Life in France, Travel in France & beyond

Antibes in 5 days

When we were looking for a place to call “home” in France, we had a spreadsheet that included must-have items such as, “train station, market town, supermarkets, seaside…” As often happens, compromises are made, so “must-have” turned into “nice-to-have” for that waterfront location. Carcassonne does have a river and a canal but we’re still 50 km (31 miles) from the sea. Consequently, when we have the opportunity to vacation on the coast, Bill tries to find an accommodation that provides that outlook that we sought for our house. Today’s featured photo above across the top shows you the view that he found. Not bad at all!

Continue reading “Antibes in 5 days”
Unknown's avatarBob1 Comment
Life in France

Art Nouveau/Déco in Carcassonne

Look up! Look up, up, up! If you learned to read around the same time that Bill and I did, those words probably brought back cherished memories of the fascinating adventures (to a 6-year-old, anyway) of Dick and Jane, Baby Sally, and their dog and cat, Spot and Puff. While at that point we would have been clearly looking down at the book, the story line of “looking up” would come in very handy years later. Tying into that theme, the original title of today’s blog post was going to be “Hidden Carcassonne” to indicate that we had been missing a lot by concentrating only at eye level and not raising our sights, so to speak. The city’s Office of Tourism’s newest brochure highlights what has been hiding right above our heads.

Continue reading “Art Nouveau/Déco in Carcassonne”
Unknown's avatarBob2 Comments
Life in France, Travel in France & beyond

Morlaix, Brest & Roscoff

It’s hard to miss a structure that towers 60 meters (197 feet) above you and stretches left and right as far as the eye can see. You can get an idea of the size of the viaduct in Morlaix in the photo above across the top of today’s blog post. We initially scheduled a visit there as just an overnight stop on our circular rail trip around Brittany. However, our map route changed when we tried to book trains with guaranteed seat reservations. The schedules forced us to backtrack to Rennes first. Rather than rushing through, we turned this quirk into an advantage by extending our stay in Morlaix to several nights, using it as a base to explore nearby Brest via a local train and Roscoff by bus.

Continue reading “Morlaix, Brest & Roscoff”
Unknown's avatarBob5 Comments
Life in France, Travel in France & beyond

La Grande Boucle of Brittany

If you are a fan of the bicycle race, Le Tour de France, you will have heard it referred to as La Grande Boucle or in English, The Big Loop. Although these days the race doesn’t necessarily make a geographic circle, sometimes even starting in another country, it did indeed complete a grand circuit around France when it was created in 1903. About every two years the riders pass through Carcassonne so we get to see them regularly—as long as you count a two-second glimpse as they all whiz by as “seeing” them! Using that concept of a big circular trip, we’ve just returned from our own grand tour by train around Brittany.

Continue reading “La Grande Boucle of Brittany”
Unknown's avatarBob6 Comments
Life in France

The Naëlou bench

During the first year that we lived in France, Bill and I volunteered to help with English language conversation classes at our local branch of Les Maisons des Jeunes et de la Culture (MJC). This is a nationwide association that promotes social and cultural development through a wide range of activities and programs for people of all ages. Based on the principles of solidarity, tolerance, and responsibility, the organization works with residents and local communities to create lasting social connections. The building that currently houses our MJC is believed to have been a former convent opened in 1623, and to mark the completion of its total renovation, a thought-provoking bench was installed near the main entrance.

Continue reading “The Naëlou bench”
Unknown's avatarBob3 Comments
Life in France

Purchasing power: France vs. USA

When we were looking to make the big move from the US to France, we gathered as much information as we could to find out about the cost of living here. There’s a “budget” tab above on this page that shows what we spend monthly and it remains one of the most popular topics for people who read the blog. What we don’t address, however, is what we used to pay back in Atlanta but considering that was over 10 years ago I don’t think that it would be relevant anyway. One person who does do exactly that is Jean-Noël, a Frenchman who now lives in upstate New York where he makes comparisons between Normandy and Ithaca.

Continue reading “Purchasing power: France vs. USA”
Unknown's avatarBob5 Comments
Life in France

€1 million to become an American

French comedian Olivier Giraud has been performing his show, “How to become a Parisian in one hour” for 12 years at a theater that’s a short walk from the Louvre. His tongue-in-cheek suggestions include how to look bored and annoyed all the time and what nonsensical sounds you can make to get across your message without saying a word. While arguably an “expert” about what it takes to live in this nation’s capital, the tables were turned on Olivier when someone asked him if he were offered a million euros to become an American would he accept the money. He replied, “yes” as long as he could keep his French benefits and that’s what I wanted to investigate.

Continue reading “€1 million to become an American”
Unknown's avatarBob3 Comments