Celebrating Our Victory!

Well, today at 3:00 p.m. in Quillan--the Notaire, with power of attorney, signed the final documents on the house.  It is now ours!  We began the process of purchasing the house in May--so we feel relieved that it is complete.  Buying property in a foreign country has been a learning experience for us.  We are really thankful for the English speaking people who have helped us through this process!  A special "shout-out" to Helen, the realtor, Chris, the B&B friend, and Ellie, our American friend who lives in France, without each of them--we would have been lost at different stages of this purchase.

Now that it is done--the celebrating will begin!  We will drink our Limoux Blanquette tonight in celebration!  We kept hearing about Limoux Blanquette and seeing it advertised on billboards, so we finally stopped at a winery, Sieur d'Arques, in Limoux--a town 30 minutes from Quillan, and bought a bottle.  We wrapped it carefully in bubble wrap and placed it in our luggage in April and saved it for this special day!

 The History of the Languedoc vineyard dates back to the 5 ^th century BC when the Greeks first introduced grape vines and their cultural practices. It was in 1531, one century before Dom Pérignon, that wines from Limoux stepped onto the world stage thanks to Benedictine nuns from the St Hilaire Abbey, a neighbouring village, who created the first sparkling wine in the world: La Blanquette de Limoux. The earliest written references to Blanquette de Limoux can be traced back to the lord of the region, “le Sieur d’Arques” who swigged down “flasks of Blanquette” to celebrate his victories.
Four centuries later, in 1946, the founding winemakers of our winery christened their wine, Sieur d’Arques. (This info taken from www.sieurdarques.com)

So, tonight, we shall "swig down" our bottle of Blanquette to celebrate our victory!

In July, we were busy with Kelli's wedding!

Our daughter, Kelli, was married the 24th of July, in Cambridge, England.  Kelli and Dunstan met while Phd. students at Cambridge.  They were both studying in the Classics Department--Kelli studied Ancient Philosophy and Greek and Dunstan studied Latin Literature.  Dunstan is a lecturer at the University of Reading and Kelli is an Assistant Professor at Grand Valley State University.  They were married at Emmanuel Reformed Church in Cambridge.  Immediately following the ceremony there was a drinks reception on the back lawn at Kings College.  Later that evening was a dinner reception and dance.  We had a wonderful time!

Well, today we got the estimates on the work that needs to be done in the house--some of the prices seem really high to us! Because we have no experience with the prices of repairs in France it is hard to know what to expect.  I think it will be important to get at least several estimates by different people and then we will be able to make a decision. We will get a bid from Chris and his electrician when we get there in the fall.

The kitchen is one of the areas that needs a lot of work.  We want to take out the existing cupboard behind the fireplace and hopefully open up the chimney and exposed brick.  Then, we are still deciding whether we want to keep the retro sink or not.  We will put in all new cabinets, maybe remove the wall to the living room and put in an island, and then figure out where to put the oven, stove top, dishwasher and refrigerator.  There isn't a lot of room in the kitchen because of the fireplace.  We talked about removing it, but it is the typical Languedocean fireplace found in many French kitchens, so I think we will work around it. There is another wall that you cannot see in this picture and also a pantry, so I think we can make it work! We also would like to make this window into French doors to go out to the backyard.  As you can see, the kitchen also has the inlaid tile--that I now have learned to love.

The back yard has a cherry tree and a palm tree.  There are also other trees--but I am not sure what kind.  It is just the right size for Bella to have a place to play!

One of my favorite things about the house is the terrace.  It is on the second floor and has the most beautiful views of the Pyrenees. It has three stone planters on the railing but one has broken off, so we will want to find one to match and have the contractor put it on. It has more of the French tile that we are growing accustomed to. We also have a really nice view of the town and I am sure we will spend a lot of time out here sipping a chilled rose or serving apertifs to our new found French friends or friends visiting from the U.S or England!

One of the strange things about France (we are learning there are lots of things that we think are strange but to them it is very normal) is that you have to get permission from the Maire (mayor) for anything you want to do to the outside of your house.  For instance, I want to change the color of the shutters.  They are green and I want them to be wood to match the front doors and the garage doors.  This requires permission to do.  Also, that kitchen window that I want to make into a door requires permission. We are learning a little at a time.  I just hope we don't make a mistake!  I wouldn't want the gendarmes taking us away!

 This is the entryway with the furniture the previous owner had.  I am certain we will not have the flowers in the vases but we will have fun decorating! We are anxious to start shopping for furniture.  We were in a town, Pezanas, that is widely known for its fantastic antique shops.  We went down the road and there was shop after shop filled with all kinds of antiques.  I can hardly wait!

The houses in France are painted a certain palate.  Beige, gray, peach, or off white are really common colors.  Many towns have an ordinance on what colors you can paint your house.  You go to the Maire and he/she shows you the color pallet allowed in the town or village.  Our house happens to be peach and I think we will leave it that way.

Some Features of the House in Quillan

Today, I spoke with Helen our estate agent in Quillan.  The contractor has gone to look at the house and now she is waiting for his estimates on the kitchen, electrical, painting, new shower and bathroom fixtures. I get really excited to think about the house. Sometimes, I can hardly believe we have bought a house in the South of France!  I don't ever want to lose the wonder of it all!

The house has so many features that we really love.  I especially love the door knobs!  

These door knobs are on all the doors in the house, fourteen doors total. The exception to this are the front doors.

We  also love the medallions around the soon to be light fixtures and the crown molding in the bedrooms.  The windows open inward and the shutters open outward.  All typically French! 

Some of the things that are new to us are steam heat and shutters on every window. Each time the estate agent showed us a house, she would throw open the shutters to get the natural light into the houses--much needed in many of the medieval homes!  By the time we were through looking at homes, Rod had pretty much figured out the shutter systems on most of the houses.  He always helped Helen close the houses up while I continued to look and take pictures!

The quintessential tile is in every French home.  At first, it caught us off guard. It would be multi-colored in unique patterns.  It seemed so different from what we would have in our homes in the United States, but the more I saw it (in the 48 homes we viewed) as well as the Bed and Breakfast homes where we stayed, the more I loved it.  This picture shows the tile in our entryway.

Being close to the Mediterranean, the summers get quite hot.  Many homes have tile floors to help to keep them cool.  Our house has both tile and wood and I like them both!

Where the Roads Can Take You

The roads in France vary a great deal.  They go from multi-laned motorways to narrow country roads hardly big enough on which to drive a French car--let alone meet one along the way.  When we first arrived in Toulouse at the airport, we got our rental car and immediately hooked up our newly acquired GPS with a French card in it.  Thankfully, Ellie, an American living in France, had recommended that we have one.  If not for the GPS, we would have never found any of the places in which we were going. As we left Toulouse, a metropolitan area of 1.1 million people, it was a little tense until we actually got on a motorway heading south towards Carcassonne.

The walled medieval city of Carcassonne is a truly impressive town and a magnet for visitors to the Languedoc Roussillon in the South of France. The city features the largest medieval fortress of its kind in France.  It sports 26 towers, ramparts, a castle, drawbridges, and a basilica. It's no wonder Walt Disney based the castle in The Sleeping Beauty on this medieval city!

Carcassonne is an ancient city and more than 2000 years old.  In 800 B.C. the site on a hill called Carsac, was situated south of the city.  This hill was a strategic place, on the crossroads of the ways from the Atlantic, from the Mediterranean, and from Spain. Today, Carcassonne has a population of 47,000, although this number swells in the summer months when the city is packed with tourists taking in the city’s unique atmosphere. This is the closest big town to Quillan about 45 minutes away. It has an airport, train station, and lots of shopping!

Looking up towns on a map, calculating distance, and looking at terrain does not happen to be my strength.  Thus, our house hunting in Axat, which was only a little tiny distance from Quillan on the map, became a harrowing journey through rock canyons, narrow roads, sheer drop-offs, and the chance meeting of a logging truck around a hairpin curve!  Imagine yourself on the top of the Empire State Building walking on a 6" window ledge and then you will begin to experience the lovely trip from Quillan to Axat.

Yes, the car in front of us, in this photo, is Helen our real estate agent. She drives this road a lot and now we know why she has a few dents and scrapes! Needless-to-say, we found some beautiful homes at bargain prices in this area--but the thought of driving this road to get to the supermarket was just a little more than we could handle.  The locals in Quillan call it the "gorge" and we can see why!

Contemplating the Logistics!

Lately, I have been awake at night trying to figure out how we are going to make all of this moving to France work! Buying the house was the easy part and the fun part.  We really enjoyed looking at all of the houses and exploring all of the areas.  The South of France is beautiful and the landscape is diverse.  We saw such beautiful areas, quaint towns, and fantastic cities.

Now the necessary paperwork on our part is complete and working with SmartCurrencyExchange.com to purchase the needed Euros is done--so, with nothing left to do on the purchase--I am beginning to worry about the actual moving.  The big question for me now is:  Do we pay for shipping furniture and household goods to France or do we just go to France and start all over buying everything needed to furnish a 3 bedroom home?  It all seems overwhelming!

It is mostly the lack of language that worries me.  I just don't know how we will be able to talk to someone about buying a car, registering it, buying furniture, hiring a moving truck if we find furniture--all of the logistics--it just seems very daunting.  Then there is the issue of hiring and working with contractors.  We have been studying our French--but it is slow going for us.  Some days I think that I will never learn to speak French--but then, I think surely I can do this and I just keep plodding along.  It is a good thing that we will only be there 2-3 weeks several times a year for at least the next 2 years--and hopefully, that will give us enough to time to learn more--now--it nearly seems impossible!

Sometimes I think maybe we should just ship furniture there--then, I wouldn't have to look for it, talk to people with a very crude attempt at French, or worry about how to get it moved.  But, then, I see the price of shipping and I decide my French will improve--money just may be the motivator that I need!

                                                         

Discovering More About Quillan

Quillan sits at the top of the Haute Valley and is nestled in the mountains with the River Aude running through the town.  It is a beautiful river and well known for kayaking, canoeing and rafting.  Our friend, Chris, also tells us it is great for fishing for trout and salmon.  Rod can hardly wait!

The railway line from Carcassonne runs to Quillan stopping in Limoux and Esperaza on the way.  Leaving Quillan the highway runs to Perpignan and from there the world is your oyster as they say! Down to Barcelona or up to Narbonne and the TGV lines across the South of France.

 The ancient stone arched bridge across the Aude, beside a main town square, is picturesque.  The Tour de France goes right through Quillan and is a layover for the Tour.

Quillan is a town filled with history.  The first record of Quillan was Calianum, Quilhanus in 781, Quillanum in 1145 and Quillanus in 1247.The early town of Quillan grew up around the chateau on the right bank (east side) of the river Aude. In the 11th-12th centuries the inhabitants began expanding across the river to the right bank, creating the suburb of La Hille at the southern edge of the current town. 

In 1247, Quillan was declared a proper town by King Louix IX (Saint Louis). In the 13th century, the Archbishops of Narbonne had a new town built, with long, parallel streets, and this became progressively the heart of Quillan.

Standing above Quillan is the 13th-century dungeon of the original fortress built in 1223. That chateau was built on the ruins of the more ancient 5th-century Visigoth fortress of Kilianus, and parts of the basement date back to the 7th century. The old Gallo-Roman oppidum Kilianus was a strategic point in the High Valley of the Aude river. On this spot you could watch over the mountain pass and the through road from the Pyrenees towards Carcassonne. From this ancient period Quillan has always been inhabited.The Chateau de Quillan was burnt by the Huguenots in 1575. In 1736, the chateau was dismantled, and the site was sold by the French Revolution.

This historical town is sill lively today! Each week throughout the year, local markets welcome you to discover flavors and specialties:

• Wednesday and Saturday morning in Quillan
• Thursday and Sunday morning Espéraza

Also every Thursday in the summer, there are night markets and lively music on the Republic Square in Quillan.

 We get really excited to get back to Quillan!  We cannot wait to explore all of the activities Quillan has to offer, as well as all the history of the surrounding area!

Discovering France and International Banking

Well, today, again my patience has been tested!  Trying to figure out all of the jargon to do a money exchange and then to actually get it to France has consumed most of my morning.  It isn't the first time we have done an international exchange; it is the first time the lady at our local bank had used the new online system to do an international exchange!  Enough said.

Because there is so much fluctuation with the Euro, it is a great time to be buying in France.  By using an exchange company you can actually save thousands of dollars on a large purchase compared to what exchange you could get with your local bank. We have been working with James at www.smartcurrencyexchange.com.  He has been very helpful. One of the great things about Smart Currency Exchange is that if you email them--you get an almost immediate response and even better, if you call them--they answer!  No buttons to push, no waiting and no music to pass the time--just a quick few rings and the most adorable English accent answers! Another great thing is that they tell me often, "No question is a dumb question!"  They are more than happy to help with any of the details.  They even take note to call during the hours that work best for me--due to the 7 hour time difference. The process is quite easy if you just follow the steps.  I ran into a snag today because the onward transfer details that the Notaire supplied to me did not include an IBAN (International Banking routing) number.  I went ahead with all the info provided and now will wait for the confirmation that the money for the down payment actually made it to France.

Banking in France is still part of our "Discovering the South of France" things to do.  It is not so easy to open a bank account for checking and/or a debit card.  First, you have to provide a passport or residence permit.  We will be showing our passports.  Then, you need proof of your home address in France (a phone or electricity bill) and from what I have learned from others in France as well as the internet--you can't get your utilities hooked up without a bank account.  So, we will continue to "Discover France" as time goes by.  I know there is a way--there has to be--but I will have to seek help from Helen, our estate agent, or Chris, our friend in Quillan.  Good thing I have until October to get this all sorted out!

This is a local bank in Quillan--The BNP Paribas.  There is a lot of paperwork in France--we keep hearing it referred to as the French Bureaucracy--but for us--at least now, it is exciting.  Maybe we will change our minds after a few hundred more copies of stuff--but for now c'est la vie!

The notaire has the documents!

Good news from Helen, our estate agent, in Quillan--the documents have arrived!  That means that the process to actually purchase the house has begun.  Helen will now have the contractor go to the house and give us bids on electrical, plumbing, painting, demolition in the kitchen and plaster work.  The house is really in good condition--but we need to completely redo the kitchen--with the exception of the fireplace--- and upgrade the electrical and bathrooms.

We have a friend, Chris, in Quillan. He is willing to help oversee the project once the sale is final.  We are grateful for that.  He tells us that fall will be a good time for workers because they aren't so busy that time of year.

We will not be back in Quillan until October.  It gives us lots of time to decide what items are absolutely necessary to take to France and what we will just buy there. We have been busy looking for furniture, appliances and kitchen cabinets.  Hopefully, we will get most of these items while there in October and then the contractors can work over the winter and  when we return in the Spring, the hard work will be done!  Then, we can spend our time shopping the brocantes and vidi-greniers for all of the accessories for the house!  I can hardly wait!  Of course, besides the shopping, there will always be time to enjoy a bottle of good Languedoc wine on the terrace!

Learning the art of patience!

We started dreaming of owning a house in France several years ago.  We had visited the French Riviera and that gave us just a little taste of what France is all about.  The house hunting process began by researching on the internet, reading books from the public library, and beginning to believe this actually could happen for us. We set our sights on the Languedoc-Roussillon region because of its Mediterranean influence.   

We began the process of buying a house in France in late February.  We spent 10 days in the South of France, looking at 26 houses all in the Languedoc-Roussillon region.  We looked at houses in the Aude, Herault, Gard, and Eastern Pyrenees areas.  There were elements in each of these areas that we really liked but finding a house we liked was a different story. We liked the idea of the circulade villages with the historic homes and walking distance to all of the services, but each time we entered one they felt dark and cold. So, a bit disappointed, we left France with great resolve to return and expand our vision of what we really wanted.

We went back to the computer for more research and decided to return to France at the end of April. This time, we looked at a total of 22 houses and focused our search on the Aude and Herault areas. We ended up choosing the Aude region and the town of Quillan.  It had been my first choice of the areas from the very beginning.  Quillan is nestled at the foot of the Pyrenees Mountains.  It is a picturesque town conveniently located between airports in Carcassonne and Perpignan about 45 minutes away. It is close to Spain, the Mediterranean coast, a wealth of history and the Aude produces some of the best wines in the region!

We found the house of our dreams, returned home and then made the offer over the phone on the 10th of May. Later that day we received confirmation that the owner agreed to our offer. Because we are doing all of this through the mail, I am having to learn patience! We received the "Compromis de Vente" (Purchase and Sales Agreement" in the U.S.) and all of the diagnostic tests in the mail on the 19th of May. We were aware that the documents would be entirely in French, but when we were faced with 50 pages of French, it was still a bit overwhelming! We struggled through a rough translation and several phone calls to our estate agent, Helen, and then we finally signed the "Compromis de Vente" on the 25th of May. We sent the documents by USPS Guaranteed 2 day Delivery and are still waiting for them to be delivered. Our mail in the U.S. is no faster than that in France!

I know this will be the first of our "waiting" while we buy a house in France.  I am just anxious for the paperwork to arrive so we know all is signed and the process is begun!  Then, we will continue waiting 3 months while the Notaire begins the searches on the property including ownership, land boundaries and right aways.

While we wait, we continue dreaming of and planning our next trip to France.  We pass our time  by reading A Year in Provence by Peter Mayle, studying French by way of Rosetta Stone and Michele Thomas cds, and drinking the last of our vin rouge we brought home from France!  We often look at our pictures of Quillan and are reminded about why we chose this area of France.