France begins with "F" so do a few other things

French fries, french toast, french bread...a few words that are iconic when one thinks of France. I have another "F" word that I thought about many times today while I was brave/stupid/fearless/out of my depth as I decided that I would not be hotel bound today and would take my French car, with it's French navigation system (not in English my friends, no no, that would have lessened the challenge) and venture from the heart of Lyon through several small towns that would lead me to my new apartment in Ecully. I have the heart of a lion, the Américaine lionne (American lioness)! But I am jumping in my story. This, my friends, is the day spoken of by Murphy, if such a person exists. And if said Murphy exists, I don't want his luck. If I had more than one day of living in "His World" I would consider other life options.

So, first of all, I of course saw 2:30 a.m. and then woke again around 6:00 a.m. I'm guessing the that the whole GUT through the first day so you can get your clock right, is a total crock of crap!! When I gave up attempting to sleep, I turned on my computer and the first awful piece of news of the day was that the appliance company didn't want to accept the American Express and the Darty (electronics store) system had kicked my order out of processing but failed to give that news until we called to narrow down the delivery window. Bummer news #1.

After taking the dogs on a walk along the Rhone river (I threw that in for Sherry since she has little pity for the pups who have a European Union Passport and are walking the Rhone river and drinking espresso from their morning water bowls....of course they aren't....they are Mormon dogs, it is just decaf espresso so it is okay) I got this hair brained idea that I would just get the car from Mike and then I would just head to Ecully since I had my day suddenly free up! And that is what I did. The drive should have taken 25 minutes. It took one hour! Good thing I don't understand the French navigation system, because I think at least 10 times I heard it say "hey stupide américaine .... de l'argent aveugle pourrait suivre ces instructions" which is to say "Hey you stupid American...a blind monkey could follow these directions" (of course you can imagine her sassy French accent brimming with mockery!) I nearly teared up when I saw the apartment. I was completely in awe with my stellar Andretti skills.

My one moment when something seemed right was while I was in the apartment today and looking out the front and back windows I have these great views and I thought "I can be happy here." Mike and I decided that we should rent some furniture and as-sundry items since our faith in the SF has greatly diminished and our hope of having our things before July 1st are fading. So, last night we let our fingers do the walking and found an executive rental company and requested a quote. I was going to just suffer it out with me and my Aerobed, but in an effort to save the nerves of his wife (and maybe save his own nerves from fraying), Mike contacted the rental company, pulled some strings and VOILA....the furniture is going to be hoisted up to my eighth floor apartment tomorrow between 12:30 and 1 p.m.!!! Yay!!

We did get our internet hooked up at the apartment today which is of course great. Getting there a process. I feel particularly whinny, so I am going to just hit a couple more things. Ok, after the internet took 2 hours to hook up, I was about to take a journey to the Carrfour for a broom to clean the disgusting floors of our apartment when Isabelle called (no not Bella the dog, Isabelle the AMAZING ASSISTANT) to give the news that IF I go to Darty (electronic store) and order the appliances in person, they would deliver tomorrow. So, I of course said absolutely. I offered and Isabelle accepted my offer to just go and meet her since it was only 7 km to the store from the apartment. I confidently entered the address, except the S navigation system wouldn't accept the street number so Isabelle assured me that I could just see it on the road, that I couldn't miss it. WRONG!!!!! One hour later, I finally pulled into the Darty somewhat deflated, but still equally amazed that I had in fact found the store. Anyhow, I ordered the appliances again, they are coming tomorrow between 6 pm and 9 pm and VOILA....with all our fingers crossed there is a small chance that everything may work out!!! (Side note: air shipment should arrive on Monday if the SF release the shipment tomorrow...who knows!!)

So anyhow, I drove back to the apartment in 15 minutes, picked up the dogs, made only one wrong turn back into Lyon, and by 9 p.m. I was eating my omelet and french fries. (Oh, another side bar: Mike had a dinner which is why I was on my own to do all this nonsense!!)

My fingers are triple crossed for a smooth day tomorrow. Mike has taken the day off which is such a relief that I cannot even begin to tell you. I am so ready for someone to share the awesome funness that I am having!!!! We have so many plans tomorrow so i will keep you posted as to our plan which is fictional, and what will be what actually factual.

HIGHLIGHT: I found a bakery in my cute town, and went in for my sandwich at lunch. It has potential for my regular but I'm going to try another bakery tomorrow. Oh and I will try and put up pictures. Another low light, Still no phone for me. Perhaps tomorrow.