Some Last Thoughts

RANDOM NOTES
We got to see, in action, how French parents raise their children.  We were speaking with Isabelle when 6 1/2 year old Emily interrupted.  Rather than succumb to her daughter's interruption, we watched an interesting exchange:

Isabelle: "What was I doing when you interrupted?"

Emily: "Talking to Tom and Maxine"

Isabelle: "Donc" (means 'therefore')

Emily: "I should wait until you're finished.

Refreshing...

 There's always a lot of press about how the French are lazy.  35 hour work weeks.  6 weeks of vacation.  Retirement at 50.  Turns out that that really only applies to union workers and public servants.  The farmers in the area are up and on the fields by 6am and stay out till 10pm.  Quite a different life.  Donc, French in general aren't lazy, but like in other places, organized labor tends in that direction.

At the end of the day, there's a big difference between what is touristically cute and what everyone wants.  What I mean by that is that we, as tourists, like charming buildings, small streets, stone buildings, all of the "quaint Europe stuff".  But, people are people.  And in reality, what they do is buy suburban houses with yards, drywall walls, and maybe a touch or two of difference. 

 Our French language skills are good enough to get by!  After years of lessons, many, many trips to France, tapes, tutors, and educational language shows, we understand roughly 50% of what goes on in a conversation.  No, we can't discuss life the way we can in English.  But, we can get a whole lot further than our previous bar, "where is the toilet".  Hard to imagine ever getting to this level, as low as it is, in another language.

 Parking meters are free for lunch (2 hours).  If you put sufficient money in a parking meter for 2 hours at, say, 11am, it will give you free parking till 3pm.  And, Monday is a day off for just about all the retailers and museums.  So, planning a day's adventures can sometimes be tricky.  Or frustrating.

 

LESSONS LEARNED

 Internet access is a great help in planning, not just before the trip, but operationally how to go about each day.  In London we had 15 gb service and we could, in just a second, look up the best way to get someplace or what time a restaurant opened.  In addition, our next iPads will have cellular capability.  With it, we really won't even need city maps when we're out and about.  And with SIM cards cheap enough, we can easily check what's nearby as we walk down the street.

Staying in rural France was a reality check.  We've been fascinated for years with the possibility of living a Peter Mayle lifestyle, among the vineyards, with French farmers as neighbors and, for that matter, not many neighbors at all.  That's what we had in Broze.  And while it was a great experience, at this stage in life, it's not our life.

Being gone an entire month disrupts your home life in ways that taking a two week vacation does not.  It literally takes a month to get home life back in order.  That's everything from dealing with emails that you dodged (despite reading them) while away, to going through mail, to restocking the refrigerator.  It's worth it, but there are implications.

Spend the money or miles to upgrade to business class for the flight over.  While it's not great, it is OK to be frugal on the way back.

France is about small vignettes.  A place captured not with videos, but with well composed pictures.  Take lots of pictures.

Not all chocolate croissants are worth it.

There's always one more cute village or other sight to check out.  At some point, the tour guides get it right.  A 3 star sight is almost always better than a 1 star one.  And, if you skip some of the cute villages, there's more time to adapt to the life you're emulating.

I'm running out of things to buy.  I came home with a great pocket knife.  And, I've been carrying it in my pocket.  But, I live a pretty urban life and I'm much more afraid of losing it than I am finding opportunities to use it.

Try to speak to people.  It works.  The distillery, for example.  And plenty of other places where people who spoke no English were patient and we really could communicate.

We really don't need *that* much space.  700 square feet, well laid out, is sufficient for months.  We liked having 2 “desk” areas, outdoor living space for good weather, a dishwasher, and a washing machine. 

While we did a better job of packing for France than our London trip, we still had more clothes than we really needed since we could wash clothes as necessary.

2005 is a great year for Bordeaux.  Also 2009.  Avoid years ending in 7.

 

TOM'S TOP NINE

1. The LL about rural France lifestyle.
2. The jet lagged shock of seeing Bill at Blagnac airport the morning we arrived.
3. Bordeaux wines -- there is a difference.
4. Albi -- a great city for tourists.
5. Having the vendage literally going on around us.
6. Tatou (the vineyard dog) following us as we walked through the vines various times.
7. Le Romuald for lunch on a rainy day, especially getting their last table.
8. Breakfasts in Bordeaux with the Graysons
9. Le Gourmet Quercynois for foie gras.

MAXINE’S ADDITIONS

1. Walking in the area around our house – vineyards, interesting stone houses, small country lanes, wineries.  Just beautiful!
2. Fabulous lunch at Esprit du Vin in Albi.
3. Relaxing with a glass of rose on our patio overlooking the vines.
4. Pech Merle cave with 25,000 year old cave paintings.
5. Dinner at Le Jardin des Quatre Saisons in Albi.  It was great to be able to communicate completely in French and the food was good too!