First Stop IKEA

Last night was rough... Not the worst night of sleep, but I think if I was stuck sleeping on a box spring or the flip and f*&# I would probably last no more than a month here. I've spent a good part of my first 24 hours considering the human comforts I've given up to be here. Before I left I was aware of the luxuries I wouldn't have in Paris, but then you arrive and you are faced with walking up four flights of stairs and not having an oven and instead of the idea you are hit with the reality.

Leave it to IKEA to sort you out... Waking up this morning remedying the sleeping situation seemed like the first critical piece to move forward. Sylvain went out and got baguette and pain au chocolat for breakfast- maybe that was actually the first critical move forward, After our petit dejeuner it was time to head to IKEA. To get there was rather involved two metro trains, a real train and a bus, I was exhausted and cold throughout the trip- jet lag had taken up residence dans mon corps.

We had done some online shopping last night so we made a beeline to our future bed/couch, we lay on the mattress and deemed it suitable. While horizontal I noticed across the room there were some simple tables for 5e and I knew we'd need one of those too. We also needed a garbage can and a bigger pot for my plans to make soup however on the way out I saw about 6 other things I would have bought if Sylvain hadn't reigned me in. As much as I wanted to furnish our lives with a few more IKEA accessories, Sylvain was right, our apartment is not big, and anything else we added to our purchases would take up precious space we didn't have.

We had planned on getting our bed delivered but while standing in line to arrange delivery a taxi man came and offered us a cheaper price to drive us and our loot home in his moving van. Sylvain took 2 minutes to think about it, and accepted. This ended up making life a lot easier, we got a ride, we got our things home with us and Sylvain was able to put the bed together right away while I screwed in the legs of my new bedside table.

The little space we do have went from looking like a disaster to making sense, good riddance box spring mattress, welcome home IKEA couch bed. To cap our day off the hot water returned and so after a warm bath everything finally feels sorted. Home sweet home...