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We had to plan a last minute trip to Paris to renew Makenna’s passport in order to book our flights home in October.  We originally had an appointment in Marseille in August, but recently received an email that is was cancelled.  But, who could complain about HAVING to go to Paris?!  I quickly got to searching what last things we would like to see and do for our last trip there before we move back to the US.

We started out by visiting Musée Rodin, where we saw “The Thinker” (or as Makenna described it “le monsieur qui pense”).  The kids had fun walking through the gardens and finding the different statues.  When we went to check into our Airbnb, I was happy to find there was a Starbucks across the street, so of course we had to go there every day that we were there!

The next day we went to Musée D’Orsay which was really neat and we wished we had more time to look around.  We enjoyed the mini Statue of Liberty and I loved seeing the Van Gogh paintings.  My favorite, Starry Night, was on display in London, but there was a photo of it and after I showed it to Makenna she decided she loved it too.  Just next to the Van Gogh paintings was a statue of a man with a sword trying to fight a crocodile while protecting a woman and child….and when I asked Makenna what her favorite thing she saw was she said it was this statue!  It definitely wasn’t the answer I expected.  We had to head towards the Champs Élysée to go to the US Embassy, so we stopped at a salad and sandwich restaurant where I had the most expensive salad I’ve ever ordered…30 euros!  Makenna’s passport appointment went smoothly and when we were done the lady gave Makenna an American flag…just a little reminder that she is, in fact, American and not French.  It also happened to be my birthday that day and I told Ryan I wanted cupcakes, so he found a little cupcake shop that sold mini cupcakes which was even better because I was able to order 4 different flavors for myself!

There are many ways to see Paris, but we have not seen it by boat yet so I booked us a river cruise on the Seine.  We boarded the boat near Notre Dame, and it was so weird to see it closed, and without it’s spire, following the fire back in April.  We loved seeing all the beauty of Paris without being surrounded by crowds!

The last thing I had on my list for this trip was to visit the Montmartre area and Sacre Coeur.  After getting ice cream and letting the kids ride a carousel, we headed to “le mur des je t’aime” or “the wall of love” where the phrase ‘I love you’ is written in 250 different languages. We made the steep walk up to Place du Tertre where there are many street artists painting portraits or displaying their art.  I was hoping to find a painting to bring home, but there was nothing I loved at a price I was willing to pay!  Next we walked to Sacre Coeur which was a beautiful sight itself, but also offers an amazing view of the city.  We ended by having tapas at a little restaurant and it was delicious!  The walk back to the Airbnb was a long one, but I could never get tired of walking the streets of Paris.  Everything is just so old and beautiful and romantic!

It was a wonderful “last” trip to Paris, but I sure hope it’s not our very last!

As we get closer to moving back to the US, we have been really sad and thinking about what we are going to miss about our life in France.  So I thought I should start to focus on what we have to look forward to in the US….

• Shopping carts with only 2 wheels that turn – the shopping carts here have 4 wheels that turn, which makes it very hard to push.  They often slide sideways if you are walking on an incline, and they don’t turn corners very well!
• Stores, restaurants, coffee shops being open on Sunday (all day) – Almost everything is closed on Sundays here except for grocery stores which close by 12:30, which is nice, but we are used to American conveniences of being able to doing our grocery shopping/running errands/getting a coffee at Starbucks 7 days a week!
• Stores, coffee shops, other places of business opening before 10am – again, sometimes an inconvenience when the place you would like to go to doesn’t open until 10am or sometimes not until 2pm on Monday afternoon and then they close by 7pm
• Air conditioning!!!! – this is a luxury here.  Most homes, stores, restaurants, offices, doctor’s offices, schools etc do NOT have air conditioning.
• Being able to speak English – while my French has improved over the last 5 years, and I can communicate fairly well, there’s still a lot that I don’t know how to say.  Sometimes it takes me some time to think about what I want to say, and I speak slowly.  I don’t know how to joke or be sarcastic.  Sometimes I really want to tell someone off and I just don’t know how to!  I really look forward to being able to speak my mind and easily say what I want to say when I want to say it.
• Having more things to do with the kids – we live in a pretty small city here.  There are no children’s museums, zoos, baby gym classes, etc.  Most sports or extracurricular activities start at age 5 or later.  I’m so glad that Greenville has so much to offer for families!
• More kid-friendly restaurants – one of the biggest thing about trying to eat dinner at a restaurant with your kids here is the restaurants don’t open until 7.  For us Americans, this can be later than we normally eat (especially with young children).  If you have babies or young children, it can also be hard to find a restaurant with a high chair or a changing table.  Sometimes the people working at the restaurant, or the other patrons, feel that children “should be seen and not heard” and they are not very happy to have kids eating there (although I will say we have rarely encountered this).
• Personal space – there are a lot of times when we have been standing in line somewhere and people will stand very very close to you.  Or, if you don’t stand close enough to the person in front of you, people don’t think you’re in line and they will go in front of you.
• More living space! – We have been living in 984 sf of living space for 5 years.  We have one bathroom that we share between us and the 2 kids.  2 of the 3 bedrooms don’t have closets, and the one in the master bedroom only fits my clothes.  I can’t wait to have more space, and to have a separate bathroom from the kids…with my own sink!!
• Having a yard – when we moved here we thought we’d only be here for 3 years, so we weren’t too concerned about finding a house with an outdoor space for the kids.  After staying here longer, and adding another child to our family, we will really enjoy having a yard for them to play in.
• Going back to work – don’t get me wrong, sometimes not working can be great. I’ve really enjoyed being home with my kids while they’re young, being able to take Makenna back and forth to school, accompany Makenna’s class on field trips, take the kids to the park whenever I want, have play dates with friends, and see the kids change and grow.  There has also been times when it’s hard, when I’m tired or stressed or bored.  I’m looking forward to going back to work, although I know it will be a tough transition.  Hopefully I will have some flexibility where I don’t have to miss out on important or special times in my kids’ lives!
• Most importantly, being close to friends and family – it has definitely been hard being away from our friends and family for 5 years, and it will be so nice reuniting with everyone!! Can’t wait to see y’all in just a few months!

Last week, Europe experienced an intense heat wave where several cities, including Clermont Ferrand, experienced the hottest day on record.  We had several days that were between 103-105 degrees.  Most schools are not equipped to handle these high temperatures (if they are, they just have a fan in the classroom) so some closed while others advised parents that they could keep their children home.  The ones that were open were spraying the kids with water during recess, and giving them lots of water to drink throughout the day.  Some events were even canceled because of the high temperatures.

Air conditioning is a rare commodity in Europe, so this made for very uncomfortable and even dangerous conditions.  Most apartments have metal shutters which thankfully reduce the amount of sun and heat that come into the apartment.

Normally in the summer we will leave all of our windows and shutters open at night and then close them during the day.  I’ll usually close them around 9-10am and also close our blackout curtains.  While it helps with the heat, I hate living in a dark apartment all day!  During the heat wave, the temperatures didn’t cool down much at night, so after the first couple days this method didn’t really help.

We did put the kiddie pool to good use, and set it up on the balcony where we could put our feet in it to cool down.

We have a portable A/C unit that helps ever so slightly.  We have to fill it with water and stick a hose out of a door or window.  In order to try and cool down our kitchen/living area, we have to put the A/C where the doors to the balcony are….so once we put the hose out the door we then have to put a bungee cord around the 2 door handles to keep the open door as closed as possible.  Then we use a combination of styrofoam, pillows and blankets to block the open space around the door.  It’s quite a setup (and a job)!  Being that the space we are trying to cool down is pretty large, it doesn’t get much cooler in here but it does help take the edge off.

Oh and I should mention that Makenna’s dance recital was during the heat wave….in a gymnasium that of course was not air conditioned.  We got through it but it was pretty brutal!

Another side effect of the summer weather is that mosquitos become a problem.  The windows don’t have screens, so while we have to keep the windows open at night to let the cooler air in we are getting bit by mosquitos.  This year I decided to put a mosquito net around our bed which hasn’t been too effective.  Today I bought wall plug-ins that are supposed to repel mosquitos….wish us luck!

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La Kermesse is the end-of-school party held each year at the end of school.  The party is on a rotation where one year they will have the kids sing and/or dance and have a bounce house and the next year the kids don’t perform but they have a bunch of different games for the kids to play.  This year was games and the kids had a lot of fun fishing for ducks, playing a marble game, choosing a prize and playing on the playground.  We didn’t stay very long because it was really hot and we wanted to get the kids to bed at their normal time, but some people stay as late as 11pm and there is food served as well as beer! Bonne vacances!