We leave Tostat in the rain on the 7th of November. On our way to Paris, to visit Christophe’s aunt, we make a detour for Saint Jean de Sauves. Because on our last visit there, we had accidentally left behind Christophe’s electrical tooth brush. After a very brief visit with Alfreda we leave Saint-Jean-de-Sauves (with the tooth brush) and head for Paris. And it just keeps raining…

Paris

Paris is often referred to as the city of love or the city of light. But after spending two days there, we are more than happy to leave. Some people love to be in cities, others prefer more quiet, rural sites. We definitely fit into the last category.

Oss (Netherlands)

Driving through the evening and part of the night, we arrive at my Mum’s place in Oss at 3 o’clock in the morning of the 10th. To our surprise, she has waited up for us. It’s lovely to see her again after all these weeks, so we sit down for a chat and a night cap before heading to bed.

We spend 5 busy days there. As usual, my mum has made a list of things she would like us to do for her. Ranging from administrative stuff to changing the bathroom tap. And while we’re there, a small cascade of breakdowns happen. I don’t believe in coincidence. These things have been waiting for us to break down so we can take appropriate action. When we leave, my Mum is once again set up right, and so is her garden.

Kassel (Germany)

Early on the 15th, we leave for Kassel, where we are invited to lunch by Peter and Gisela. Peter is a former colleague of Christophe and has helped us testing Ananda. We receive a very warm welcome and a delicious lunch consisting of a jummie squash soup and “Kuchen”, all made by Gisela.

Time flies and before we know it, it’s time to leave for our next rendezvous. Which is with Erica and Silke, whom Christophe befriended when they all did the yoga-teacher course together. Erica is on the brink of starting her own yoga studio and we’re dying to see it.

Upon our and Silke’s arrival, we start with a tour of the soon-to-be yoga studio. It’s a beautiful room that is perfect for yoga. Smooth floor, high ceiling, big windows so lots of light. Erica also has prepared a soup (lentil) and Kuchen, so we dig in for a second time 🙂

After good food with good friends and a lot of talk, it’s once more time to go. But before we go, we engage in a joined meditation in the new yoga room. It feels good and it boosts Erica’s morale. She is once again confident that it’s going to work out well and we leave her and Silke with promises to keep in touch and visit again soon.

Greifenberg in Bavaria

We arrive in Greifenberg in the night and quickly go to bed. The next day, we meet the family at breakfast. Early in the evening, we go to the airport to pick up Christophe’s Mum, who will be staying for three weeks. We celebrate my 49th birthday on the 17th, and Malea’s first on the 18th and stay another week, which flies by with all the action 3 grandchildren bring.

Bron (France)

On the evening of the 24th, we say good bye and drive through the night to Bron where my niece lives with her husband and their two boys. We spend the day with them, playing with the boys and talking with Judith and Paul. It’s a pleasure and therefore a pity that it’s only one day. But it’s good to be able to see each other at all.

Vorey

Monday morning the 26th, we leave before the crack of dawn to beat the traffic around Lyon. We’re heading for Vorey where my sister and my father live. We have breakfast with my sister and then head over to my Dad, who lives just across the street. Both my sister and my father moved house recently, so we tour their new apartments. Both have found great places to live, and it’s nice that they are so close to each other.

We spend two lovely days there, and on the last evening, my cousin Boris and his wife Cécile join us with their daughter Prune. She’s 18 months old and this is the first time we meet her. She’s such a lovely little girl!

Montboucher-sur-Jabron

We leave on the morning of the 28th and drive to Montboucher-sur-Jabron, where we have lunch with Christophe’s brother Jeremie. It’s nice to be able to visit like this, even if it’s just for a very short time. Both Christophe and myself have always lived far from our french family members, so being able to visit them all in just a couple of days is a genuine pleasure.

Puget-Ville

The final part of our journey leads us to Puget-Ville, where we are expected for a 3-month pet- and house sit. We make a quick stop in Dieulefit to buy a present for my Dad, and then decide to take the péage to save time, even if it costs money. This plan backfires, as there are demonstrations by the gillets jaunes at every entry and exit of the motorway. The advantage is that we do not have to pay, but we arrive at our new address with a delay of almost 2 hours.

A week with our hosts

Sabine and Olivier are very warm hosts. They have planned a little party on the evening of the 29th, where we get to meet some of their friends. We all have a lovely evening and we feel very integrated already. Olivier leaves on the evening of the 30th and Sabine on the morning of December 6th. Before leaving, they show us around (shops, beaches, stables, etc.) and we have a lovely time with them.

Just us (and Leo, Zola and Vigie)

Yesterday morning, we took Sabine to the train station. Since then, it’s just the two of us. And that feels really good. It was wonderful to spend time with family members and friends, but a month is quite long. You always need to adapt to the people around and cannot live your own rhythm.

So from now on, it’s just the two of us. And of course Leo (the cat), Zola (the dog) and Vigie (the horse). The next three months will be spent mostly working on our project and taking care of Zola and Vigie.