Yesterday was a successful day for us! We left the hotel, purchased a payable phone (we got a cheap Nokia, which is not really a step up from Michael's old phone:) but works, successfully rode the subway to an appt. at a bank, got an account set up (the lady was so nice and spoke fairly good English), saw the Eiffel tower from across the Seine (so beautiful),  went up to the Arch de Triomphe, and visited the Monoprix twice. I had done research about the Monoprix (it is "similar" to a Target)...although it is situated in 4 levels...groceries in the basement, and clothes, cleaning stuff, and household items on the other 3 floors) We had to pay for our grocery bags, which I had read about...then we arrived at our apartment.  It was so nasty that we weren't sure if we should even use the towels...so, we attempted to wash a few. Oh dear, it was a disaster...first of all it is a combo washer/dryer...but everything is in French-including the manual!! We went online and found an English one, but still couldn't wash the towels. We used Facetime to call Mom and Cal to beg for help:) We gave up after 3 washes and then Michael and I hand ringing 2 towels out in the bathtub at 11:30 p.m. It did provide a funny memory:) We were cracking up!

Our apartment is beyond disgusting! I didn't cry, but I almost did! My sweet husband helped me clean a few things, but we decided it was so gross that we needed to take pictures and contact the owner. We may show you some of the pictures when we come home!!  At dinner, Eden said, "Well it is really bad, because I have never seen Dad react like this!!"  Lol--what does that say about us? Just kidding-I already know:)
Michael sent quite a few pictures to the owner, with some funny captions...So now the owner is trying to have some things taken care of, and  the cleaning lady is coming back today to "reclean"....So at this point, we are not able to unpack and get settled in...But hopefully soon!

(The cleaning lady has just arrived--and doesn't speak any English...so I am miming all of the concerns to her-- ) Wish us luck!

All in all, it is going well...we figured that we would have some things that would need to be worked out!

Thank you for all of the prayers!!! We appreciate them! Au Revoir!