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We are so grateful to my family here for making this first week so memorable.  My cousin picked us up the morning after we arrived and drove us to Belgium so we could celebrate my uncle’s 80th birthday.  We spent the evening with family, some whom we’ve never met, some whom we met years ago.  Somehow it just feels natural to be with family, even if it’s hard to communicate sometimes.  Thankfully their English is much more successful than our attempts at French. 

We spent a day at Foundation Louis Vuitton, an amazing museum set in a huge park.  It was not a place we knew about and feel lucky to have had my cousin take us to the museum  and then to have the second cousins there to ride rides and play games with our kids in the park.  That night we headed to one of the Bals des Pompiers (Fireman’s Balls) which are parties held in various fire stations on July 13 and 14 each year.  We ate, drank, danced and got home at our usual time: very late.  Our kids have been on a Parisian schedule: they go to bed around 2 am and wake up around noon.  It’s a lot like the schedule I recall when Greg and I came 12 years ago.  Somehow I thought with kids it would be different, mais non!

Our apartment for the first week had a spectacular view of the Eiffel Tower. To wake up and have coffee on the balcony in the morning and a glass of wine at night looking at the Eiffel Tower is a very special thing and something we will always remember.  We had some of the family to our place for Bastille Day to watch the fireworks.  We had such a great time celebrating, and it was not until everyone left around 2:00 am that we learned of the tragedy in Nice.  

We did a little sightseeing on our own, including the Rodin Museum which has a wonderful audio guide for kids so they were captivated the whole time.  Then our family hosted us for dinner at their home and took us to Montmarte.  We have been truly lucky to have such hospitality.