Salut from Strasbourg (Rani's first e-mail)

Salut!
We have finally gotten to Strasbourg and moved in. When we arrived in France, we stayed at Stephane's (Axel's cousin who you may all notice in pictures over the years. He has managed to coordinate meeting up at least once a year wherever we are!). Stephane lives in Paris in this awesome apt right next to the metro and surrounded by street parking which is free all of August. He lives on the 5th floor with no elevator so it definitely kicked my ass going up and down everyday. Unfortunately Steph was in Indonesia so we were on our own for the 3 days we were in Paris. We had to go to Strasbourg for a day to drop off our crazy luggage that Don brought for us a month previously which we picked up from Axel's family in Antony, a suburb just outside of Paris. Axel's cousin Camille, fed our hungry souls while we picked up our stuff. 

The trip to Strasbourg was painful…over 500 km eachway. And we would have stayed the night except we had no sheets forthe bed or towels. And we had to feed Stephane's cat. So we drove back after hauling our bags, our bikes and everything we now own, up 3 long flights of stairs to our new abode. The next day, Aug 18th, we went to the South of France from Aug 18 – 26 to hang out with Axel'sg randfather, sister and nieces. It was a great trip filled with swimming, playing spit with Sonya, talking books with Nadia, and chilling out with Papous and Anne. We went to Les Baux de Provence for a day and were blown away with this exhibit we saw. It's in a cathedral carved out from a cave and they have a show with van Gogh's paintings projected on the walls and columns and music in the 

background. I'm not doing it justice in any way by describing it this way. Just know that we will make sure we will go every year we can as it changes.

We arrived in Strasbourg late on the 26th, so all we could do in Strasbourg was eat ice cream and orient ourselves in the neighbourhood. We found the local grocery store, various Indian, thai and Chinese restaurants, and the pretty incredible cathedral that Strasbourg is known for. Oh yeah, and the standard sausage and saurkraut cafes which I am sure we will be frequenting.

The next day (yesterday), we got our game on and got to work to find the closest bakery, veggies and fruit store before 9 am. We saw an old woman with her rolling cart so decided to follow her since all old women with carts are going to the market. But I think we scared her and she ended up escaping from our stalking efforts.

By the end of the day, we got my long-term resident card which I need for everything in France, our bank accounts, internet at home which will arrive in 3 weeks, as well as bonus finds like the market (where we got our own rolling cart (25 euros, which is actually cheap, some veggies for ratatouille and some fruits for dirt cheap (total 10euros)), the crossroads for the trams which was handy to know, the mall for some air conditioning time, a good place to photocopy, an internet café, and the best part: a Chinese grocery store!!!! That was such a find since we decided we needed rice for dinner and were dragging our heels about having to buy rice in the MarcheU which we knew was expensive. We got tofu, soya sauce with no wheat, currypaste, coconut milk for cheap, and a source for rice cookers. All in all, a good day.

What is great about this city is the close proximity for everything.We did all of this on foot and managed to do almost everything on our list. This afternoon is Ikea where we need to supplement our place with some kitchen utensils (we currently have 1 fork, 6 spoons, no knives, and 1 crepe pan). Tomorrow will be Axel's paperwork day: an appointment at 9:10 am at the university to get registered and his student card, and then his social security card and medical insurance started in France. We also need to get the electricity to come under our name. Interestingly, in order to do anything utility-related in France, you need to know the name of the last tenant and/or the name of the last person who had the phone line or cable hooked up. It's the only way the companies can figure out where you live in the buildings since many buildings, like ours, has no apartment number!?! Yeah, that's right, no number. We just live in the building, the backpart of the courtyard, 3 long flights of stairs up and the 3rd door on the left. We met our building manager who was the nicest woman and she tested all of the buzzers until she got ours to figure out which was our buzzer. I just don't get why they don't just number the doors. But maybe this is just North American mentality!?! I have a feeling this is just the tip of the iceberg.

When you call us, it's free for us. All incoming calls in Europe are free. So call often!! I think with VOIP, it's free to call France,but I'm not sure if it's just for landlines. The landline isn't working yet. Not sure when it will happen but I'm hoping it's soon since we started paying for it. Once we get internet (hopefully sooner than 3 weeks from now), we will have VOIP too so we can call Canada and the US for free.
If you are in France, you should call us. Strasbourg is 2h20 minutes away from Paris via train, and isn't expensive. And we have a very nice couch to sleep on. We'll post pics and Ax is determined to start a blog so I'll send you those details when I have them.
I'm only on the internet intermittently until we get our own so if I don't respond, don't be mad!! We miss you all.
Love Ran