God yes! box wines are just fine. You absolutely do not have to have the fiddle-dee-do of the maker and the tiny little village in the middle or nowhere or the photo of the pretty little grape vine or any of the other nonsense to have a good glass of wine. It's amazing what the wine hype stuff has wrought. I have a big laugh when people spend mucho dollars going to Montepulciano or Bordeaux vineyards with big names -- it's all nothing but grapes. Wish I'd cashed in on the hype.

I watch people who think they are wine experts and despite all their pretensions I'm not sure they could distinguish between a glass of my laundry water and a glass of Ch teauYourBehind 2005. It was a good year, 2005. I'm savvy enough to know that.

LOL, StC. In the very way back when, I took a wine-tasting class. Teacher was a vintner and he said "Drink what you like!" We did have lectures about the most well--known types. What teacher said was the best, tasted terrible to me.

OTOH, DH and I were lucky enough to enjoy a real tasting dinner and it was amazing.

Modern technology has changed things, yes? Screw caps, boxes, faux corks, etc. I like wine to be cool so usually ask for ice with my red wine order!

What's next, cheska15?

Visiting my E. Leclerc supermarket last week, I was amazed to see that they were selling one brand of wine for 1.75 a bottle. Out of curiosity, I bought a bottle. I considered it to be a very small risk because the top supermarket chains in the country cannot afford to sell complete crap on special. And I was truly amazed by the quality. Obviously not a great wine but very smooth and fruity, totally drinkable, and I was also surprised that the bottle had a real cork in it. While screw top bottles are extremely rare in France, quite a few cheap wines use synthetic corks, even for things like Beaujolais Nouveau. I bought another bottle today because they still had a little bit left. (This is the sort of thing that comes in one palette and when it's gone, you never see it again.)

Anyway, I always think of the numerous people who constantly write on forums that in France you can actually find drinkable wine for only 6 or 7 euros, as though that were amazing.

When deciding on where to live in France the no 1 priority was having access to a squash cour for my husband. He plays masters squash in Australia, and is also competing in the World Masters Squash in Poland August 2020, so maintaining his level was very important.
Last week he went to the courts to see what the process was to register here. They don’t have a competition like Aus where he plays in a team every week. He had to put his name down and they would spread the word about having a hit each week. On Monday he received a text inviting him for a hit today. Once he played other people invited him to join them playing twice a week. He is very happy about it all.

He was also feeling lucky today because when he entered the Free Shop to purchase a SIM card it was so easy and he was out in ten minutes All is required is an IBAN number. Now we have a French phone number.

We feel we are really living in the community now these types of things have come together, especially as I walked around the town by self and spoke a few words of French and was understood. Celebrated the milestones by having a good lunch at W Tapas and Wine bar. Good food in a lovely park like setting. The desserts were especially good. I had fish served with eggplant and red capsicum, a little to creamy so I scrapped it off. My husband had a hamburger, and didn’t realise it had foie gras included. While it was not to his liking, there was nothing wrong with it. Desserts was citron mousse served in a glass with cream, coconut, and broken biscuits. The creme brûlée was beautiful and light with a hint of orange.
Total was €63 including 4 glasses of wine. We didn’t mind as we have been eating at home the last couple of days.

Oh and did I say the weather is absolutely stunning. Beautiful blue sky, soft sunshine, no wind and 21 degrees (Celsius).
After the horrific storms last week that caused significant damage to the Marseille- Barcelona train line it is lovely to have the sun. Apparently the line may be repaired by November 4.
All in all today has been a pretty normal day. Still loving it here.

cheska15, I mentioned this yesterday on the What's For Dinner thread, but a "health food" (bio) store has just opened up in the nearest town to us. It's a chain with 150 stores all over France (each independently owned) called Les Comptoirs de la Bio. We were absolutely bowled over by the quality of the products, and much to our surprise many of the prices were about the same or lower than in our Intermarché, Lidl, and Aldi. The store is incredibly light, airy, and roomy, everything beautifully arranged, all the products incredibly fresh (very little meat, though, and no fish). You might want to see if there's one near you. They even have a free coffee bar with free cookies and pain d'épices. We've been joking that we may start going there for breakfast! Much as we love going to our local markets and frequenting our local vendors, it might be more pleasant for us to shop here in winter time, especially when it's cold and rainy. Their wines and other alcoholic beverages were more expensive than we are used to, though.

Weather was downright balmy here today as well. A couple more days like this and then the forecast is for rain and storms.

I"m impressed you found a place for your husband to play squash. Who knew?

He wouldn’t have agreed to visiting for 12 months if he couldn’t play squash. I’m sure you have heard the saying use it or lose it. He feels at his age that if he had a year off it would be too hard to get back into the game. Also the trip isn’t all about me ha ha.
I will look for the stores you mentioned. Thanks for the tip.

If you're serious about grilling, also look into buying a real grill. They're not expensive (can even be ordered on line from amazon.fr). My husband loves to grill and bought a very sturdy, serviceable grill with a smoker for about 150 euros, maybe less. We use it all the time.

We have purchased a bbq and use that when we cook at home. When we leave here we will either leave it here or give to a charity shop. For €129 it has been worth it.

Continued bravas!

Great that your DH found a squash game so quickly, and you are feeling comfortable as well.

May Mother Nature get more agreeable soon.

Our wonderful landlord continually emails us to let us know what events are on. Tonight being Halloween the Les Halles (markets) were having an event. People were encouraged to dress up. You could buy a first glass of wine for 5 euros and then each refill was €4. You could purchase any tapas plate for €5. An added bonus was a brass instrument band. What I love about these events is there is no excess drinking or unruly behaviour. Everyone is just having a good time. Now if we had markets like that where we live perhaps we would buy more.

As tomorrow is a public holiday in France the shops will be closed. However a lot did not re-open after lunch. In fact only the odd cafe were open after 4.00pm. Luckily we are going to Lyon tomorrow, so haven’t had to shop. Before coming to France we entered into TripIt all the public holidays, and we get a reminder two days, and then one day before. This gives us the option of shopping for food or eating out.

we are really looking forward to our visit to Lyon even though it will be cold and rainy

Sounds as though you are settling in nicely. We have been lucky a few times during our trips to come across a local fete, and they are fun. I follow some blogs, a couple from ex-pat Australians, and they describe these events like this which happen in their local community and they always sound wonderful.
I would be interested to know how you found your accommodation in Nimes. Even after this short time, you are going to be sad to leave. I will think of you in the heat of Canberra at Christmas where we will be dog sitting.

rhon we are very happy with our accommodation in Nimes. As we are staying in Nimes for six months there were certain criteria that had to be met.
1 Outside space
2 Quiet
3 ease of getting to train station
4 transport into city centre.
5 space inside if possible.
Our mazet (little house ) is 60 sq metres on a huge block in a residential area 3ks from the city centre There is a bus stop 400m away and a great Boulangerie at 500m ( opens at 6.00am).

The house is long and there is one large bedroom, kitchen, dinning area and lounge. Bathroom is a good size with washing machine. We knew before arrival that the shower was a hand held one, so a few days after arrival we went to the hardware store and purchased a suction shower holder.
The fridge is what we would call a bar fridge. That suits us, but it wouldn’t suit others. Our only issue is the place seems cold. Everything feels damp. Not sure whether we should leave the reverse cycle on for a couple of days, or what to do.

As part of the visa requirement we had to provide evidence of accommodation for 12 months. This can be either what we have, hotel accommodation, or you can stay with someone. We payed one months rent in November 2018 to secure the booking. We also figured that if something went wrong we could afford to loose that amount. We wouldn’t have been happy if we did lose that amount, and that would have been worse case scenario. I found the place on VRBO and as the add said long term rentals welcome, I contacted the owner, and we agreed on €650 per month plus electricity and water. We were happy with that.
it was quite difficult deciding on a budget for accommodation for the year, as I couldn’t find out what was reasonable. We did not want to get into a normal rental agreement, as tenancy issues in France can be tricky. A few weeks before we arrive the owner informed us he is renovating the mazet in March so we will leave then, and that suits us too. We feel that we have landed on our feet, as the owner is a lovely young guy who offers to takes us shopping, or anything else that we need. We haven’t had to take him up on the offer yet. Who knows in winter though.

Here we are in Lyon in a small hotel room and at $210 (Aussie) a night and instead of coffee cups, there are cardboard cups. I will ask for proper cups when I go downstairs. I know I’m being a princess lol.

That sounds great. 650 euro a month sounds good. Only having experience of holiday rentals, I have no idea what a general rental per week or month would be. Looking at links others provide to their holiday accommodation, we think we do pretty well to average out at 300 euro a week for our gites. But we stay in smaller places. We have sometimes only had a small fridge and you do cope. We also find a lot of rentals are tiled, not carpeted, for obvious reasons- easier to clean with no stained carpets. That does make them seem colder. Because of the times we travel we are usually there when it is cold for a few weeks.
Have fun in Lyon.

cheska15, your local hardware store (Bricomarché, Monsieur Brico, Brico Depot... or just a quincaillerie) should carry any number of charcoal products you can use to combat the damp, which is very common in old French houses.

StCirq. Thanks. How do you use these products. The house isn’t old, and was probably built in the 1960’s

Have looked it up and will buy some when we get back to Nimes.

Well, it depends on which charcoal products you buy. There are bags of sort of charcoal chips that you can place in damp spots, there are charcoal "logs," and there are powders (don't recommend them - they are messy). There are also a variety of anti-moissisure sprays you can buy. IME, most of these are pretty effective. You do want to deal with the problem, because if you don't you'll get mold, which can lead to allergies and spoil the house structure, and then the owner is facing new "isolation" issues. We had to start from the attic down and re-insulate the whole house (built sometime around 1860, but the original structure has been here since the 14th century), and we still have to use charbon/anti-moissisure products. Actually, if your landlord is willing, I'd mention the problem to him and have him bring in a specialist to spray the whole place - it will serve him well in the long run and save him considerable expense if he attacks the problem now. Good luck.

Rubson is the main brand of anti humidity products.

After 4 days in cold wet and grey Lyon it is lovely to be back in Nimes where it is cold ( heater on) and sunny.

We visited lovely places in Lyon and the Cathedral Of Lyon is one of my favourites..The Musee Des Confluences is a magnificent structure The Bascilica Notre Dame was worth the visit. The Parc del la Tele d’or is a stunning Parc that includes a small zoo. We did lots of walking despite the rain, and a favourite was Place Antonin Poncet where the floral art work is fabulous

Lyon is a big city and would maybe look better in the sunshine and without road works in just about every street, and most of the plazas are being refurbished. We did enjoy our time there, however it is great to get back to our mazet, and green Nimes.

Lyon maybe the food capital of France and we had some nice meals, but sadly also had the worst coffee in all of our travels.Being a coffee addict I wasn’t to happy until I eventually found a good coffee shop yesterday.

It's a sad reality that France isn't always utopia. We are freezing here in the Dordogne. One fireplace is roaring, it's beautiful, the stuff of many people's dreams but the reality is something different - how many hours humping logs in from outside, how many hours keeping it burning so we don't shiver in bed? I love reading about the $300 a night hotels people stay at but that's not us. We're going to Bordeaux tomorrow, so we'll get warm.

Sorry about the coffee in Lyon. I'm not a coffee addict, but a lack of good coffee in France is a serious problem.

We are entering the season that people who want to stay in France often do not consider sufficiently when they are planning a long stay and have found places with which they are in love in spring or summer. I always tell people who say they want to spend a year in France or maybe even move permanently to come and visit the country in February. If they like it then, they're often good to go. If not, better to think again.

I have turned on the heat two evenings so far this month, and also twice in the bathroom, but soon it will probably switch to every day.

The cold doesn’t bother us at all. After all winter where we live in Australia gets down to -7 but sunny and I am one of these weird people who love winter

We are feeling pretty happy today. After we had been here a couple of weeks we received a note in the letterbox for a parcel delivery to be picked up at the post office. We were surprised that the parcel wasn’t left as we were home.

When we would leave go out in the morning we would often see the postman and give him a wave, that he acknowledged. This morning there was someone calling out o us while we were inside. Lo and behold it was the postman with a letter that had to be signed for. We are pretty happy that a small gesture of acknowledgement makes a difference.

As the only people who come into the street live here, we have acknowledged all when we see the neighbors . The elder gentleman who walks twice a day, or another neighbour who does speak English seem happy to acknowledge us too.

We did do a lot of research about French customs and etiquette before we arrived, as we would hate to cause offence, and these small things are paying off. Soon we will feel like locals. Well I can dream........

You are doing exactly the right thing, but if some of them turn on you for an unexplained reason in the future, you should know that it is the sort of thing that happens in small places and probably has nothing to do with anything you may have done wrong. I think that village mentality is pretty much unpredictable anywhere in the world.

kerouac we will only be here for six months so hopefully that won’t happen. We have told the neighbours we are here for six months, and I’m sure they prefer that than having new people in for a few days, as this mazet is normally a short term holiday rental. Also we are pretty quiet, as this is area is a residential area of Nimes. There are no apartments or town houses. Very much like my suburb in Australia

Adelaidean thanks for the kind words.

I tend to agree with kerouac about February, except that last year February was balmy here, and this November has so far been a b*itch.

Also agree that small village life isn't always as rosy as folks who are passing through make it out to be. You have to be exceedingly careful not to be taken advantage of, even by people you come to know and trust. That said, the vast majority of people are truly wonderful and helpful, and there's no point going around being suspicious of people. After awhile, you come to understand some of the centuries-old family feuds and personal differences and just stay neutral.

StCirq pretty easy to stay neutral when you can’t speak the language. We had some men call out to us yesterday as they were talking to all the neighbours in the street. We had no idea what they were trying to tell us. When the man tried to translate he said the word dustman. That didn’t make it any easier to understand. He asked Brittish and I said Australian. He got the kangaroo hop down pat. In the end they gave up, shook my hand and off they went. Put a smile on my face.

Ah, I don't think I realized you weren't francophones. Yes, that should keep you out of the fray.

I can't imagine what dustman might mean, except perhaps chimney sweep? It's the time of year when we all get the ramoneurs to come do the obligatory cleaning of the chimneys. If that's what it is, your landlord should pay for that and get his certificate.

Dustman is the British (standard) English word for a sanitation worker (assuming the American term 'garbage man' in no longer PC).

Oh ok thanks to you both we will let the landlord know.

As others, happy to see your latest Nimes news!

I am still following. It will be interesting to see the lead up to Christmas. Looking forward to hearing about it.

Another follower here.

I'd be interested in hearing about the logistics of visas, etc., when you have a minute. This is one of my dreams and Nimes area is one of my favourite parts of France.

margo_oz
We applied for a 12 month visitor visa. If you go to the French Consulate website, complete the visa wizard ( long stay visa) you will see the list of documents required. We are retired so it was easy to sign a stat dec saying we would not work in France. You must attend an appointment in Sydney and there is no way around that, so I hope you don’t live in Perth. If you are a couple, then two seperate applications are required.
The tricky bit for a lot of people is the financial requirements as the consulate does not state how much a person must have. The rest of the documents are pretty straight forward. A police check, health insurance for 12 months, and proof of accommodation. We have been fortunate to have a lease for 12 months. We will have to leave after six months though as the owner is going to renovate. This does not bother us. We decided on holiday rentals, as normal renting in France can be complex. You don’t have to have a lease type accommodation, you can have 12 months hotel accommodation. The visa costs 99€, and on arrival in France you have to validate the visa at €250. That is per person.

You may like to join the Aussies in France FB page as in the group their is Aussies applying for a titre sejour group. Lots of useful info and a great group.

Two months before the visa ceases we could apply for another year if we wanted to. We won’t do this. I would recommend that if anyone has this dream go for it. My only issue is life here would be even better if we were fluent in French. We are trying.

Hi Cheska

I’m another Australian who would love to spend some extended time in Europe. So far, ten weeks is the longest we’ve ever stayed there. I would like to spend six months in the UK and do short trips to various other parts of Europe.

Can you tell me if you’ve rented out your Australian home while you’re away? It’s something we would have to think about doing to help offset the costs. If so, how did you do that?

jacooper. Yes we are renting out our house in Aus. We went through a real estate agent. Make sure you research for the best agent and use recommendations if you can. Our insurance would not cover our house if it was vacant for more than 60 days. We also have landlord insurance ($370) on top of our normal house and contents insurance. And of course any income will be liable for tax from the ATO. We can claim a few things though. Different scenario if you have a mortgage, as this probably would be negative gearing.

Something worth noting is that Germany has a visa waiver program with Australia. What this means is that as long as you arrive and depart Germany from a non Schengen country, you can stay in Germany for 90 days irrespective of how long you have been in other Schengen countries. We emailed the German consulate just in case our visa wasn’t approved. If a person was to do this I recommend carrying the email with you when entering Germany. Better to be safe than sorry.
Hope this helps.