One of the benefits of living in Montpellier is that we are a mere 3 ½ hour train ride away from Paris. Our decision to live here was partially predicated on the fact that we could venture to Paris anytime we wanted, meet friends there, see special events or just enjoy the city. So, when…
30 Years In The Making… GREAT NEWS! The end of summer flew by with French administrative tasks and the crud. Yes, Covid is alive and well. My case was so mild if Russ hadn’t insisted on my testing, I wouldn’t have realized that I had it until he came down with a monster version. But…
FIRSTS! July and August have been months of firsts – first visitors from the States and first trip as residents of France. Fast friends. Jeanne and I met in 2001 when we both participated in a retreat where we were randomly assigned as roommates. We’ve been fast friends since. Luckily for me, her then fiancé,…
SOIREE We’ve had our first party! RUSS – MASTERMIND! Russ was the mastermind of the pre-party prep and the Hauler-in-Chief. He transported rosé bottles 10 -12 at a time from the store to our apartment. When you don’t have a car, are expecting 40+ people and need sufficient supplies to fill a refrigerator, that’s a…
GREEN SPACE Now that you’ve seen the inside of our apartment, it’s time for the terrace tour. In earlier blogs , I stated our requirements in detail. Green space and a terrace were both on the list, mainly for the dynamic duo of Zoey and Coco, but also for us humans. Little did I know…
We live in an apartment. In the US, it would be called a condominium but regardless of ownership, in France they are called apartments. Would you like a tour? Lets go! ENTRANCE HALL SHOTGUN VIEW Apartment at a glance. Yep, you can see clear through to the end of the apartment! First on the right…
how not to get bored in retirement In my late teens, one of my favorite band’s anthems was “Fear is Never Boring.” But in Montpellier, no need for fright because there’s always something interesting to do. In the last week, Russ and I dipped our toes into several totally different milieus. This city always has…
🥖 Between the Baguettes 🥖 A small nibble from French expat life NEW FEATURE Introducing a new feature to the blog: Between the Baguettes, small nibbles of our French expat life in between larger blog posts. So, keep an eye on your email for the baguettes, and know that a brief update is headed your…
In UPDATE: MONTPELLIER, WE ARE HERE!, you saw our apartment fully furnished with the last owner’s stuff. Well, most of that didn’t come with the purchase price. Including the light fixtures, refrigerator and any furnishings. So, we had some work to do! And, apparently, plenty of rookie errors. And for any of you who know…
Well, it’s been a while. And we are officially French residents! And we didn’t get here exactly as predicted. So, a bit of history. After our last trip to France, see Map Dot Quest, we continued our discourse with Renestance on new construction properties and just didn’t seem to find the right thing. Then, last…
