Our first week in France

It's been a long and crazy week of sightseeing and adjusting. When we first arrived at our new apartment, our landlady (who lives in Paris), along with her two daughters, welcomed us with a wonderful lunch on the balcony. She then took us for a walk around the neighborhood, pointing out the best boulangerie, butcher, fruit stand, etc, and the schools for the girls. We are in a really nice residential area, but still only a 15 minute bus ride from the city center.

Marseille is a very hilly city, and our apartment is at the top of a big hill. Leaving the apartment is easy...all downhill. But the return home is quite a workout!

Paul finally has set up his "office" in our bedroom, after numerous visits to local electronic stores and some interesting language barriers. Surge protecter in NOT in my dictionary!

During this past week we have toured much of the city, spent time at the beach, and consumed too many chocolate croissants (they're just so darn good!). Paul generally works from about 1:00 on, to stay on east coast time, so it's the girls and I in the afternoons. Fortunately they're at ages that make it easy to get around, so they are already used to riding the bus, holding my hand on the narrow sidewalks, and looking out for dog poop (it's everywhere here on the sidewalks!)

Over the weekend we took the bus to the nearby port town of Cassis. It was a scary bus ride, following a narrow and winding road up and down the mountains. Cassis is a beautiful little beach town, with cafes and ice cream shops lining the port. We took a boat tour of the Calanques, which are the white cliffs that go in and out of the sea between Marseille and Cassis. They are simply beautiful, and many of them have little sandy beaches. These are only accessed by boat, or by hiking in from more than a mile away, and rock climbing down to the beach!

The girls have been amazing and are adjusting very quickly. Alana has been very outgoing towards other kids at the beach and playgrounds, and has had no problems finding someone to play with. She's very excited about learning French and going to french school. It think she is the perfect age for this year abroad. Alexa is having lots of fun just out and about. She loves to be outside and exploring. She could care less about the french language, and I think she will understand a lot before ever really speaking french. For me, my French is coming back very quickly!