Au revoir France

Goodbye France, hello Italy! France has been good to us, so here’s a few things we learned:

Rent a car. For sure. The public transportation, which was quick and easy and everywhere in England, seems to be almost non-existent in this area. Plus, with a car you can explore all the beautiful country side and listen to NRJ, the hilariously bad radio station that plays the same four ear popping, monotonous, pseudo dance songs all day long. It’s just so terrible we can’t turn it off.

Limit the restaurants. We love, love, love the food- eaten simply. We basically lived off bread and cheese and fresh fruits and veggies, but the few times we tried a restaurant we ended up with things like ham wrapped around lettuce and cooked in milk or a plate of… meat. Just meat in all it’s gristly, sausagey glory. Oh- and steak is generally partially cooked hamburger. Just a few things you might want to know.

At least try to speak French. This one’s cliché, I know, but the French will come right out and say, "You must try Francais. Come. Try." And then you feel like you’ve been scolded by your strict but nice teacher that you secretly want to impress. If they don’t encourage you to speak it, they can get plain old unfriendly. Maybe that’s worse, I’m not sure, but it’s best to just go in there and fumble through a few poorly spoken bonjour, trois croissant, sil’ vous plait. Merci- type words.Which brings me to my next tip- eat lots of croissants. Just stuff yourself. It’s the best advice on this page.

Get lost. John’s talked about this one, but I sort of want to drill it into your head. Some of our best discoveries have been unplanned: an abandoned tower where John’s leg fell through the third floor, an old roofless house covered in vines, caves and castles (I know, enough about that already), great little towns with chatty potters and bakeries on every corner, old monasteries and churches (which have always been very welcoming and friendly to us, in England as well). It’s nice to do the research and plan a few things, but save some days for just driving or walking.

Rent cottages. I can’t believe we ever considered anything else. So much cheaper, for starters, but they also become your little home where you cook and do laundry and each have your own space (including a yard where the kids can play- in this case a two acre yard with a pool!) Cottages here are often hundreds of years old and full of character and story, giving us a good excuse to not do anything for the day but light a fire and read a book. Say it with me: hotel shmotel.

It is possible to live out of a back pack. We each have maybe four outfits, (they can be layered or mixed up, but still- three cheers for us) Books have been the hardest thing to minimize, and we’ve slowly been accumulating more and sneakily stuffing them into our already bursting packs. But, for the most part, we’ve done without a lot of "needs". Mostly the needs that make you pretty. Or conveniences like extra socks and umbrellas.

TV? Don’t need it. We’ve discovered that our evenings go pretty smoothly without it. We do have a copy of Nancy Drew, that crazy sleuthing teenager, which we may possibly have memorized by now, but for the most part we are a TV free zone. We light a fire (sorry- John lights the fire after a half hour wrestling match inside the wood stove), make some coffee or open a bottle of wine, and read, chat it up, write our fancy blog, etc. I understand that for many this is a less than thrilling itinerary, but it’s right up our bookish alley and now all I can think is how many evenings I spent watching stuff that was, at best, mildly amusing (of course I’m not referring to time spent watching the best shows ever, like Arrested Development or Flight of the Conchords, which I miss in a really pathetic way. I say if it gives you a good hearty belly laugh or really makes you think, it’s worth it. But how many shows do that?)

Don’t worry about the kids. This is a multi layered one, because that’s what we do naturally- worry about our kids. A few things that stood out in my mind were: school work, friends, sickness, kidnapping. School’s been great, if unconventional. Lots of hands on stuff, even some workbook stuff on those stay at home days. They’ve met friends, but they’ve also become so much closer to each other. They play together all the time and when Alexa got money from the tooth fairy (the pretty French fairy who leaves Euros and forgets to take the tooth- oops) she decided to buy cake for her brother and sister. Aw. No sickness. No kidnapping. See? These things usually all work out. Which, coincidentally, is John’s motto.

Tomorrow it’s an overnight train to Italy. We’re in a sleeper with six beds and I can’t help but feel bad in advance for that poor sixth soul that will be occupying bed #6. In an enclosed space with our rambunctious kiddos. And John. (I don’t mention myself because, hey, I’m the quiet one!) Hopefully it’s someone who shares John’s motto. Or a Buddhist monk.

Angie