Today marks one month since I stopped being the main breadwinner, giving me some time to reflect on life as a stay-at-home dad. The last few weeks have been absolutely packed: travelling and moving to Nancy, finding an apartment, arranging electricity and fast internet, and keeping our daughter healthy and happy. Here is a brief update on the journey so far, followed by a few goals for our time here.

Today was not the best of travel days. I woke after my large dinner needing to pack, shower, and reach Gare de l’Est before 10am. Luckily, my bags were light and easy to pack, with few things that did not have a regular place. M gave me a ride to the Metro after my obligatory coffee and croissant, and I rode Line 7 to catch the TGV.

My flight arrived in Paris slightly ahead of schedule. I passed through customs and security without delay, then ordered an expensive but worthwhile “little breakfast” of coffee, orange juice, and a croissant. Our host for the Paris trip, James, instructed us to take bus 183 to Camille Groult, then walk a few blocks to the house. I called to say that I had arrived on time and was on my way. Moments later, my phone ran out of power; three days of maps and Wi-Fi without an opportunity to recharge had drained the battery.

It has been a week since I last wrote in the journal, so you can imagine that I have not had much time. Let me take a few moments to record what I have been doing. I no longer remember the exact days, but I will write about the events as I recall them. Let’s start with leaving Prague, a beautiful city. After spending a wonderful few days there, Ana and I caught an afternoon train to Berlin. We arrived late that night and, after getting somewhat lost on the S-Bahn, found the Generator hostel. It was huge, but check-in went smoothly, our room was comfortable, and we fell asleep. The next morning, we wandered around and found an interesting tour company. Our roommates arrived later, another couple from …

These have been the longest three days of my life, and I have a few stories to tell. I suppose I’ll start on the 25th. July 25: I made two decisions that day: first, to see the Tour de France, and second, to go to Greece a few days later. At 7:00pm, I was at the train station making a reservation for Paris when I ran into Nicole, whom I had met on the pub crawl. She had just graduated from Stanford. Lucky her! I got her email address and also met Ash and Sibyl there.

I’m in Nice at the moment, and yesterday was quite grand. We arrived rather early in the morning yesterday, at about 8:00 a.m. We found our hotel pretty quickly, and I ended up sleeping for the most part of the day. Much needed! At about 5:00 we set off on our cross-town adventure where we wandered over to the Russian Cathedral on Nicholas Avenue, which Nicholas II gave to Nice many years ago, and then wandered down to the beach. We walked along the beach for quite a while, crossed into Old Nice and wandered through the little narrow streets. We got a little turned around in the streets and ended up seeing some pretty awesome memorial plaques from the world wars, I think. Eventually we ended up at …

We are in Nice now and have been for quite some time. We arrived this morning and quickly found our hotel. We are getting good at reading maps and finding our way around new towns. The hotel is all right. It is fairly run-down, but it is a place to sleep, so I can’t complain. I have spent most of the afternoon sleeping and recovering from several days of very little rest. Soon I am going to walk around with Sibyl and Ash, visit a Russian cathedral, and find some pastries. Speaking of pastries, I met an attractive Hungarian woman named Anna on the train. She invited me to stay at her flat in Paris, although I already had a place to stay. In hindsight, it was early and I wasn’t quite thinking. …