So after a six hour drive south Boo finally had her first night on France at the Village Du Lac just outside of Bordeaux. This site is a truly beautiful spot and has a range of chalets built around a series of man made lakes. The lakes are inhabited by a family of ducks and some seriously well fed fish.
We’ve decided to stay here for two weeks and it’s turned out to be very important to have somewhere nice to come home to. Moving from France to Australia is definitely not for the faint hearted!!! Despite a year of Rosetta Stone my French is still a LONG way from where it needs to be.
We’ve managed to open a bank account so bravo to us! However the fact that Credit Agricole has an English speaking service and they provided an interpreter to assist with opening our account may have had some impact on how smoothly the process went.
We’ve also been looking for a camping car to buy. We visited one that we found online and will probably try and buy it. Although it sounds odd to buy the first one that you look at, our friend Felix accompanied us on the inspections and carried out all of the negotiations. Without him we would have been in a whole heap of trouble and, unfortunately we can’t expect Felix to join us on all future visits.
Our final objective for the first week was to get my application for a Carte Sejour or Residency Permit started. I tried calling the local prefecture and, after trying to work my way through the longest automated menu I’ve ever experienced I’m not sure where I landed but there was definitely no one human to talk to……in French or English. Unfortunately you can’t visit the prefecture without a pre arranged appointment which is organised via (somewhere in) the phone menu. I bit of a problem but we’ll find our way. Right now there is a glass of Bordeaux that requires my full attention…..
