We’ve spoken several times about an organization called Accueil des Villes Françaises or AVF for short that is kind of like a Welcome Wagon for new arrivals in about 250 cities across France. Thanks to our local branch we’ve taken numerous French language courses, volunteered to lead English conversation classes and given the chance to learn painting, dancing, bridge, and cooking. For physical activities there are groups for exercise, historic walking routes, and hiking. The common thread through all of these is that you get to meet local people who are either new themselves or have lived in the area for a while and are anxious to help others settle in their city. This works well for city-dwellers and it appears that now there is a similar group for people who are moving into the countryside.

Continue reading “Countryside trial run”

Although not directly related, I read two articles—one dealing with longevity and the other with the best cities for people over 60—that were published about the same time. Not only is life expectancy in France higher than it has ever been—85.6 years for women and 80 for men—it’s also healthier. For both genders, according to the government’s health statistics office, DREES, the proportion of disability-free life expectancy at age 65 has increased by at least 50% since 2008, meaning that over half of the years after 65 are expected to be healthy ones. However, even with universal healthcare where everyone should have equal access, some social inequities can still have an impact.

Continue reading “Where to live that longer, healthier life”

Three years ago we wrote a blog post about a survey of 10,000 French adults asking them about their level of satisfaction with where they were living. Nearly 80% of the respondents declared themselves “happy” and almost half of those were “very happy”. Now a different company has undertaken a similar study with an indication of where within the country you might find the most contentment. On average, that “happiness quotient” has increased to 86% with the region of Bretagne at the top and our own Occitanie right behind. Let’s look at some additional parts of the country and find out what makes an area attractive.

Continue reading “And they lived happily ever after”

You probably know all about a New-York-minute but a 15-minute city might not sound as familiar.  In fact, we’ve already written about the concept in the blog post What’s the Point? where a community in Utah is hoping to create a “European one-car town” as one headline described it. The concept is that you could leave your car at home and walk or take a bicycle to work, the gym, the supermarket, or the doctor’s office, for example. A study of worldwide cities has resulted in an online database where you can check about 10,000 locations to see how accessible services are to those who are looking for a “greener” way and several French villes are in the top 40.

Continue reading “15-minute cities”

The newspaper, Le Parisien, frequently publishes rankings and reports on various topics related to lifestyle, travel, and quality of life. I’ve seen headlines that start with “The best…” and continue with “places to live; to buy property; for families or students or retirees; to go on vacation” generally with the focus being on France. The news source The Local France had a story about the paper’s analysis of a government report concerning the most affordable cities around the country based upon your income. There were 3 financial levels and the top 15 locations are below. 

Continue reading “Affordable cities”