On Paris - A Brief Study ... for Brent who knows far more about Paris than I can tell you here

When Noah and I were planning our trip to France the notion of including Paris in our visit took up all of three sentences, 

Me: "Do you want to go to Paris?"
Noah: "No, not really."
Me: "Yeah, me either."

However, I intend to visit Paris, someday, if only to walk the city streets and become enveloped in the classic, timeless European aura. 
*All photos complements of google images.* 

Paris is known as the "Ile de France", or Island of France. It is not actually an island such that it is surrounded by water, and the etymology of the term is not actually clear. Wikipedia says, "The island may refer to the land between the rivers Oise, Marne and Seine, or it may also have been a reference to the Ile de la Cite, in which case "Island of France" was originally" a play on words. 

The Ile de France includes Paris, Seine et Marne, Yvelines, Essonne, Hauts de Seine (upper Seine), Saint Denis, Val de Marne, and Val d'Oise, in case you were wondering. 

The river Seine runs right through the center and the city itself offers a deep and rich history of architecture and culture. Just a smattering of well known tourist destinations are The Eiffel Tower, which towers above the city in la rive gauche (the left bank), the Louvre museum, the Orsay Museum, The Sacre Coeur (Sacred Heart), and Notre Dame. 




On The Musee d'Orsay, Wikipedia says, "located on the left bank of the Seine, it is housed in the former Gare d'Orsay, a Beaux-Arts railway station built between 1898 and 1900. The museum holds mainly French art dating from 1848 to 1914, including paintings, sculptures, furniture, and photography. It houses the largest collection of impressionist and post-Impressionist masterpieces in the world, by painters including Monet, Manet, Degas, Renoir, Cezanne, Seurat, Sisley, Gauguin and Van Gogh. It is one of the largest museums in Europe. 

Looks cool inside ....










For me though, it is the Musee du Louvre that captures my interest. "A central landmark of the city, it is located on the Right Bank of the Seine. The museum is housed in the Louvre Palace, originally built as a fortress in the late 12th century under Philip II. Remnants of the fortress are visible in the basement of the museum" 
Sounds kind of spooky. 

Note the scary clouds over the museum. 

I heard it rains a lot in Paris.











Another popular landmark, the Sacre Coeur Basilica, is "located at the summit of the butte Montmartre, the highest point in the city. Sacre-Coeur is a double monument, political and cultural, both a national penance for the defeat of France in the 1871 Franco-Prussian War and the socialist Paris Commune of 1971 crowning its most rebellious neighborhood, and an embodiment of conservative moral order, publicly dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus."


Enough of the history lesson. Let's have some joie de vie!

So, where would one choose to find l'habitation en Paris? 

According to Aurelia D'Andrea, the trendier right bank arrondissements (regions) has had all the affordable housing hogged by the hipsters (her words, not mine, I wouldn't know) and sent the rent sky high for all that's left. However, give the area around the Bastille (the 11th) and Canal St. Martin (10th) a try. For a more sedate atmosphere with an aura of security, "you'll love the 16th, which has a calm, homogenous ambience with a dash of Americana thrown in."

One thing I've noticed in my real estate explorations via the internet is that living areas in France are small and if you are lucky, you may be able to find a house with a garden, meaning, a small yard. In Paris, there will be no garden, and your apartment will be quite tiny. Tiny as in the whole thing being the size of your living room. 

Aurelia also says that the rent will drop if the place has been on the market for more than a month. And if you are renting directly from the owner don't be afraid to negotiate. 

Getting Around Paris

Public transportation is robust with options for everyone including the Metro (subway), bus, bike, boat (!), taxi, car ... but note that the Ile de France is divided into six transportation zones, the most critical to the average Parisian being zones 1, 2 and 3. Zone 5 is noteworthy as that is where the airport is. In zone 6 you can find rolling green farmland and small commuter towns. 

Or, you can just hoof it. Being a compact (huge) city it is supposedly possible to walk from top to bottom in "several hours". And I would offer, with a good pair of comfy shoes. 

I'm in Paris, What Should I Eat?

According to Shared Appetite, http://sharedappetite.com/eat/eat-like-a-local-in-paris/ eating in Paris is a science and an art.

For dinner, be sure to make une reservation. This evidently is done 2 weeks to 2 months (or more) in advance. Honestly, this seems extreme to me, but perhaps it is true. 

As an American they will seat you earlier in the evening because that is when the waitstaff that speak English are working and they will need to translate the menu for you. 

Happy news - it is not necessary or customary to leave tips in France. This is because the eating industry is revered and respected and employees make real wages. However, if you are feeling benevolent and jovial after drinking some fine French wine, feel free to extend your further gratitude by leaving another euro or two. 

Fun and Useful Facts:

• Tap water is free and safe
• Mineral water costs money
• Most people drink the tap water
• There are no doggie bags
• Therefore
• It is expected that you finish everything on your plate else you be considered rude
• On the topic of rudeness, be sure to say "bonjour/bonsoir Madame/Monsieur" upon entering, and say "merci bien, or merci beaucoup" frequently whenever you see your waitperson, as well as when leaving the premises

Location in Perspective

Being the heart center of the country, Paris is just a 2 hour drive to the Normandy coast. Six hours in the car gets you to the French Alps. And to the French Riviera, a mere nine hours (I would stop in the middle in some lovely town and eat something delicious). Ten hours gets you to beautiful Barcelona, or, if you are smart, fly and get there in less than 2 hours. If you're feeling Bavarian, Munich is an 8 hour drive and the lovely town of Bern, Switzerland is under six hours by car. Again, flying would be faster but you would miss all that beautiful French scenery. 

I cannot even imagine what it would be like to live in Paris, other than there would always be something to do and somewhere to go. If you don't care about having lots of space and crave an ancient metropolitan style with deep historical, art, political, and architectural roots, it sounds like an amazing place to root down for a while.

Just for kicks, here is l'apartement I would choose for you!

For more amazing photos of this wondrous place in the Latin quarter, go here: 

http://www.frenchestateagents.com/french-property-for-sale/view/61598AMU75/apartment-for-sale-in-paris-vi-paris-ile-de-france-france

Au Revoir for now!

Buying a house. Renting a house. Taxes. Fees. Massive Confusion.

According to my financial advisor, there is pretty much no way I’m going to be able to enact my plan until I’m at retirement age of 59 ½, which is 2.5 years too long according to my current trajectory. 

EVEN THOUGH I TOLD HER THAT “IT CAN’T BE DONE” WAS NOT AN ACCEPTABLE OPTION.

She thinks I will actually run out of money. And sent me three 20 page files to prove it (I have only just peeked at them, need more time to thoroughly review). But she doesn’t know me well and I refuse to be intimidated by this somber assessment.  

If this is still what I want to do in six years, I will find a way. People who know me will believe this; it has been the pattern of my life. 

In 1986 after Chernobyl went off my mom told me I couldn’t go to Russia on an overseas program through MSU that I tested into. I was short thousands of dollars besides. The family (sans moi) was going to pursue an alcoholic intervention for my stepdad that summer. My grandparents were having some big humongous anniversary party. 

It looked impossible. I cried. I worried. My mom didn't support me emotionally. I believed. My Uncle Bill believed. I found grants. I helped a bunch of other students who didn’t have money get the same grants. I went to Russia for 6 weeks in 1989 and had an amazing adventure, Chernobyl notwithstanding (the wind was blowing the other way). 

So maybe it will be seven years. 

Maybe I will get so sick of researching all this complicated stuff I will change my mind. 

Maybe the options will be horrid and I will change my mind. 

The conundrum is being able to show “earnings” based on my retirement income. This goes for rental property too. We will extremely most likely have to rent while we are searching for a property to purchase. Long term rentals in France are one year or three year. But you can opt out in writing at any time. Rental agreements require all the same documents as mortgage agreements it seems, including previous tax return, past three months pay check stubs …

So if I retire and IMMEDIATELY rent before I start collecting my itty bitty retirement money, do you think they’ll catch on? 

It doesn’t matter how much money I have in the bank, it’s based on income. 

Oh, and it is highly recommended that you set up a French bank account, which you cannot do unless you live there. And according to one website you can’t live there until you have a French bank account. Although, I have only seen this stipulation once in all the myriads of information I’ve been exploring. Alas, and nonetheless, there are work arounds you can set up with an estate agent to show something like intention. Or get an account with a bank in the US that has offices in France (there are actually several but I don’t know if there are any branches in Michigan). 

Then there is the matter of life insurance on a mortgage, which is required in almost all circumstances. The mortgage company (that would be the French bank) can deny you this if you are too old and they think you might die before the loan is paid off. Anyway that costs around 2% of the mortgage. 

And you cannot get pre-approved for mortgages; the bank will only talk to you if you already have an offer. So … how do you know what you are approved to buy???? 

Fees and Taxes. 

MASSIVE CONFUSION AND BEFUDDLEMENT.

Whether you buy or rent you must pay the Taxe d’habitation, which is determined by region and value of property if it were being rented (so if you paid your house in cash and don’t even have a mortgage, you pay taxes on what it would be if you were going to rent it out, cool huh?) 

Then there is the Taxe fonciere, which you only pay if you own your home. Again, varies by region and home value and the charts for these taxes haven’t been updated since 1970.

“Taxe foncière is a land tax, and is paid by the owner of the property. Taxe d'habitation is a residence tax. You have to pay this tax if you own a property and live in it yourself (or have it available for your use, or rent it out on short-term lets)”

And I have absolutely no clue how much this will be, making it fairly difficult to convince my financial advisor that there really is a way (I’m sure she’s being way overly conservative). 

There is even a television tax. 

FEES:

If we purchase a mortgage the notaire fees are 10% ish of the cost of the home. 

Transaction fees are 7-10% of the purchase price.

That just added up to a lot. 

You can only borrow 33% of your income after debt. Which means after currency conversion (who knows what that will be in six years?), taxes and fees, and considering my initial tiny “retirement” income, well. 

I don’t think there will be anything left for a mortgage. 

Which means we are going to have to have a lot of cash, wait until I’m 59 ½, or rent first. 

Maybe that sentence should read, “we’re going to have to have a lot of cash AND wait until I’m 59 ½ AND rent first.”

But I promised to share something exciting about France. 

Here is Annecy. Lac d’Annecy that is.

Ahhhhh. This is the only thing that keeps me going. There is no way I would do all this work for any old country. 

Discovering Things Forgotten

Yesterday while cleaning the basement I came across my two saddles.

My very first saddle, purchased about a million years ago shortly after purchasing my first horse; an Arabian gelding and spending more money than I had, was, I'm pretty sure, the least expensive saddle in the store. And the only one I could even think about being able to afford. I think my second bridle cost more than that saddle. 

That el-cheapo English saddle lasted me years and hours of riding. I don't know how comfortable it was for the horse; he sure tossed me off enough. It's still got the original leathers and looks much the same.

But, to the trash it will go.

My Aussie saddle on the other hand, purchased many years after that first saddle, is a much nicer saddle. It was down there too, in the basement. Covered in dust and cobwebs.

Today was clean saddle day.

First I vacuumed it off. Then we washed it with plain water. Then Jim discovered another Aussie saddle in the barn, an even dirtier one. The one I had really forgotten about. We bought it for the boys in the event they ever actually got interested in riding, which they did not. So it's for someone light and petite.

Photo is of the two Aussie saddles after their initial clean up.

I have no idea how much the smaller Aussie saddle cost and I'm not sure it's going to be salable; the leathers look like they need replacing and there are scratches on the seat. But we cleaned that one off too and applied Neetsfoot oil to both of them and they are shining up a bit.

The one thing I do know for certain is that I won't be using them again.

That's a sad thought. I could still ride Sam. I never got tossed out of that Aussie saddle. Except for that one time when I rode Jet after he got back from the trainers and he beelined it for the barn. He made the turn, I did not. It's kind of a miracle I lived. I broke my tailbone. Tried to get right back on but it hurt too much. Haven't been on a horse since and that was ... eight years ago?

So chances are I won't be making the effort in the next three years.

Cleaning the saddles is going to be a bit of a project.

Initially I imagined I would clean a saddle, do photo op, and get another listing on Craigslist. Hmph. Not so much. There is a huge wooden crate out in the barn full of horsey supplies; girths, bridles, halters, harnesses, blankets, blankets, blankets, ointments, sprays, soaps, clippers, brushes. All of this needs to be taken out, cleaned up, and either tossed out or sold. May has well do everything at the same time.

The barn could turn out to be a big project. Good thing I'm starting 1068 days early.

Cleaning is boring. I know this. Next time I promise to write something interesting about France. 

Cleaning the Basement

And thus we have begun the enormous project called "cleaning the basement".

When we built this house the idea was that we would stay forever until we died. We loved the property and the house that much. We have a gorgeous 20 acre field with a wood for a backdrop. A terrific barn where we used to keep over 20 llamas and a couple horses. We are down to four llamas and still have the two horses, although they are aging.

The house was built by two Amish brothers and is extremely well constructed. It's a lovely, large home with a cathedral-like ceiling in the great room, four large bedrooms, a foyer, a dining room, and a living room which we use as the office. We have beautiful tile in the kitchen, cherry wood floor in the foyer and dining room, and carpet everywhere else.

Our home has tons of windows to let in the light. Especially facing south where the great room is; it is always so bright and cheerful.

So, the basement. Another story.

As they were building the house we started moving things over from our other house to ease the moving process. Once we moved in we had quite a collection of boxes and things from a fourteen years of a life raising children and not knowing what the future held so we held on to a lot of things. Memories. Children's toys. Children's clothes. Books. More books. Junk.

Nick was two when we moved in. He would sneak down to the basement and perform his duties as the agent of entropy, prince of chaos, and dump all the boxes of little things onto the floor; rummaging through to see if there was anything he wanted. He did this on a regular basis until about a year ago. He's 15 now. We think he's stopped.

As a result the basement is a total disaster. It's embarrassing, truly it is.

The task of purging things that have been in the basement for the thirteen years we've lived here and never needed has begun. We are on weekend #2.

We are starting with the scrap metal and are almost done with that. We've taken three loads to the recyclers with at least one more to go, probably two. Then we are going to do books, I think. We've tossed two car seats and a baby swing. The stroller is trapped by a sofa so it's going to have to wait. We have a pool table that needs repair that we've never used. The goal is to clear away the corner by the windows and put down some carpet remnants, of which we have many, and create a cozy corner with the two sofas, chair, and entertainment center we put down there. At that point there should be enough room to photograph the pool table and put it up for sale on Craigslist.

I'm hoping Craigslist is my friend.

As I am going through this draconian purge of my life ... that would be the life enclosed in the many boxes that I haven't really looked at in thirteen years, I am finding things that bring up emotion and sentiment.

Yesterday I found the jewelry box with a lock of Noah's hair from his first haircut. Well, I have to keep that. I found my jingle shells that I collected in Florida as a child. You can't find them anymore on the beaches in Florida; I've looked. I walked the bag of jingle shells and a bag of small rocks out to the driveway with the aim of filling up a pothole, and I couldn't do it. So I went to the garden and dumped everything out there. The shells were so bright it was like they held the sunlight inside of them.

I left the rocks, but put the shells back in a bag. I may need to take some sunlight with me to Europe. 

The Birth of an Idea

I don't actually remember the moment when the decision came to me, but it had been incubating since August of 2014 when Noah and I spent two weeks in France and Switzerland.

The evolution of an idea.

In June of 2015 I went to Ireland with my dear friend, Debi, and we vowed that when we got home we would learn Gaelic together. There was just one problem; I had promised myself that one day I would learn French. So before learning Gaelic I had to learn French. I purchased some books and CDs and started to learn French, figuring I'd have that knocked out by Christmas and Debi and I could start the new year learning Gaelic together.

Very funny. It became quickly clear that I was not going to learn French by Christmas. Although, I have learned a lot in a short time, maybe even enough to get by, but I want more than enough to get by. So I continue to study and plan to take classes at the community college this fall.

Learning French, I think, helped fuel the idea that was incubating in my heart. Sometime in late 2015 I decided that I wanted to move to France when I retired. By February "when I retired" was too long. In March I went to my financial advisor and said "what do I need to do to be able to retire in 4, 6, and 8 years ... oh, and move to France?"

The numbers in 4 years didn't really add up so great.

As I was talking about my grand plan to a co-worker he suggested I try to get a job in Germany first, and move to France from there.

So that is the new plan. In three years get a job in Germany. Sell the house. Find homes for the horses and llamas. Sell all sorts of stuff. Bring Nick with us so he can go to school in Germany where tuition is almost free for Americans and the schools are good. Work in Germany for 3-5 years. Retire in France.

That's where we are at the moment.

My head is filled with information, sometimes conflicting, often confusing, and almost always overwhelming. How does an American, a US citizen, relocate to France? Easily? Not sure yet, although, probably not. But I've got three to six years to figure it out.

So why do I feel like I need all the answers now?

Because I like to plan.

1. The basement has to be cleaned (started)
2. We have to find homes for the horses and llamas.
3. We have to sell many of our "things" (started, sort of, first ad went on Craigslist today)
4. There are things in the house that need fixing.
5. We have to SELL the house!!!! As soon as I get a job.
6. I have to get a job!
7. Timing timing timing.

If I get a job in Germany my company will move me, my household belongings, my family, pets, and one car. They will pay my living expenses in Germany.

Because it is late, I will finish here. But there is oh so much more to say about figuring out how to move to France!