After discovering that black mold has been flourishing in our house, we moved out immediately and are staying with my mother-in-law. Instead of searching for a new place to live in Normandy, we have decided to make a fresh start down in the south of France.
We were planning on moving to the south on June 1, so we are really only moving up the date a little. Our intention was to only live in the north for one year since we wanted to be around family when our daughter was born. This is our first child and it would have been lonesome without any loved ones to share the occasion with us.
My husband is from Caen and he would not mind settling down in Normandy, but the gray skies, cold atmosphere and excessive wet days makes me dream of brighter days. I am one of those people where the weather affects her mood. I also have a very sensitive body, so excessive moisture and cold keeps my nose stuffy and energy level down. Our doctor even told my husband that he was crazy for bringing someone from a Florida climate to here. And no, I did not pay off the doctor to be on my side – even though the thought had come across my mind from time to time before.
All our belongings are packed and stored in my mother-in-law’s garage. We did a test to see how much we can fit in our car but not everything fits. My father-in-law is going to meet us in the south with the rest of our luggage two weeks after we depart. I finished sorting through all our belongings yesterday to see what we would need right away and what we can wait to have later.
Since we are not very familiar with all the little villages down in the south, we found a cute gite in Banon. It is furnished and located in the area that we would like to settle, so it is perfect for us while we find somewhere to rent longterm. The landlord said that if we love the gite, he could rent it to us longterm as either furnished or unfurnished. We are open to this option since we are both tired of bouncing around from place to place.
The gite sits about 200 meters from the village, a nice walking distance for me to run errands or enjoy a café on a terrace. I prefer getting around by walking instead of taking the car. There is also a small hospital, grocery store and other commerce all within walking distance. If we need a larger hospital, Manosque is only about 20 minutes away. We will also be about 1hr15 from Aix-en-Provence and 1hr30 from Marseille.
Even there there are about 300 days of sun and over half as many wet days as in Normandy, we still have the mistral to contend with – if you are not familiar with the mistral, it is a very cold, strong wind that can last days to weeks. It is almost like gusts of hurricane force winds that sends chills down to your bones. We experienced the mistral when we stayed in Marseille for two months and it was no fun. You look out your window and see the blazing sun hanging in a perfect, topaz sky, so you take an unsuspecting step outside and dash back in to sit in front of a heater to defrost.
Okay, maybe it is not that cold. Compared to the weather in Normandy, I will take the mistral with open arms, and a very thick jacket.
According to Google Maps, the trip to Banon will take 10 hours by highway/tolls or 15 hours by back roads. We have decided to take the back roads for several reasons.
- The 10-hour itinerary would take us through Paris and Lyon, so I am sure that we would get stuck in traffic – making the trip much longer than only 10 hours.
- The 10-hour itinerary will cost us over 100 euros more because of the tolls.
- We have to make it to the gite before 6pm on the 1st, so with the 10-hour itinerary, we would have to leave very early in the morning and be stressed the entire way down to get there on time.
- The 15-hour itinerary will be on smaller, more scenic roads – giving us a great view of France’s landscape and a little adventure.
- With the 15-hour itinerary, we could break it up into two days and stay at a cute b&b and recharge. Since we are not paying tolls, it will cost around the same or less but without the stress.
We have gone to the post office to change our address, scheduled Internet to be installed at he gite and are all packed and ready to go. I have an empty cooler ready to be filled with goodies and my camera charged for pictures of the journey.
7 days left in Normandy!
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