The French have a reputation for eating some weird things such as snails, frog’s legs, stinky cheese with the “smell of angel’s feet” and every part of a pig except the oink. For the real adventurous there’s always tête de veau; yep, a good ‘ole complete calf’s head plopped onto your plate ready for you to chow down on…yum! Continue reading “What’s for breakfast?”
At the beginning of this year (OK, just 2 days ago) we added a new section to the blog called “Budget”. Since that is such an important consideration when making any move, it made sense to highlight what it costs to live overseas. On that page, which you access on the menu bar above, you’ll be able to see what others around France spend on a monthly basis. Just as including New York City or San Francisco in a budget discussion about life in the USA would scare anyone, we’ve not listed what someone in Paris might spend. Let’s just say that what we’re allowing for all costs in Carcassonne (rent, food, insurance, taxes, etc.) would barely cover renting a studio apartment in the City of Light. Eventually we’ll be able to show the exact amount that we spend on a monthly basis in the southwest of France. Continue reading “Budget page”
Each year on July 14, Bastille Day, Carcassonne goes all out with a non-stop 50 minutes of fireworks over the castle. The spectacle attracts 700,000 people to a town of 50,000 and there’s a link here in the right hand column to a 4-minute video of the highlights. I still get goosebumps when I watch it. As you can imagine, coping with the influx of that many people in less than one day is quite the challenge for the government. Streets have to be closed, parking spaces created, extra security provided, restroom facilities put in place, on and on. That got me to wondering: who pays for all of this? Continue reading “What price art?”
Awaiting a flight to the US, I was walking through the Barcelona airport back to where Bill was sitting when I heard someone calling out “Monsieur, monsieur” from directly behind me. I turned around and there was Sophia Petrillo from American TV’s Golden Girls (well, the French version in my head, anyway) trying to find gate 48B. We were at gate 18 at that point so we had a long way to walk. Continue reading “Joy is where you find it”
We moved to Atlanta two weeks before the Summer Olympics began there in 1996. I can still hear the roar of the crowd when the procession of the torch passed within a mile or so of our house. What an exciting time that was. Fast forward by almost exactly 20 years and we’ll be in Carcassonne when the Tour de France passes through on July … Continue reading Tour de Force
This morning on their way over to our vacation apartment, Gaynor said that they walked by a trash bin on top of which was a shoe box with a pair of creme colored high heels inside. Upon closer examination of the soles it was clear that these had been worn maybe once if at all. So why were they being thrown away? Did they not fit, were they a one-time-only indulgence for a wedding, was somebody moving to America and downsizing? I had another idea. Continue reading “Keeping with tradition”
One of the many things that we really like about Carcassonne is that there’s so much to do and that the city documents much of it on YouTube. The main square, called Place Carnot, has the fresh fruits and vegetables market three days a week and then at least two nights each week (and up to 7 nights a week in the summer) there is some kind of live entertainment there. Before we found our place to rent, we looked at several attractive apartment listings that open right onto the square. While quite convenient to everything in town, we might not have enjoyed all of the sounds coming up from there on so many nights of the week. It’s really nice to walk there, participate in the events, and then walk home to our quiet neighborhood. Continue reading “Elvis does wine tasting”
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