Bonjour Paris!

We have finally arrived in Paris! The beginning of the journey did not start out so optimistically. We found out as we got to the airport that we left Matt's suitcase sitting in front of our house. Granted it was dark, and the suitcase was a dark shade of gray that easily blended with the night. But come on! How could we have not seen it? We all assumed it was loaded into the car and nobody took a final count. Anyway, Matt's making the best of a bad situation. He will have to borrow Ki's clothes until we can buy more. Good thing he's big enough to share now.
The apartment we rented is in the heart of Paris in a very quaint part of the neighborhood. In fact every other store is a jewelry store/bead store with cafes around the corner. What more could a girl ask for? And it's walking distance to all the major monuments. We picked it for it's ideal location.
The apartment itself is not a nice as we expected. First of all, we had to lug our heavy suitcases up four flights of stairs...no elevators. Secondly, it's smaller and older than the pictures indicated. Thirdly, it's right next to an elementary school, which means we can hear the hoard of kids screaming and playing during recess. It's like a mob outside! But right now, someone is either playing opera music or actually singing opera. We can hear it from our place and it's quite nice. So Parisian!
All in all, Paris is what I expected. We took a boat tour on the Seine River and every building is so beautiful, it's hard to take it all in. From the Notre Dame Cathedral to the Eiffel Tower to the Louvre. Weather was a perfect sunny spring day. Food has been awesome.....pastries are tasty, cappuccino the best I ever had, and the people friendly and fun to practice my French. Ki and the kids are completely dependent on me for the little French I remember from high school. But it's been so much fun just trying to speak it!
We did have another incident. As we were walking back to our apartment after the boat tour, I noticed a zipper was open on
Ki's backpack. He checked it and discovered his cash ($100) and his Ironman watch was missing. Thankfully ours passports were still there. He was pick pocketed by a professional....he doesn't even know when it happened!
This vacation has been full of surprises. Some good and some not so good. I hope the rest of our time here will be......normal. No more "uh oh" moments!