Back on the Map...

With our last blog post, we coming to the end of our in-between-autumn, still in limbo while being housed in another nieghborhood by Perrine's family, as we awaited for our renovation work to conclude at our new apartment. I'm happy to say that since the end of last year, we are officially back on the map, and moved into our new apartment and Menilmontant neighborhood.

It all started last November, when for one last time we woke up in Perrine's family apartment in the heart of Paris and together with Milo we took one last trip by bike and metro to Milo's school in our new neighborhood. We stopped along the way to inspect the Christmas decorations already up in the fancy shopping district near Place Madeleine.

With Papitou/grandpa Jean-Guy in town, we said goodbye to all the musicians in the metro station that Milo had gotten to know over the months of commuting to school, and enjoyed a last metro-ride book.

The day before, while the workers were still putting together our kitchen (with temporary white cupboard doors – our order still hadn't come in!) our friends helped us move our boxes and furniture out of storage and up the five flights of stairs into our new home!

The moving crew!

Our building at 333 rue des Pyrénées, overlooks a little plaza with a food market that takes place twice a week. Next door to the building is a little community garden where we quickly became members. Downstairs is a laundromat and an Italian wine bar.

By the end of Milo's last day of commuting to school, Perrine and I had finished opening enough boxes to make it feel like home.

We had our first dinner together at the apartment, followed by Milo's first bath in his new bathtub, and our first night of sleep in our new bedrooms.

The next night, grandpa Jean-guy came over for an inaugural family meal together.

Room with a view

I don't think we had a chance to enjoy a sunset that first night, but soon enough we realized that the view from our little window overlooking the city was one of the nicest parts of our new home.

Next we got to have our first two overnight guests at the house, as Thanksgiving was just around the corner, and Rebecca and Ajay were just a Eurostar train ride across the channel in London.

I put our new oven to work, while Rebecca showed her cranberry jello molding skills.

Our friends and former neighbors Dan and Corinne and their son Joah and baby daughter Lula came over to share Thanksgiving with us as well this year.

We're lucky that we didn't move too far from our old neighborhood, which means Milo and Joah still get to see each other, often meeting up at the swimming pool on the cool graffiti street in Belleville.

After Thanksgiving Ajay went back to London, and Rebecca stayed on for a week. That week became a month after she ended up having some visa difficulties at the train station when trying to return to the UK. It was a terribly frustrating experience for Rebecca, but gave us time to catch up together, and allowed us to discover our new neighborhood with her and share some very special moments.

 

Rebecca got all Frenchified...

We did mustard tastings....

Truffled mustard, yum!

Christmas tea tastings....

And mint tea tastings...

Went shopping...

And antiquing...




We had a dinner with Perrine's cousins Olympe and Leonor and aunt Anne...

We visited Milo's school

And tried out all the neighborhood playgrounds...

We showed Rebecca all the amazing foods of the traditional French market...

Holy mushrooms!

While she showed us all the amazing foods of the traditional Chinese market! Belleville, which has a large Chinese community, is just a short walk from our apartment...

Care for some Dragon fruit?

Becca made us many amazing Chinese dinners...

As Christmas neared, Rebecca helped us get into the spirit of the season - she helped us buy a tree, and taught us how to make Christmas cookies...

 

  

Becca kindly took our family Christmas photos for us...

And we took her to a French Christmas food market...

We went to see the Christmas windows at the Galeries Lafayette shopping center...

And when it came time for us to leave for Christmas in Brittany, Rebecca took us to the train station, and stayed at our apartment with Ajay, who came over to spend the holiday with her. 

 

Christmas in Brittany

Cousins Julia and Milo on Christmas Eve

Table games

A Christmas Skype with Lucie and Frederic, biking across South America

Christmas Day

 We were all spoiled this Christmas! Paul prepared us amazing repasts...

Paul's fabulous Yorkshire pudding and roast beef...

We took a trip with Papitou to sample fresh farm cider and apple juice...

...and we went to the abalone farm to pick up a very special holiday meal

We warmed our bones with coffee and Breton lambig at a country manoir

And we celebrated the good news that came from Paris, where we learned Ajay and Rebecca had gotten engaged over Christmas!

One of our nicest days in Brittany was the one we spent with great grandparents Maïé and Robert on the seaside. It was a chilly winter day, but we put on our rain slickers and pull up our boots and went down to the beach to hunt for snails, mussels, oysters and clams.

Afterwards we warmed up with one of grandpère Robert's famous flambées, and sat down to a true Brittany seaside lunch of oysters and cider.

 

 

The day before we headed back to Paris, there was a chilly morning which left just enough frost for Milo to imagine what his cousins in Minnesota were up to that day.

Back in Paris, Milo had an overnight with his friend Joah coming up, painting to do, and we all had whole New Year to look forward to...