Day 1 in France

Le Masion de Perchoir

(The Bird House)

Bonjour!!

We made it to Paris...without using all of our technology. I think Kate may have watched 1 and a half movies. And that is approximately the same for Sophie, Chloe and Allison. I think we must have had a good tail wind because we made it in about 9 hours! None of us slept well, but I that is a small sacrifice to make to get to travel to the City of Lights. Even from 200 ft in the air France looks beautiful... old, green, quaint. We arrived at 10:30 am local time. That makes the middle of the night back home but you would have never known it. (oh yeah, except that Kate & Chloe both burst into tears on the way to the car. I'd already forgotten.) Sondra popped out of the crowd with a little wave right away. The picture Jon emailed worked like clockwork. Their little van easily fits us all. We were worried the van would be more of a Honda Civic, but we were pleasantly surprised!

On the way to the house Allison chats it up with Sondra in French. I am so proud of her! Brunoy is very quaint and beautiful. It seems like there are flower boxes with a geraniums mix everywhere. After winding around dozens of small streets Sondra pulls over, jumps out of the car with Allison while I wait in the car with the girls. They return with long, baguettes sticking out of a bag. I decide we are OFFICIALLY in France!

Finally we drive along a road with a beautiful canal filled with lily pads and lined by tall trees to our left and tall homes on the side of a steep hill on the right. After a couple of blocks we stop in front of la Masion. Here we are! From the window I can see a bunch of kids sitting on the steps. They stand up and descend the 70 steps to welcome us with a "Bonjour" and a kiss on each cheek! --This delights Kate our little romantic! The family is darling! Five children...very unsual in France! (--No they are not Mormon or Catholic) Our bags disappear and we follow them with our mouths hanging open. The house is approximately 130 yrs old, four stories tall and lovely. Sondra shows us around right away (Allison says this isn't something the French do. She wasn't even allowed to go the bathroom during a 5 hour dinner party. I guess since we are staying there without them these are different circumstances, but it just goes to show how lucky we are.)

We get the three bedrooms on the 3rd and 4th floors. Their children have vacated them for us. The upper floor just has one bedroom. It is their twin 15 year old girls. Chloe & Sophie will use it. It's absolutely charming. Very princess like! Kate and Chloe hardly notice though because they have been shown the box of barbie dolls in the little guest house.

The afternoon is spent taking in the French air, playing barbies, looking for bugs in the gardens and having a leisurely French lunch. A neighbor pops in durning lunch for a bite, then a niece. I'm wondering now if it is a coincidence or it was planned. If it was planned I'm wondering how we were perceived?? I hope we passed!!! Later we take the 20 minute walk to the train station. The homes along the way are amazing. It seems like it was definitely and probably still is an affluent neighborhood. Some of the homes are in good repair and some could use some work, but the combination make everything all the more charming. (Do I sound like I'm in love?)

The grocery store is having a sale. We see some clothes and just go nuts. They only have things on sale twice a year and we think everything is fabulous. I'm sure now they are surprised at how excited we can get over grocery store clothing. Looking back on it I am a little surprised myself. Ha!

Sondra keeps asking us if we'd like to sleep. We insist that the don't for fear we wont wake up. Alli and I finally decided well sleep a bit and set our alarms while the kids watch a movie and we all wait for dinner. They eat so much later than us Americans...Plus we are waiting for Bruno to come home to say hello and thank him for being so generous to let us stay in his home. I end up shutting my alarm off and Alli has to wake me up. She was right. I do want to keep sleeping. The girls have had a dreamy day. Playing and running in and out. They seem very happy, until suddenly Kate throws the attitude into over drive. She insists she doesn't like salmon. What?? Since when? I take her upstairs for a lecture which quickly turns into screaming. The whole house is alarmed! Oops!! Does she want cake or ice cream they ask? No, no we make it through dinner with her on my lap. Me spoon feeding her. Her blood sugar goes up and she says a darling Merci to all on her way to bed. JET LAG!!!

Bruno is SO kind. His English is perfect and it is great to meet him. He and the whole family have made us feel very comfortable and welcome. We got to bed happy, right after dinner.

Pictures coming soon!