Up early at the Zurich Hilton (Hilton?  Hyatt?), and off to the Zurich airport (ZRH, for us airline-industry nerds) for our flight to Paris (CDG).  As I was clearly instructed not to lift anything over 2kg (FOUR pounds!) for 5-6 weeks after surgery, I had to stand aside and WATCH as LouAnn and the kids lugged the suitcases around both airports, onto trains, up subway steps….  They were troopers!  Upon arrival in Paris, we took the RER train straight from the airport all the way to the Metro stop nearest our apartment, St. Michel-Notre Dame.  We did have a bit of a mishap on the train.  Ellis had pulled out a small rubber squish-toy we had bought off a Venice street vendor and began playing with it, squeezing it into all types of shapes.  As he played, it suddenly BURST, showering him, the seat next to him, the suitcase in front of him, with a fine flour-like substance.  Honestly, it looked like the Pillsbury Doughboy had exploded.  Already self-conscious about the huge, very American-like space we were occupying on the train car, I now could only look away in silent horror, pretending I was alone, blissfully unrelated to that kid across the aisle – the one laughing hysterically and looking like a powdered-sugar donut.  Bonjour, France – the Stumbos have arrived!  Are you ready?

It was a short walk from the Metro station to our apartment door at 13 Rue Seguier; just blocks from Notre Dame!  I texted our host, Armelle, and she came down to meet us.  She was very sweet, and after I explained my restricted condition, she recruited a few burly neighbors to help us carry the suitcases up 78 ancient steps to our apartment.  It was LOVELY.  This was our first experience with airbnb.com, and both this and the London apartment turned out WONDERFULLY.  The apartment was very modern and had a very cool layout for the kids, with two loft bedrooms.  You could even poke your head out one of the roof windows and see the Eiffel Tower in the distance!  After a few instructions from Armelle, she and her sister left us to settle into our Parisian home.

The rest of the evening was rather relaxed.  We explored the wonderful little streets around our neighborhood.  We visited the local Carrefour market and came home loaded with groceries.  It felt good to be settled, with a week in Paris ahead of us….

Welcome to Paris!

Hoofing the bags – they add did a great job!

On the train from the airport into Paris, pre-explosion.

POST-EXPLOSION.

He clearly got a lot of moral support from his brother.

Our street – Rue Seguier!

You can see one of the loft bedrooms in the upper part of this photo.

And you can see the OTHER loft bedroom at the top of THIS photo.

The upstairs “hallway”.

View from the rooftop window – la Tour Eiffel!