Flight and arrival

Departure day:
Up at 6:30 am and start finishing touches packing, arranging house for the house sitter / dog cat watcher. Fariba has volunteered to drive us to the airport. She is awarded sainthood, we take the big chevy truck, load it with all 6 pieces of checked luggage, about 45 lbs. average each. Then load Cindy, Caleigh, Fariba and myself with assorted cabin bags and proceed to the airport. We get there with tons of time to spare. Have a margarita and a hot sandwich and relax. Flight takes off on time and Cindy orders a glass of champagne and I get a mini bottle of La Vieille Ferme, a fun little red wine in a plastic bottle. The flight is just long and cramped, but otherwise seamless. We arrive CDG-Paris then taxi on the runway for fifteen minutes, breeze through customs and wait at the luggage conveyor belt, gather our 6 bags, wheel them outside to a waiting taxi. 45 minutes later we’re arriving at Hotel Jeanne d-arc. It’s December 16th and cold, as expected. But it is Paris, with Provence a couple days away. This chapter in our lives hasn’t sunk in yet, jet lag, uncertainty, anticipation. It’s all there stirring around inside of us. So we check into out hotel at 2:00 in the afternoon, and I get an immediate catnap, Cindy and Caleigh go out for a stroll, and buy the French basics, bread, wine cheese, fruit and return. As we start to nibble there is a knock on the door so Cindy hides all out food and a man starts repairing our T.V. for an hour, surreal after Cindy got over the shock of almost getting busted for food in our room. Not fixed we get a few different men walking in, I remain laying in bed typing this. Caleigh is in the other room probably feigning sleep. Cindy is reading a brochure for the seventh time and we think they have it sorted. The channel we’re watching is the French version of Friends, merde don’t we come across as highbrows? Who is caring, is all I’m saying.