Sunday, January 24, 2016

Dreaming of France -- Southern France


Thank you for joining this weekly meme. Grab a copy of the photo above and link back to An Accidental Blog. Share with the rest of us your passion for France. Did you read a good book set in France? See a movie? Take a photo in France? Have an adventure? Eat a fabulous meal or even just a pastry? Or if you're in France now, go ahead and lord it over the rest of us. We can take it.

Yesterday, I had a lovely Skype conversation with my friend Delana who moved to Aix en Provence for a year and never came back to the States. 
She's answering questions about how to transition to France. So we talked about things like when to apply for our Carte de Sejour. I didn't even know that we needed to do that!
Delana suggested we come over in May for a few weeks to feel out the area in Languedoc and decide where we would like to rent an apartment for a few months while looking for a house.
Earl and I both jumped at the chance to visit France this year and immediately started calculating how expensive the trip would be. 
I found an apartment in Nimes for 10 days. Nimes is right on the cusp between Provence and Languedoc, but technically in Languedoc.

 I thought Nimes would be a perfect place to stay so that we could visit Delana and tour Languedoc. That's when I remembered that Earl and I had visited Nimes before, on our bicycle trip through Provence.
We started in Avignon. 
This is me in front of the Pont de Avignon
We rode our bikes 40 miles that first day from Avignon to see the Pont du Gard, the famous Roman aqueduct.

I don't know why, but it surprised me that we could ride our bikes across something that old!

And here's another shot after we had crossed. 
At the end of the day, we arrived in Nimes where we spent the night. Our hotel was located across the street from a Roman amphitheater, and we also toured some Roman gardens. 
As much as we'd love to, we may not get to visit France this spring, but I know that next May we'll definitely be flying across the ocean as we look for a new home in France.



8 comments:

Jacqui Brown said...

We stayed in Nimes last year on our road trip. We had a small balcony in our hotel room that we enjoyed an evening glass of wine on, listening to the chatter on the streets below.

Esme said...

are you then thinking of the south of France?

Sim Carter said...

That aqueduct is so intriguing looking. Can you still ride your bikes across it? If that were here in the states it would probably be roped off and you’d have to look at it from a distance. But then we have a problem with crumbling infrastructure that’s much newer than the Roman aqueduct. They sure knew how to build things!

Just Me said...

Every little step of your move to France that you happen to write about is absolutely fascinating. Thrilled we have another year of uncovering what it's like to make such a transition.

Diane said...

I wonder what we did before Skype, I just never phoned anyone as it was too expensive! Great that your dreaming of France may be living in France soon. Hope you are well Diane

Paulita said...

Thanks to everyone for your comments. So glad to have everyone playing along.

Paulita said...

Esme, Yes, we're planning to buy a house in Languedoc, southwestern France.

Anne in Oxfordshire said...

Another step towards your dream , absolutely brilliant. :-)

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