Before leaving the US

Under the radar

Dark German Rye
Bill’s rye bread fresh out of the oven

When we first told some of our neighbors that we were moving to France and, therefore, selling our house here, the reaction was very positive. There were lots of congratulations but the real excitement seemed to be centered around the house. Everyone appeared to know someone who would buy it and true to their word, we did have visitors. In fact, one brother and his fiancé returned twice but their bank has not been forthcoming with a mortgage. We certainly aren’t opposed to using a real estate agent, but it would have been convenient to have passed “under the radar” and sold directly to a buyer. Continue reading “Under the radar”

Unknown's avatarBob1 Comment
Life in France

What price art?

Exterior of house for sale in Carcassonne
Exterior of house for sale in Carcassonne

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?”

Unknown's avatarBob
Life in France

Joy is where you find it

Hilltop village of Eus, France
Hilltop village of Eus, France

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”

Unknown's avatarBob
Travel in France & beyond

Feels like home

Medieval village of Camon. France city walls
Medieval village of Camon, France city walls

If you’ve read the posts over the past few weeks you’ll know that we made a lot of day excursions by car on this most recent trip to Carcassonne. Although we won’t have a car once we move, we did this time because the original plan was to use what has now become our new home town as a base to explore the area to find a place to live. Surprising what you find in your own backyard, so to speak. Continue reading “Feels like home”

Unknown's avatarBob6 Comments
Travel in France & beyond

In the market for a smile

Narbonne wine bar photo by Pete
Narbonne wine bar photo by Pete

On Tuesday we went to see Narbonne, a former Mediterranean seaport about 30 minutes by train from Carcassonne. The two towns have the similarities of population, Roman historical connections, Canal du Midi links, and being on our original list of places where we might move. Bill had done some advance planning on what parts of the city we’d probably want to visit with the first stop being the covered market. It was lively, clean, and despite having all the usual vendors of breads, pastries, fruits, vegetables, beef, pork, chicken, and fish, the only smells we detected were good ones. But that was not why we were there. Continue reading “In the market for a smile”

Unknown's avatarBob
Before leaving the US

Chip off the old block

Heather with her favorite toy
Heather with her favorite toy

We took Heather for her annual checkup this morning and and I’m happy to say that she came through with flying colors, as usual. The one difference today, however, is that she got chipped. In preparation for the move to France and getting her own pet passport, Heather had to have an internationally-accepted microchip ID tag implanted. As gross as that sounds, it truly is tiny and fits through a syringe needle, so in theory was no more uncomfortable than getting the rabies shot that she also had to have at the same time. Continue reading “Chip off the old block”

Unknown's avatarBob