We made it!

Well, we're finally in France! We left Atlanta on Tuesday, April 18 at 7:20pm after a very busy day packing up and mailing the last few boxes to go to France and delivering the last few things to our storage locker. We dropped off our rental car and got a ride to the airport from our friend Jeanie, who had been kind enough to let us live with her for the previous week and a half. Thanks, Jeanie!

The flight was on time and went fine. Our little dog Teebie tolerated being confined to his carrier better than we feared he might. He whimpered a little at one point during the flight (he had to ride under the seat and I think he was lonely there), so we took the carrier out and Bob kept it, with Teebie in it, on his lap for the rest of the flight. This seemed to soothe the little guy – at least he stopped whimpering.

We arrived at the airport (Charles de Gaulle) in Paris around 9:45 Wednesday morning and took the Air France bus to the Gare Montparnasse, one of Paris’ railway stations. From there we took a TGV (high-speed train) to the town of Guingamp in Brittany, near the town of Lannion where we will be living. Our friend Christy picked us up in her car and brought us to her house in Perros-Guirec, a beach community not far from Lannion.

We’ve now been here for 48 hours, and despite jet lag we’ve been very busy. Yesterday we opened a bank account (with Christy’s help – it’s useful to have contacts!), looked at an apartment, and tried to apply for our green card but found that the office that does that wasn’t open until this morning. Today we shopped for mattresses and looked at more apartments. We tried again to apply for our green card, only to find that we were going to the wrong office for it. Monday we’ll try again, this time in (we hope!) the right place.

We are zeroing in on a place to live and may have the decision made by the end of the weekend. We have two more places to see tomorrow (Saturday), but after that we may be ready to decide. So far the first place we looked at is at the top of the list. We’ll tell you more about it (and post pictures) if we end up renting it.

We’ve been eating very well. Our friend Christy is a fabulous cook, and so far we’ve feasted on fish curry, salmon in pastry, flourless chocolate cake, fresh strawberries, great French bread, wonderful salads, and lots of excellent cheese. We’re hoping to avoid getting as big as houses on this new high-fat, high-cholesterol diet! Maybe the red wine will help…

Teebie has adjusted to his new life in France “d’un facon sublime”. He has discovered French cats, and he hates them just as much as he hates American ones. He also barks at magpies, which I think he suspects are some kind of weird two-legged, long-tailed cat. He has made friends with everyone he’s met so far. In short, he’s acting just like he does at home.

The weather here has been cool, gray, and somewhat wet. It’s unusually cold for this time of year, we’re told, so it should get more springlike any day now. This part of Brittany is actually subtropical, with magnolias, palm trees, huge camellia bushes, and lots of other warmth- and water-loving plants. It may not feel like spring, but many of the flowering trees are covered with blossoms.

Stay tuned for more news and some pictures.