't leave for another two hours, so we waited.   Neither of us had ever taken a train before, so we had no idea what to expect. It was actually very nice and comfortable, and under different circumstances we might have enjoyed it, but with lots of luggage, a language barrier, and two upset and squirmy dogs, it was a mess. First of all, you have about five minutes to board the train, and that is for everyone and all of their luggage. That leaves no time at all to wonder which car your seat is in, or to find your seat, and there were very few (French or English speaking) people around to ask for help. Keep in mind, during all of this confusion, I've got Max in my right arm, Minnie in my left. Kerry is lugging two big suitcases and the broken down dog crate. He did a great job though and managed to stow the luggage and find our seats pretty quickly. Thank goodness! The train pulled away about 30 seconds after I stepped on board, we barely made it. Now we just needed the dogs to settle in for a nap - which took 45 minutes - and in four hours we would be in Montpellier!



As the train approached our stop, we gathered our belongings and prepared for a speedy departure, as if we had any other choice. I still can't believe how close I was to getting left on the train platform in Paris with a dog in each arm and nothing more. But here we are! All four of us, healthy (not yet happy) and in Montpellier! Next challenge: a cab to the apartment. Actually, Schlumberger was gracious enough to reserve a taxi with our name on it to be waiting for us when we got there. Too bad we missed our train, and therefore our taxi too. We found the taxi spot just outside the train station, none of the drivers looked too pleased to see us travelling with two dogs in tow. And of course, they don't speak English. We ended up pulling the apartment confirmation up on the iPad (I had downloaded it before we left, thankfully) and managed to find a cab to apartment.



We made it. Houston, Texas to Montpellier, France. Twenty one hours, two dogs, two suitcases, and a dog crate. Exhausted, dirty, and hungry. The next four hours we spent cleaning up, finding a take out pizza joint, and wondering what on earth we had gotten ourselves into. Not to worry though, it gets better from here. To end on a positive note, I will share what I think is my very favorite thing about France so far: a big window full of never-ending sunshine and a cool breeze. The view from our apartment:

This, I could get used to!