Counting down the days until departure;

Our family in France in 2007

An overview for this blog:

This site is about my family's preparation, planning, and the trip itself to France for six months. This is to be our third trip to France, we previously visited in July of 2007, then again in July of 2008. There are so many items for a trip of this length, the main item is the schooling for our daughter. We have chosen a French school near the town of Eymet, in the Dordogne.
We have narrowed our initial itinerary down to departing LAX on Dec. 15th 2009. from Los Angeles we will fly to Paris for a few days, then fly down to Nice to spend the holidays with out good friends Andrew and Arlette. After two weeks we will most likely take a train to the village of Eymet, in the dordogne area of Aquitaine.
Our daughter Caleigh will attend one of the two french schools in the area. My wife, my daughter, and I took french lessons for a year prior to leaving for France, My Wife Cindy kept up with her lessons, me not so much. I kept telling myself that I would study as the departure date got closer. I will double my efforts upon arrival.
This blog will get into the initial motivations for the trip, the various stages of planning, getting the house rented with a family which would also take care of our four pets, finances and budgetary concerns, etc.

This is my first blog, but stick around the trip should be educational for all who follow.

Cutest town in Fance

We had been house bound for a couple days due to rain, so after dropping off the kids at the bus stop in Soumensac for school, I took some photos of a nice dawn and returned to the farmhouse. The weather was working with us, so we decided to drive to our favorite area of France, the Dordogne Valley environs of Sarlat, Domme, and La Roque Gageac. The drive would be about one and a half hours, so into the compact Citroen, and off we go. We head towards Beaumont, then to the Dordogne river to skirt its banks westerly. The drive is painless, it is Monday so most everything is closed, therefore no traffic. We arrived in the beautiful hilltop bastide of Domme, the last time we were there was July 2007, smack in the middle of tourist season. And me with out my tourist hunting license, I would have thrown most of them back anyway. When we finally get close to Domme, I’m reminded why I love this area so, even in February its striking, the drive up to the hilltop is a narrow lane and a half, and serpentine in its nature as it hugs the steep mountainside. We drive through the medieval arch and make the short drive to the center of Domme and park the car. Wonderful, deserted and clear weather, sun is shining and we walk the perimeter of the town, as it is close to lunch time we scout the best option for lunch. There is a basic brasserie, or a auberge that looked nice, we splurged and ate at Auberge De La Rode, real nice place that Cindy and I had to our selves. Cindy ordered the Confit de Canard and I had the Faux Filet avec Sauce de Truffe’. And for being their seventh customer this month they served us a complimentary real nice Salmon pate’, over endive with a hint of sweet balsamic sauce. We had a half carafe of the local-ish Pecharmant deep red wine, wonderful to accompany the meal with. Desert consisted of a platter with five of their offered deserts, but smaller portions. We took an hour and a half lunch break, which I’m really trying to master, working my way up to two hours like everyone else, but it’s hard work.
Walking around the town of Domme, is in my opinion the quintessential French beau ville experience, all the elements are in place. There is the sense of history, the century’s of Architectural influence, the eating experience, the unparalleled views, the walking tours that allow you to lose yourself in a different time. As you make your way to the overlook, that allows you to see for scores of kilometers in most directions, you understand why they chose this place for a towns location. The approach to the town is a steep narrow approach, the town itself is basically level, slight slopes, but walker friendly. There are a few churches, a main square and beautiful residential narrow old world streets. You feel as though at any moment someone on an upper floor is going to empty the contents of a chamber pots above you at any time, adding to that ye olde world feeling. Ah, the romance of it all.

Round and round the mulberry bush

Six days to departure:
O.K. so today we loaded up 3 very large pieces of luggage. Bag A is for the first three days in Paris, and the two weeks for our stay at "La Cagnotte", a 19th century stone house in the medieval village of Haut de Cagnes. (Google it, its pretty cool) It's to the Northwest of Nice. Then the other two large pieces of luggage will serve as regular clothing for Eymet, where we will be for five months. We're going to be staying at " Lauzanac" to the northwest of Eymet, in the Dordogne region of France. Along with the three big berthas we'll have three carry-ons. Instead of shipping two medium sized boxes we'll just pack them into the carry-ons. With the two hundred dollars we'll save I'm taking Cindy and Caleigh out for dinner at "La Tupina" ( you got to google it,,,just a little bit)in Bordeaux. I better enjoy that meal as i've just committed ourselves to being seen as Gypsies en transit to the hotel from the airport,then from the hotel to the airport,in Paris, then in Nice. ( sung to the tune of...Oh my darling,,with the words.." I'm a moron, I'm a moron.) The good news is that Caleigh my daughter is really capable and will be of invaluable help....or else.
My inital thoughts were "just get ready and go, get there and enjoy, it will all work out". I can see explaining that chain of logic to a divorce attorney. (sung to the tune of, well you get it.)
Well smarter advice would be fore warned is fore armed, all this organizing will pay off. It's been humbling to see the amount of work Cindy has put into this, yes as much as i joke I've also put in lots of hours sleeping, i mean lots of hours helping.

Gotta get outta dodge;