Off we go

After months of preparation and weeks of couch surfing with work to do but no apartment from which to do it, finally my infant son and I boarded the plane for Paris. Little Eric turned 9 months old on the flight so I like to tease him that mommy took him to Paris for his birthday. That will be a tough precedent to follow!

After all the stress of juggling the move the actual flight was easy. Eric didn't sleep much and so I didn't either, but I had a very nice older French couple next to me and they doted on Eric the whole flight.

Yes, he is that happy after his first international flight!

Daddy was already in Paris and he met us at the airport. We had three large duffles of clothes and toys and housewares, one roller bag filled with all the valuables I didn't want to check, a diaper bag, and the gate-checked stroller. This was supposed to last us the next few months at least, and is about the same amount of stuff as some Americans bring to France just for vacation so I didn't feel too badly, but it was a challenge getting it all to the airport RER for the train into Paris. I was happily surprised by the help we got from people along the way, several times now someone has just come along and grabbed the front of the stroller to get it up or down stairs so I don't have to take the baby out and fold the stroller, which is just so wonderful of them. This would NEVER happen in Boston, probably because people would be worried about being sued should something happen.

Eric is still on three naps a day so he doesn't really seem to have jet lag. The most challenging daylight adjustment has been to the lack of light here. It's fully dark at 7AM, just barely getting light at 8AM. Daddy has a long commute in the dark each morning, we're looking forward to the days getting longer.

We are still in a temporary apartment. We found it, and our longer-term apartment, on Paris Craigslist. This current one is NOT recommended, so renter beware - besides the traditional Craigslist scams you can still end up with an apartment so run down that the toilet is all but unusable. Ugh. Not much longer 'till we can finally settle down.