Monaco Week 1...

There we are, our first week in Monaco has passed and everyone is in love with our new home.  T, E, and I all moved in on Sunday eve, sleeping on a blow up bed (how very posh), so we would make sure to get to the first day of school on time.

My lovely new kitchen. :)

Furniture shopping was exhausting.  Taking a siesta in
Maison du Monde's textiles department.

The kids timidly entered their new schools on Monday morning, and in the afternoon I was met with smiles and "I had a great day" speeches.  As I was in T's new class visiting with the teacher, I was worried when I saw T on his playground standing all by himself.  He was a little timid about the new space.  But he was all smiles when I picked him up.

The entry to the park that's between their two schools.

First day of school pic.

Had to get that pic fast, we were next to the stinky bush.  Even Monaco
has stinky bushes.

T got to hang out with E as his re-entry was a little later in the morning.

All on his own, but I do see he's hanging close to the girls. Smart boy. :)

Looks like it was a good day!

I've met a little group of expat women who all have kids in the same schools as mine and we spend an hour or so after school in the cafe next to the kid's park and chat while the kids run off their post-school day energy.  The three of us have found our stride pretty fast and are feeling quite happy with our new village.

J is still spending most of the time in Nice working, as his VO booth doesn't come for another week or so.  He makes the occasional trip with a car full of stuff and to hang with us for dinner.  The furniture is trickling in little by little and by the end of the month we will have places to sit, sleep and eat.  My hands are currently aching from putting together all the kids furniture.  (Thanks IKEA)  We bought things from several different stores and by the end of October all will be delivered and we should be all settled.

I think the thing I like about Monaco as opposed to Nice is the international mix of people.  (Besides the point it's extremely clean and well policed!)  It feels a bit like NYC to me where there are different cultures all living together.  Albeit a VERY SMALL NYC, did you know you can fit two Monaco's into Central Park?!?!  But, it's great because the schools for the kids are all French, French culture is still very prominent, and I have to still work on my French because in many instances I need it, but we all also have a lot of English around us so we feel a bit more at home in our new surroundings.

I think we're gonna like it here!!!

Planes, Train and Automobiles...

Wow, has a month really gone by already??!?!!  Lots has been happening for the move as well as for the mental well-being of the family. :)

First, we found an apartment.  After much searching we found an apartment through the Aunt of a friend of J's.  Super!  No realtor fees and it's large enough and not budget busting.  Now, it just needs some work and we can move in.  Tick, tick, tick.  Not sure when that date will be, but hopefully before the kids start school.  With the speed at which things happen here in the So. of France, all I can say at the moment is.... Hmmmmmm.

The before pics....

Certainly not La Reserve, but it does have some pluses.  For instance a big inner courtyard for the kids to run loose, that is until the neighbors pitch a fit. After pics to come later. :)

Second, with lease in hand, T and E visited their new schools in Monaco for next year and we dropped off all the paperwork needed.  Well, almost, residency cards still to come.

Third, J and I then headed to the Police Station to apply for his Resident Card and to get finger prints to send to the FBI for criminal background checks.  Sure hope those don't come back with any surprises.  Like when you apply to buy a house and find a pesky medical collection you had no idea about.  Fingers crossed.

 It's amazing in Monaco. No lines for anything and people are all too happy to help.  A far cry from the town 20 kilometers away I'm currently in.  I think I'm gonna like it here.

Fourth, I said a lot has happened, I took off for a quick drop into NYC to apply for my long stay visa, a requirement for me to get my Monaco Resident Card.  Funny, I had to fly all the way to NYC to drop off papers that will fly all the way back here to a town 20 kilometers from where I sit to get approved, then sent all the way back to NYC where I will also fly all the way back to just to pick up the visa.  Can't I just drive the 20 minutes to Monaco and do this all the easy way????  Apparently not.

After running through Heathrow, through security and from one end to the other to make my connection in 15 minutes, I had the longest gate walk on record to my plane.  A chance to catch my breath!

Cool pic in the subway showing the typical mix of subway passengers. 

I take the beach with me... beach in Jersey City looking at Manhattan.

I worked here as a beer and shots girl who also shucked clams and oysters for the customers in 1992!

While I was away the family took the opportunity to see the old fashioned car race in Monaco. Super fun it looked like!

Lastly, I landed back in Nice to sleep a night and then board a plane with the family to go visit our German friends in Fischbach, Germany, on the coast of Lake Constance (Bodensee).  They're off to live in America soon and we wanted to see where she grew up and what all the fuss was about.  :) In our journey to get there, we traveled by car, plane, train, and boat all on the same day!

And a quick night in Zurich, Switzerland to top it all off.

We did a bit of sightseeing and playing and had a nice relaxing week.  It makes us all want to go live in the countryside and live a relaxed peaceful happy life.  :)

A fast and full month.  I'll do a separate post for Germany since I have a ton of photos and excursions to tell about, like Monkey Mountain!! :)  Stay tuned....

October????

Wait...did I say it was scarf time???


Unlike what I'm used to in late September, early October....here's what we've been doing with our free time in the last couple weeks.....

We spent the day at St. Laurent du Var at the beach, not the Beach Club this time. This part of the beach strip has this wet sandy area which looks like you wouldn't really want to set your camp there, but it's actually PERFECT for the kiddies since they have wet sand to build with.  My mommy friend and I didn't hear from our kids for about three hours straight! 

Then, this pair of swans decided to come hang out.  I'd never thought swans would be beach goers, but I am now educated on the fine tastes of this particular bird species.  Obviously they had reserved a space and found it unavailable when they arrived.  The one was pretty miffed and ranted all down the beach until it jumped back in and they swam back towards the airport (just there in the upper left corner of this pic, the upper right of the others).  Off to Spain I think.

We also joined a Meet Up group for ex-pats as well as French families who would like to mingle with English speakers.  I had thought it would be good for T over the summer to have some kids he could play with more freely.  We attended a BBQ at one of the family's house and they were so clever to hire someone to "play" with the kids.  She had face painting, games, and story time so the parents could freely chat.  Plus, their Villa in Nice had a lovely view from the yard.  

Then we attended a pizza/pool party at another member's house where E got to try her hand at driving a four wheeler.  She was the first in the pool too!

Needless to say....we're REALLY contemplating a house with a yard and a pool.  When asked which T and E would choose...our apartment in the city on the sea or a house with a yard and a pool....the house always wins.  Hmmmmmm.  If there's one thing we learned this summer, our kids LOVE pools and big yards to run in.  Charlie included!!

The next post may come late too as I'm currently neck deep in real estate magazines checking out the offers. :)

Our New Pad....

A week in review of sorts for you....


Last week was all about moving.  You'd think moving into a furnished place would be easy!  Nooooo, especially not when it's been empty for months.  I spent the first day just cleaning out the kitchen cupboards of old food that had hatched moths who ended up taking residence in the entire apartment.  Anyway, after days of cleaning and finally bringing over the 19 boxes we sent across the ocean, we're in, unpacking, and LOVING it!!


We started the move-in Monday, had T's birthday on Wednesday, celebrated Bastille Day with fireworks on Thursday, seen perfectly from our house, finished unpacking boxes over the weekend and are now relaxing on the balcony watching the boats come and go.


Here's a little video for your enjoyment. :)  You can look at the photos again...(here)

Haha, you'd think Youtube would pick a better thumbnail than what looks like a jail cell! :)


The La Reserve used to be a beautiful restaurant all the way back in the early 1900s.  Here is a newspaper pic of what it looked like.  There's still a restaurant here that looks quite fabulous and I look very forward to checking it out! :)

Our building in 1900

Our building now.  We're the whole top floor on this side!!
Kids use the old boat frame to jump off into the water. CRAZY!!

And lastly a couple pics of T's birthday...

Waking up to the Birthday fairy's delivery

He was sooo wanting a scooter

FINALLY, I'm 5!!

If you're jealous, then buy a ticket and come out! :)  But first, sign up to follow the adventure-it's cheaper!!

Could This Be The One....

So today the infamous Sydney returned to work and J made sure he had all his paperwork for an application ready and appeared on her doorstep at 9am.  He made an appointment to see the apartment we'd been waiting a week to see.  


At 2:30 we entered....La Reserve...

It's the whole top floor on this side of the building.  The building basically hangs off the cliff at the edge of the water.  The building has been around for forever and seems to be quite famous.  There's still a restaurant on the bottom level and I'm sure we'll frequent it if we live there.  Would make for an easy walk home! :)

Entry hall, two bedrooms to my immediate left-just behind me

Small sitting room area leads to one of the sun rooms (seaside)

 

Dining area leads out to bigger terrace 

Ahhh, finally a table big enough for company 

Second sun room (road side) would make a good spare bedroom/kid's playroom

A little back balcony from the bedrooms to one of the sun rooms

Sorry, didn't catch J at the best moment :)

Needless to say we handed her our dossier right at the dining table and await word....Fingers crossed!!





UPDATE:  And the verdict isssss.....it's LOUE´, but to us this time!!  :)