Day 1

All is well. We're in Paris.

It started out rough for me, my flight on Thursday from GR to DC was delayed (supposed to leave at 6:00 AM, then we got on the plane two hours late, then we got off it again, then they cancelled it and I was rescheduled for 8 hours later. John and I had to get up at 4:30 AM for the original flight, so that was a bummer. So we left around 2:00 and I arrived at Chad and Sarah's around 6:00. Sarah had to work Thursday night (as well as the night before). Chad has been busy grading papers and he will continue in France. Friday we left home at 3:00, walking to the metro station with 2 huge suitcases, 4 backpacks and a 3rd huge suitcase that held Milo's car seat and coats. Our flight from DC to NY was delayed about 45 minutes, but all went well. We left NY around 11:30 PM. That flight went fine, but Sarah's plans to sleep largely failed as Milo found it hard to sleep on the plane. We were picked up at the airport in Paris (Chad had planned that ahead, the driver was holding a sign that said "Chad Rector") and arrived at our apartment maybe around 2:00, I didn't really notice. We're in a cool area. Milo and I went to the grocery store while Chad and Sarah unpacked and organized the place. They brought along a blow up bed for Milo. The only bedroom is large so Chad, Sarah and Milo are sleeping in it and there are two pull out couches in the living room for me to choose from. We ate ratatouille and noodles for lunch around 3:30.
Chad and I walked around a bit and then went to the store again to give Sarah and Milo a chance to take a nap. We returned home around 6:00 but Milo had not slept, so of course, neither did Sarah. For dinner we had couscous and then I went out for about two hours following one of my walking tour book's plan for "Le Marais", the district where we are staying. It's the oldest residential district of Paris and I learned a lot. It's also the Jewish area (it has been since the 12 hundreds) so I learned a lot about that too. It's also the gay area and being Saturday night, I saw mobs of men lined up waiting to get into night clubs. It's also the "hip" district, so fashions were fun to look at.

This morning Francette and Albert called, they are staying with Marguerite Naudet. I talked with Marguerite and she told me that our mothers were cousins. We will meet them tomorrow at noon in front of the Hotel de Ville. Right now we are waiting for Milo to wake up (it's 12:30) to go to lunch at Laure Arnold's home, Agathe and family will also be there.