Just do it!

A magnificent home for sale in France - just the kind we had always dreamed of, with enough rooms for visitors, a bit of land for eating al fresco and gardening, a swimming pool...

Sometimes we have dreams for years and years, but don't know if we'll ever realize those dreams...it is hope and faith that keeps us dreaming. Jack and I have had a dream of owning a charming house (a maison de charactere) in France for as long as we've been together (and for me, since I lived in Nice in 1977-8). A couple of years ago, I came to the realization that the dream itself was so much fun, it might be okay if we never actually got the house, but just kept thinking about it, about how we would live there, decorate, cook, entertain family and friends...

A shaded terrace in Provence, on another realtor's site - the perfect place for a leisurely lunch

Through it all, though, we (especially Jack) kept looking at real estate in France, via the internet. And every time we have visited France, our semi-joking catchphrase has been, "C'est a vendre?" ("Is that for sale?") While Jack found so many amazing places for sale - old water mills, barns that would be perfect as renovated art studios, gardens and swimming pools overlooking hilly vistas, outdoor and indoor stone bread/pizza ovens to bake in...so many incredible choices - these all still seemed to be just dreams.

One day last Fall, we decided to go to a basic French real estate site (not one with glamorous properties for foreigners) and start at the bottom of the price scale. Working my way up from completely rundown places with no possibility of water and electricity, to abodes that seemed to offer a few possibilities, I finally got to some places with real potential (although Jack had his doubts about most of them...)

Then one day, it appeared - newly listed, a house that was absolutely charming, in Montagnac (in the Languedoc, just west of Provence), the area of France we wanted to live...and at a nice price. I just happened to be going to Marseille for several days to meet a needlepoint customer from the States, so we booked a ticket for Jack to come too, and made an appointment with the realtor to look at the house the following week.

Everything that happened in the next two weeks flew by like we were in fast forward, but yet it all seemed to be happening just as it should. I don't believe in fate, but I do believe in opportunity, and when an opportunity that feels so right presents itself, one has to be able to jump right in and "just do it". That's what we did.

A combination of luck, passion and "just-do-it" mentality led us to this house and to our new, dear friends in Montagnac. Having made our appointment to see the house, we had to change course for the week I had planned in Provence (turns out my Texas customer was unable to make it to Marseille, anyway), and so we ended up booking a single night at the Domaine des Augustins, a bed & breakfast in the Montagnac that we found on Booking.com. Our thinking was that we would like to get to the town, explore a bit and find the house on our own before meeting with the realtor the following morning. Little did we know that we would fall in love with the wonderful proprietors of the Domaine - Muriel & Olivier Fury - and that they would so happily help us with all of the events that quickly took place in the week to come.

Muriel et Olivier Fury, at the Domaine des Augustins, Montagnac

Magnificent entrance to La Domaine des Augustins

At breakfast the next morning, Olivier, who has done lots of renovations on several old homes they have owned (including their current home, an 18th c. former Augustinian wine-making monastery and its attached church dating to the 15th c. - more on that gem in another post), generously suggested he would be happy to come with us to see the house, since as Americans, we know very little about stone buildings from the Middle Ages (!)

It was love a first sight. We felt that the house was meant for us, as soon as we walked through the front door.

Looking at our front door from the Rue des Amours (Street of Loves)

The events that followed literally happened within three days, while we continued to stay at the Domaine des Augustins, enjoying dinner every night and breakfast each morning with our lovely new friends. We made an offer on the house; our offer was accepted; Muriel called her friend, Marie-Juliette, who is manager of the local branch of a French bank, and immediately we had an appointment to meet her and open our own French bank account; Olivier called their local notaire (similar to a lawyer in France, for handling transactions like buying a house) and made an appointment for us to go there; we met with the notaire, Anne-Catherine, and she drew up a purchase & sale agreement, which we later signed; we discussed renovation ideas with Olivier and spoke with our realtor, a friendly Dutch man named Reinier, about local insurance providers, etc.; we had a couple of follow-up inspections to double-check some questions we had, and found that all had gone well.

Reinier, our realtor - Midi Languedoc Propriétés

I cannot stress enough how friendly and efficient everyone was!!! The process happened so quickly, and yet we were totally confident that everything was moving along just as it should, and with less red tape than one would normally encounter in the United States. Our trust in the people and institutions we were dealing with was not misplaced. Everything did work out just as it should, with no problems other than the former owners of the house stalling for several months (no, they were not French).

Our street - the Rue du Commerce, so-named because many of the houses on it were built and owned by the merchants who lived and sold their wares here in the 15th century

That all was last November and the house literally became ours, officially, the day before we were planning to leave for France again, to spend the next five weeks in our new house - March 28, 2016.

We have named the house "Le Bijou", meaning the little gem. While this house, situated as it is right in the middle of a small town, is not the house we had always dreamed of (in the countryside, but near a town) it somehow felt like the perfect French house for us right now. Follow our adventures in my next posts, as we have been making this old house our own.

The PB Murals: The Market Wall

Le marché - the market scene - is another that might be found in any French town or city. Here I have focused on Lyonnais specialties.

The chickens in their charming wooden crate are Poulets de Bresse, an exquisitely tasty chicken raised near Lyon and considered to be the best chicken in France, if not the world. They are corn fed and free range. The great Lyonnais chef, Paul Bocuse, has helped to make them known world-wide, but they have been classified as AOC (appellation d'origine contrôlée - a trademark of local authenticity) since 1862. A fun fact about the Bresse chickens is that they are thought to be similar to the French flag (le tricolor de bleu/blanc/rouge) - blue legs, white feathers and red crests.

This video features a young, award-winning éléveur of volailles de Bresse. To those who aren't sure how Bresse could be so much better, he says, "Once you have it on your plate you will immediately know the difference."

The cheese seller offers local cheeses, such as St. Marcellin, Reblochon, fromages de chèvres, arôme de Lyon, Comté and Époisses. (I just happen to adore all of these cheeses, tops among them being St. Marcellin and Epoisses. Jack is a Reblochon lover.)

 A selection of our favorite cheeses - all from the area around Lyon (l to r): Reblochon, St. Marcellin, Époisses & Comté

The table in front features Pascaline Rispoli, mother of Chef Philippe, selling her homemade confitures (jams). While she does not really sell at the market in Lyon, her wonderful jams are available for purchase at PB...while they last. (If you miss out on getting some, just wait until Pascaline visits again!)

A selection of Pascaline's delectable jams at PB Boulangerie Bistro

The charcutier (cured meat seller) has hams, pâtés and other prepared meats beloved in Lyon. The poissoniers (fish sellers) in the foreground are offering local fish, as well as imported Cape Cod lobsters & Wellfleet oysters. This is fairly unrealistic, but we couldn’t resist! Even the people looking at the fish are Cape Codders on vacation. She is sporting her French straw market bag and he wears espadrilles, both newly purchased on this vacation.

Pigeons (squabs) are hunted and cooked in many French homes and restaurants.

Cooked squab is very flavorful - like a cross between dark meat chicken and duck.

The guignol (puppet theater) is another cherished tradition in Lyon. PB has some Lyonnais guinol puppets on display in their bistro.

In the upper left corner of this wall is the coat of arms of Lyon and the map in the upper right corner shows Lyon’s location in France.

The PB Murals: The Vieux Lyon Wall

Vieux Lyon (meaning Old Lyon) is the oldest part of the city, dating to at least Roman times. In 942, Lyon became part of the Kingdom of Burgundy, and later, in 1307, became part of the Kingdom of France. 

This photo (above) of La Place de la Trinité was my inspiration for this wall

The remarkably charming buildings in this part of Lyon are plaster colored in the wonderful pink, peach & ochre tones you see here. Medieval and renaissance architectural details abound here. The streets are cobblestone.

The organ grinder with his limonaire (crank organ music box or hurdy gurdy), similar to the one played and celebrated at PB Bistro, is a common site in Lyon. Many still keep a traditional little monkey as their sidekick. He attracts customers and collects donations, and I suppose, is the organ grinder's best pal. 

I gave my organ grinder (picture on right) the look of a gitan (gypsy) with his purple vest and yellow silk neckerchief with red polka dots. (See my two most popular posts, ever - both on French gypsies here and here.)

At PB Bistro - the wonderfully entertaining William (pronounced weel-YAHM), playing the limonaire during a recent upbeat evening

The sidewalk dining bistro scene is typical of such settings, all over France. The charcuterie platter with mustard, cornichons and sliced baguette is commonly enjoyed in Lyon. I decided to put university students at the bistro table in the mural, as a reminiscence of my own student days in France. We felt we were so sophisticated and grown-up, drinking wine for lunch and eating such amazing foods, and the truth is...I still believe we were!

The blackboard has a menu du jour that would be seen at many a Lyonnais bistro, including Bugnes de Lyon (miniature beignets). This particular menu was dreamed up for me by Pascaline, Philippe's maman.

The chef (who bears a slight resemblance to PB's own Philippe Rispoli) is standing in front of a Bouchon Lyonnais, a sort of restaurant typical of and specific to Lyon. Bouchons are bistros, serving traditional cuisine lyonnaise, such as homemade sausages, duck pâté, and other charcuteries, fish quenelles (dumplings), coq au vin, chicken stuffed with morels, and other hearty foods.

The épicerie is a grocery store which carries fresh produce and dairy products. As in this picture, épiceries display their products out on the sidewalk in all but the most inclement weather.

The baker represents both a boulanger (breads chef) and a pâtissier (pastry chef), both of whom are so important to the daily life of French citizens... and to the customers and staff at PB!  As in France, the French bakers at PB Boulangerie are there all night, every night, baking everything fresh for the next morning.

Above, just a small hint of the outstanding pastries and breads displayed at PB Boulangerie.