Our agent, Karen, picked us up at 8:30 yesterday morning and returned us home at 18:30. It was a long day of looking at properties! These are the five we saw. Most were too big, one needed too much work, one had too many guest houses to deal with. We feel as if we are Goldilocks! One was a favorite.
Over the past three weeks, we’ve had conversations with people from all over Europe. Most are well traveled and well educated, and in various professions - engineering, auto dealership, nursing, teaching, small business owners. Our B and B hosts in two different villages and regions, have invited us for dinner with their friends, who happened to be visiting. The conversations were about all sorts of things - history, books, what everyone does for a living, cars they drive, on and on.
At both dinners, the other guests were curious about us and America. When asked about health care, they couldn’t believe we pay for health insurance, and they were aghast at how much we pay, the same for university. Both are free or cost very little, in most European countries. They talked about transportation, and trains connecting much of Europe, with fast train service in many places, including France - with service from Paris to Marseille in just over 3 hours/500 miles. The events of WWI and WWII came up, with every family affected in some way. One guest told us his grandfather never spoke of the war once, because it was too painful. Europeans have experienced war and putting their countries back together, after huge loss of life and bombed communities. Many of those people are still alive. The carved monuments in every village are daily reminders of the vast numbers who died.
Property taxes are very low but their income taxes are higher than in the US. They get longer vacations and work shorter hours/day. Child care costs are minimal and both mothers and fathers get paid parental leave after giving birth. Pesticide use on fresh fruits and vegetables is very limited, so produce isn’t quite so pretty but is full of flavor. It’s all interesting to think about from a quality of life perspective. We are learning every day!
Papa and I woke up to a few sprinkles and a beautiful rainbow over the countryside. We left our Saint-Clar house by 10 and drove south, through Auch, then west to Marciac, known for it’s annual international jazz festival held in August. We ate lunch on the square and walked around the Elise Notre-Dame de l’Assomption, built in the 14th century. A service was in progress so we looked inside the sanctuary through gold leaf entry gates.
We arranged with Hilde and Filiep to stay at La Mirande for an open ended time. We arrived on Thursday, went through how the house works, had breakfast with them early on Friday, and they drove back to Belgium, leaving us in their house. We are going to house hunt in the area, so it’s nice to feel “at home” again. La Mirande is beautiful and we love the views. I’m having fun doing a bit of weeding in the garden and making our meals. Last evening, while having dinner on the terrace, we noticed some dust from the fields. The farmer was cutting his field of sunflowers. Hilde and Filiep will return in about ten days and we’ll figure out what we’re doing too. In the meantime, we’re loving living in Saint-Clar!
We visited two villages yesterday, Lectoure and La Romieu, both adorable! Lectoure is a hill village with great views. It is a bustling place, brought to life after a Gerard Depardieu film was made there close to 20 years ago. La Romieu is home to a Collegiale church with cloisters and is on the Santiago de Compostela trail. We ate lunch in La Romieu. We are staying in an area crisscrossed by the Santiago de Compostela trail, so we have been seeing hikers daily, mostly in their 60’s and 70’s, with all the best hiking gear and always their guidebooks out.
We had an appointment at 3:30 to visit Chateau d’Auge near Laplume. You can read about Chateau d’Auge here. There were many things to like - the long driveway covered with trees, the views, the history of the place, architectural details, but every inch needs to be renovated and spiffed. It will be a huge project.
We visited Chateau de Belflou a couple of weeks ago and saw an invitation to an open house this weekend. We drove back to Belflou today to see the Chateau. It has been completely renovated by a Swiss diplomat, whom I met while we were there. Chateau Belflou is absolutely beautiful inside and outside!
