Au Revoir UK, Bonjour France!

We arrived in France, early morning of the 26 July.

Super Handsome and oldest son drove in one of the UK cars and the rest of us took the Eurostar.

It turned out that we should have prebooked the Eurostar.  The station was mad and all the trains were oversold.  Since we did not have another option, we had to take Business Class.  Ooo la la!  Many thank you’s have to be extended here to the business men that helped us get our stuff onto the train.  We were all lugging suitcases and my youngest two needed help.  As I went to help them, the men standing around us lifted the suitcases up to assist us.

Meanwhile, Super Handsome was stuck in traffic on the M25.  What we did not realize was the public schools in the UK had their last day 24 July.  So, there was a MASS exodus occurring.  Hence the traffic jam on the M25 and the Eurostar being oversold.

Super Handsome finally made it to Folkstone and loaded the car onto the train. It was somewhere in this part of the story that Chip was standing on Lilibeth’s soft cat carrier to look out the window and apparently, she was mad!  She hissed at him with her ears back, while he just stood on her carrier, happily looking out the window!   They got off the train and from there, it was not all smooth sailing.  The car was warm, we had been in the midst of a heat wave.  When Super Handsome opened the window, Lilibeth (our kitten) meowed because she hated the noise.  So, the dog panted and the car got very hot.

Meanwhile, I had arrived in France and went to the train station.  Not after I had to deal with some troublesome guys who were pulling a scam at the ticket machines and trying to buy our tickets and have us pay him with money. They swore that the machines would not take my card because it was not French, they also had badges to look ‘official’.   I declined their help and went to the ticket window.

We waited and waited and our train was not showing up.  With the help of a very nice stranger, we figured out that our train was not running after 10pm due to works on the line.  So, he kindly assisted us and took us to where we could get off the train at a station close to where we needed to be, from there we could take a bus.  Then, after he thought more about it, he insisted that he would drive us to our destination.  He was very kind and we all smashed ourselves into his old, little BMW at 1 am, but it worked.  We arrived just after Super Handsome did.  He (his name is Peter) told Super Handsome and I both that he felt that we were too big of a target for something to go wrong and he said that he wouldn’t have been able to sleep without delivering us safely to our destination.

He was a very sweet man and apparently my second oldest son needed some proof that there is some good in the world.  My second son was very suspicious that the man was going to do us wrong and felt better that the man declined our attempt to give him money.  Instead, we took his email and we plan to have him over for dinner sometime.

We arrived very late and immediately all went into our temporary place and went to bed.

Good-bye England!  We will miss you and all of our friends.  Thankfully, you are just a short train ridge away.

xoxo

The Packers Arrive

Well, as you know by now.  Things are always crazy at my house.  The crazy seems to follow me where ever I go.

As of 3:59 yesterday I did not have packers coming.  By 5pm, they were coming Saturday (today).  The company that called had one opening for us, Saturday.  Otherwise we would not be able to vacate Oak Lodge by 25 July.

So, I agreed and madness has been the word ever since.  Luckily I work well under pressure and I have the attitude that what we don’t get accomplished, the packers will just have to deal with the best that they can.

So, today is being spent with the packers here packing our stuff to ship to France.

In other news, I still don’t have a UK bank account and I have not been successful in transferring any money from the US to France.  Fantastic.

Round 1 and 2

The last two days have been a bit stressful.

Super Handsome and I went to the bank in the UK on Saturday to open an account.  We did this with the purpose to link it with our new French bank account. We needed a document that I had to bring back on Monday before they could complete the process.

I took the said document that we had agreed was needed in Monday.  I also took an additional document in as well.  I showed both to the staff and they insisted they needed the additional document and not the document that I had been told to bring in.  I asked them to make a copy of both documents, but they refused.  Even when I asked them to just in case.

Fast forward to Tuesday.  I contacted my US credit union and asked them to wire money from my account to France.  They refused me because I had recently changed my address.  So, I tried my other US bank and they said they would do all that they could for me.  Great!

Then I got the call from the UK bank, that document that they had not copied for me?  Well, I needed to run it back into the bank.  It turns out that they really should have copied it for me.

So, right now.  I still don’t have a UK bank account or a wire transfer to going to France.

That’s ok, we are suppose to vacate Oak Lodge in 7 days and we still don’t have packers scheduled yet.

Time is Short

Our time in the UK is fast growing to a close.  I am sad about leaving and so are the children.  We are trying not to really say good bye to those that we want to keep in touch with, instead we are saying things like, "See you in France, soon!”

We spent the 4th of July in London.  I had been planning to take the children out of school to observe the holiday (and make a trip to the Warner Brother Studios Harry Potter Studios).  Instead we had to take them out of school as we had to go and apply for our French visas.  It was a paperwork nightmare.  We were there for 3 hours refilling out paperwork in duplicate.  It turned out that our person for the day was telling us wrong, his supervisor stepped in and just cleared some of it through mistakes and all.  I am still not sure why we had to do it all by hand, to be fair, the supervisor said that it was crazy as well.  Dear French visa people, you can fill out paperwork, electronically.  It saves time and me from having hand cramps!

We spent Super Handsome’s birthday at the school ball.  We had to be there so that Oldest Son could go.  It was a nice night for him and I know that he had a good time with his class mates.  Unfortunately, Super Handsome did not get any dinner.  The caterers ran out of food.  I had a meatless meal as did some others.  A handful of people, like my husband did not get anything.  Not really a great birthday for him.  Especially since he wanted to be in Hyde Park listening to the Rolling Stones!  No worries, a week later, we were there to see them, and I have to say, for ‘old' guys, they can still give a good performance!

Our visas finally arrived, I had to take Mark out of school (Colin was finished early) and the three of us had to go back to London.  There was problems with our biometrics.  While we were there, they finished them up and sent us home with them.  It was a few days before they were valid though.  Today we are actually free to travel to France with them. Super Handsome left this morning, he is working this week in France.

The kids have broken up from school now.  Most of our friends are getting ready to head out on holiday.  We have things to deal with here and I am hoping to get at least one or two trips into London before we leave.  We have to vacate our home here on the 25.  The packers are not yet scheduled and I am getting nervous!

Summer has finally arrived in England.  The weather has been in the 80’s for the last week or so.  When we were in London, Hyde Park was brown, due in part to the lack of rain lately.  That’s ok, I’ll take it!

I have to admit that I am hoping that the Duchess of Cambridge has her baby before we leave.  London is currently really busy with tourists right now and I know that when she finally has the baby the UK will be celebrating!  Let’s go Kate, after all, our time is short!

A Flat

So, it is official, we have a house!  Well, actually it is a flat!

So, to start out the story, I took the Eurostar over to France.  Super Handsome met me and we headed to the hotel.  We arrived at the Marriot and then walked down to St Michale.  Super Handsome had found a delicious gelato place.  It was a nice walk, but sadly I did not have proper shoes.  I ended the walk with blisters.  We were also very disappointed as he had planned to take me to a restaurant.  The restaurant was hosting a big party that evening and had little room and a limited menu.  So, we tried a local Italian place.  We ordered Calamari, which in retrospect was also a mistake.  The pizza looked delicious, we should have ordered it instead!

We headed back to the Marriott and had an early night.  We had a long day the next day.  We had to start out with a run to the bank to open an account.  We took the train to Champs-Elysse where I signed the required papers.  Then we met with our housing agent, Laurence and commenced to a long day of looking.  We looked at homes from 9 until 5.  We had a short break for lunch.

We looked mainly near the schools.  We ended up splitting the boys between two schools.  The American School of Paris is very close, Oldest Son will be attending that school.  Due to circumstances that I probably should not revel, the three other boys are going to the British School of Paris, which is located in Croissy-sur-Seine.  The schools are in the same general area and not that far away from each other.

We looked in Saint-Cloud, La Celle-Saint Cloud, Croissy-sue-Seine, Ruil-Mailmasion, and Sevres to name a few areas....

Ironically, we ended up with the first flat we visited.  The family that currently inhabits/owns it, is also a family of 4.  They have 3 boys and a girl.    It is a little on the small side with only 3 bedrooms.  It has a killer living space and hands down had the best kitchen that we saw that day.  We will be able to have visitors stay with us, but it will be a tight squeeze.  We will be using almost every square inch of the flat to live in and when they come, they will be located in the study/den area that is located near the main living space.

Anyway... pictures!  Here are some pictures!  We are renting it furnished so most of the furniture that you see will stay.

Super Handsome on the outside of the building.  It is a duplex that we share with one person, apparently a woman.

 This house was a bit unique.  Remember I said that it had 3 bedrooms.  Well, this one was very large and it was where the three boys slept.  These are the pictures of the room.  Note that each section has it’s own window!

The daughter has her own room painted pink.  They are going to paint the walls white for us.

The room is triangle shaped.

Kids bathroom, toilet is around the corner.

 The laundry is also located in the kids bathroom.

Proceeding onto the Master Bedroom and Bathroom!

Looking into the Master Bath

Italian Shower

Well, you all know what this is!

Master Bedroom

Master Bedroom to incude the storage cabinets.  There are more on the right wall as well.

Moving onto the living space....

This small bathroom is located at the top of the stairs.

Looking into the main living space.  You can see the kitchen to the left and the doorway on the right is the study/den area.  You can also see the dining room table on the right as well.

Note the big fridge/freezer.  There is also a wine fridge, two ovens and a microwave.

Blurry picture of the kitchen

View of the living area from the dining space.

 I did not get pictures of the study area.  It was a nice big room with many windows.  The owner happened to be there so I did not want to take a photo.  It will the area that guests will share with us.  

Next is the Terrace!  We share the roof top terrace with our neighbor.  I think that you will agree that it is a great use of space!  And they have a Webber gas grill that they are leaving!  Whoo-hooo!

place to eat

Seating area, I was standing in the middle of the two areas

Skyline of Paris in the distance

Church

We saw many options.  Homes with gardens aka yards and flats.  I was honestly surprised that we ended up with this one.  It is going to be a major change for my family, no doubt.

Oldest son will be able to bike to school.  The other three will catch the bus at a stop that is not far beyond his school.  I won’t have to have a car, but we may decide later to get one.  There is a lovely, lovely artisan boulangerie just down the road from the flat and there is a small hotel as well.

We will also be a short walk from a big park and a metro station.

I will begin life as a city girl.....

House Hunting

Well, tomorrow I am off to Paris to house hunt this week.

Older Son is staying home to walk the dog and take care of our new kitten.

The younger three are off to friends homes so that they can attend school.

Cross you fingers that this will be an easy trip with an easy decision.  Also cross you fingers that we get the home that we want.  It is not a simple process. We have to submit 2 years of tax forms, pay stubs and who knows what else for the application process.  Hopefully we will be lucky enough to get the home that we decide that we want!

The next couple of weeks are looking to be a whirl wind of crazy.  THe list is incredible.  Hopefully, I’ll still have my hair at the end!  

The Driving Test

As you may remember, Super Handsome and I had to take our driving test here so that we can exchange our UK licenses for our French licenses.

Well, we both passed the theory portion of our testing process.  It involved a 50 question multiple choice section and then 14 videos in which we had to identify the hazards.  We both passed!

Super Handsome has his driving portion already scheduled.  The system has been down, so I have not been able to schedule mine yet, but I will as soon as I can.

Meanwhile, the clock is ticking.  We seem to finally have the schools under control after a large mess that ended up with me packing my three youngest into my car and driving to France!  It was a good thing that I did not over think the trip.  After we got on the train and I was driving in the my right sided car on the left side of the road did I see the signs and remember that I still can’t read French!  I just shook my head and drove on....

I gave notice to our landlords 25 June that we are vacating in a month.  I am going to France (on the Eurostar) Monday to have a house hunting trip with Sean all Tuesday.  Hopefully we find something good.  From what I understand it can be quite the crap shoot depending on what is available.  Oldest son is staying home with dog and our new kitten.  The other three boys are going to stay with friends so that they can get to school.

Keep your fingers crossed for us as getting a house is not the simplest thing.  We have to put in applications.  Hopefully we find something wonderful and we will get our first choice.