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!!!

Technology...

Growing up in a country that succeeds in time and energy management, getting things done in the most efficient manner is part of my being.  Sooooo, sometimes I get a "bit" frustrated with the way things are done here in France.  The South of France more specifically, can't speak as knowingly about say, Paris.

In this day and age when we can set a car on Mars, and watch video sent directly from it on our computer, does it take a week to send money from a French bank account to an American one???  Shouldn't it be a press of a button and magically through this amazing invention called the Internet the number should be subtracted from one account and added to the other???

In addition, why do I have to fly for 9 hours back to America to hand in papers that will then be MAILED back to France, the other side of Nice actually, to be read and stamped, only to have me fly 9 hours back to America again to have a Visa sticker pasted into my passport that says I'm allowed to stay in the country I just flew out of???  Why can't I just go to the office, on the other side of town, and have all this done??  They have computers, I'm sure, that can send information back and forth to the other country much faster and more efficiently than me flying to deliver them only to have them mailed back to where I just came from.  I can google myself so I know it works.  When is France, and I'm sure America needs to be involved here, going to get on the twentieth century bandwagon and connect???  It does amaze me!

Oooohhhh, the paperwork...

Even to get your kids into a pubic school, you have to go to a town hall office, fill out lots of papers, have two different people look at them to decide which school is in your neighborhood, a third person stamps those papers and tells you which school to make an appointment with in order to enroll your child.  Why?  Shouldn't that info be on the Internet somewhere and you just call that school and set up an appointment with the director?  Why do we have an office and three people to do that?

Lastly, we've given notice on our lovely apartment and guess what we have to do to make it official.....we have to send a Certified letter from the post office for 4 euros 40.  Now, this isn't such a big deal except for the fact that the real estate agency that it's going to is literally next door to the post office.  Can't we just drop off the letter in person? ...You guess the answer.

Anyway....after all the inefficiency of the above mentioned, yesterday I was finally awarded my meeting for the Carte de Residence for Monaco. As a reward for all my patience, and substantial amounts of paperwork, it seems that in 20 days I will be a card carrying member of the "Land of Expensive Cars and a Real Live Princess".  And even if Monaco is just as behind in it's time and energy management, the lines are MUCH shorter. :)

Some customs we just have to grin and bear.

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....

Monaco...

Ok folks, time to come clean with the impending change I've eluded to.

For the past few months we've been wrought with deciding what to do about where to live.  The taxes here in France are crippling.  No wonder the French overall don't strive to work harder and make more. The more they make the more the Gov takes.  It's the Social charges that kill you.  You can bring down your income tax with deductions like America, but the social charges don't change, about 35% of your gross in addition to your income tax. So no matter how low you get your Income Tax to be you still pay Social charges on the gross as well.  Whew!!

We've thought long and hard, did many spread sheets of number crunching and comparisons, and have decided to go live in the land of expensive cars, and, much to E's excitement, a land with a real Princess....Monaco.  Better public schools, LOW crime, very clean, still on the water's edge, and it's a small city so we hope it'll have a nice "community" feel to it.

Now to the list of what we need to do for Monaco.....

Get an apartment.  (At a price we can afford! Tough for Monaco!)

Set up the business.

Get a bank account.

Get resident Cards.

Sign up kids for schools.

Move in.

Sound easy enough.........stay tuned!

A few pics of an afternoon we spent in Monaco hanging around the Casino and Hotel de Paris..

I may have to upgrade my wardrobe. ;)

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!!

And the List Goes On....

In 12 days we leave.  Crazy how fast time goes.  As always, you feel you have tons of time to get everything done and then all of a sudden you have two days to see all your friends, pack all your things, get all your papers in order, close up your house, the list goes on.

I'm currently recovering from a second round of bunion surgery in a month (I loved it sooo much the first time around I thought I'd do it again). and making a list of all the things that need to be done as the days trickle away.

Bandages from bunion surgery.  Yes, it hurt.

I have to admit that I always hear people who talk about ALLLLLL the things they need to do before making a huge move and this doesn't seem as difficult as I assumed it would be.  It's probably all the pain meds! I don't know.  But, here's my list for anyone who's wondering.....

1. Charlie's Vet appointment for his International Medical Certificate, i.e. Pet Passport
2. Box up our "10" boxes, fill out customs forms, print shipping labels, and take to Post Office
3. Sell or have all excess furniture and such removed from apartment
4. Kids last Well Visit and Vaccines
5. Get all updated doctor and dental records
6. Cancel utilities and cell phones
7. Talk to Taylor's school about leaving
8. Organize bank accounts and transfer any extraneous monies into them
9. Cancel any unnecessary credit cards and memberships
10. Figure out how to pack my favorite piece of art, a painting by Kristopher Stillwell
11. Drop off toys to our favorite daycare and clothes to a donation center
12. Ebay those few pairs of shoes I decided to part with
13. Change of address to Post Office-our friend is taking in any mail that still comes to us
14. Create a phone book of all my friend's numbers in my cellphone
15. Contact all my friends, even the old ones I haven't talked to in a while, and tell them we're moving and how to keep in contact with us
16. Contact the ABC School in France and make sure they have room for both kids when we return
17. Have coffee dates with all my close friends before I ship out
18. Talk myself into letting my mom see the kids before we go (a long story that one day may be told)
19. Get my hair colored and cut, Taylor's hair cut, and Charlie one last grooming
20. Pack our suitcases.....

Painting by Kristopher Stillwell

I'm sure more things will come up, but that's pretty much the list.  Now if I could just walk, some of it could actually get done. Oh vanity, she rules me so.  But cute shoes in my future is soooo worth it.  I'll just have to work double time next week.

We invite you on our journey, the door is always open!!

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Four Lives in 10 Boxes.....

And the countdown begins......


James booked us on a flight back to France for May 2nd.  Now that the date is set we figured we should get a move on clearing the apartment and all of our needless "things."


So, we put up an ad on Craigs List offering all our goods.  Saying basically, "if you can see it, it's for sale."  Well, within one week we've been picked clean of most all our furniture and quite a few kitchen things.  I'm currently sitting on my big comfy sofa giving it a cuddle since it will be leaving the family in a few short days. 


Already Taylor's bed, our dressers, the dining table and chairs, my desk, and our office cabinets have gone, along with lots of shelving.  Taylor handled it really well once we discussed how difficult it would be to take his bed on the plane.  The other big pieces are leaving us this weekend.  What will remain for the next three weeks is our mattress, Emm's toddler bed and the TV shelving unit.  Crazy!  We'll have to have family picnics on our bed and watch movies on the computer. :)  


So......the 10 boxes have begun development.  As a reminder, we had a moving company give us a quote to move half of our furnitue and belongings to France and he gave us a price of $13,600.  We decided against that, obviously, and chose to ask UPS how much to send boxes.  It came to $100 for a 20lb box, $150 for a 30lb box.  So we set ourselves a goal of 10 boxes.  (With wiggle room of course.  Cause as I've said before, I'm a packrat.)


We moved all the things we thought we wanted to keep into the bedroom and all the things we didn't want to keep into the living room.  We ended up with 13 boxes in the bedroom.  We also gave Taylor and Emm each a box to fill with their favorite toys. If it fit it could come to France. T ended up putting some things in Emm's box and she didn't seem to mind since she plays with them too.  They ended up with three once I added their books and cuddlies.  One box is kept in mind for my favorite kitchen items, the cutlery/knife drawer and the cooking utlensils.  Yes, I'm sure France makes these things, but I'm partial to my dodads. Then add in a couple boxes for linens, love my down comforter and cover and have priced them out there.  Might as well spend to send.  So, we start with about 20.

Now, we'll spend the next week or so narrowing down these boxes to try and get as close to 10 as we can and then the final week of packing the 4 suitcases we'll bring on the plane.  Whew.  


Now I'm starting to get a wee bit anxious. Cause time will go fast and as much as you think you have it all under control, the day creeps up to you and you find you're scrambling.  And there are soooo many things to do before we leave, people to try and get together with, and dentist appointments, and doctors visits, and..................