With Nina here in Bangalore we decided it was time for a little girls outing -:)
The new house - after moving in
The guest bedroom
Study area
Top floor landing
Duuk's room or additional guest room
Our snow themed master bedroom
Laundry area
The kids castle studio in the basement
Indeed - this red wall in the end just stayed red
Panorama view
The 'Alpen Fields' themed living room, with the moose & deer head wall
Kitchen
The garden after Eelco cutting the grass
Evening view
Side veranda
Veranda at the front
The grand father clock, rocking chair & wood burning fire on our texas cow hide
The dining area once we had closed the rolling shutters the evening before our departure
-:)
Rajastani Princess dress
Our lovely & sweet neighbor sees us leave the house every morning with 3 kids sending us off. By then Kaat is usually already in her pre-school princess dress. Then after school or in the weekends - every time our neighbor sees Kaat (she walks the dog and is often near / at the playground also), she sees her in a different princess dress. She was so impressed by Kaat's style that she decided to bring Kaat a princess dress from Rajastan, the region in North East India where she is from. She even came over to try the dress and then had it further fitted.
So then it was time for all the family to put on their Indian dancing outfits (as they call them) and go thank Ms Janaki.
And then w left her house and Rick got for all of them a big bar of chocolate (apparently Kaat asks Chandrama loudly for chocolate - probably nutella - as soon as the car is out of sight in the morning). And Rick kept saying for a good few hours thereafter, in between the dancing, I can't believe we got a WHOLE bar of chocolate. Happy kids, fab neighbor!
How to buy in house in France - in no time
I believe I never wrote about how we actually bought the house in France, which was actually a bit of a whirlwind affair. We had finally decided we were back to the plan of buying a house in france, but no longer a ruin we would slowly turn into the house of our dreams, instead we aimed for a house, ready now to spend the bulk of our time off in a relaxing environment that would feel like home and would have plenty of good food to get (European style & fresh produce).
So we debated about the exact area we where interested in and ……did nothing. Then a few weeks before Eelco managed to book us last minute a lovely looking Chalet near Mieussy (in our search area) and we still managed to get tickets for all 5 of us to Geneva. And then we did a lot of pre-work looking for houses…….well no actually…none at all. Which is why we wanted a holiday home in the first place. Work, life and the kids took over our time and we found none to sort our holiday. So not having much clue where we were heading and not even having a single viewing lined up or a single realtor contacted we arrived on Saturday afternoon in the gorgeous Chalet. Then we found out that all realtors where closed Sundays and Mondays. We only had 1 week!
By Tuesday morning in our best French we got on the phone. We managed to see 4 houses of which one made us think of Anton Pieck (Dutch, very frilly fairytale forrest designer of a Dutch theme park), one looked a if it had been lived out by drug dealers, one was a clearly one big photoshop montage thing as it looked 10% of the size and location we expected and a brand new place….which had no character but amazing views and would have no maintenance and at least looked do-able.
That afternoon we had coffee with a Dutch lady, the rental place owner had connected us. She sells property in the actual ski area, and was happy to talk us through how things worked in France and the area in terms of buying a house. Naive? Lucky? we felt all of that as of course we should have looked into all that beforehand. Super lady - lovely help - and clearly a connection between 3 expats (the rental place owner, the Dutch lady and us) of some kind, as is the norm then without really knowing each other, helping our, inviting people over etc. Great!
By Wednesday morning we saw 2 further places, of which one in a little valley close to Mieussy, in a group of Chalets built by LaCroix, sharing access roads, a tennis court etc etc. Very very dated, but in very very good condition and more our kind of mental model. Pfew! We also saw a similar but much smaller place making it clear what to aim for. So now what?
Then the guy showing us around got a call in between and told us he would go look at a place that afternoon, he thought it maybe would fit but knew nothing yet, some divorce case. He would call us if it fit the bill. The guy was young, single and without kids, but had been parapente instructor in Nepal and sort of 'got us'.
By 5pm we got a call. Our friend was at the divorcee's house, if we wanted we could come and have a look. The place was just down the road from where we stayed,….well actually we could see the roof from the rental Chalet we realized later. We showed up a a brand new looking Chalet, again built by LaCroix, in a community of 8 other Chalets and a Chalet style small apartment complex (3 stories, maybe 8-10 apartments). We could barely contain our enthusiasm. The place was perfect. Right size, right lay out, plain and simple but well finished interior, in great condition, super view and location, closed of garden, at the corner of the ski-bus stop etc etc. The house was not 'set up in show style' at all yet and still looked super.
After viewing the house the realtor told us it would maybe be a few days before he would know exact asking price etc. So we went back to the rental place and knew we had found it - but had to wait. The next morning in an attempt to be thorough we had booked an appointment for a place closer to the tourist areas. Nice Chalet but no views, too close to other houses and a 3rd floor with not even standing height.
Before we managed to even see the place we got a call - an asking price for the dream house had been established. And it was sensible and within reach! So after the viewing we got in the car and quickly called in our bid. We met Eelco's parents and the kids after that in Mieussy for Lunch, and before we made it through the main course we got a call back. With a tiny increase over our offer,…..the house was ours! Woohoo!
That Saturday at 5pm, we signed the deal. -:) The divorcees wanted to get on with their own separate lives and wanted out ASAP, so even us wanting to move into the place only 2 - 2.5 months later was very acceptable to them.
How do you mean you cannot go to France from India with 3 tiny kids for 1 week and just 'go buy a house'!
Col de la Ramaz (Mieussy's attractions)
Within minutes of arriving at the house in France we realized we had bought a property in prime cycling ground. There were road racers everywhere, all the time! The house we bought is effectively on the D308 which in winter takes you up to Sommand and the Sommand / Praz-de-Lys ski area and in summer takes you up to the Col de la Ramaz after which you can descend towards Le Gets / Taninges on the other side. The cols is at 1600m, has featured in the tour de france in 2010 and has bike signs like this along the whole route.
We went up by car, not by bike, to have a stroll around. The ski area is actually quite pretty also in summer, the views amazing, the hills green and lush (as they should be in "le vallee verte") and there are ample walking trails.
Of course we had a lot of games to play up there….
And had no pace to speak off
But watching the views
and the kids was fun enough!
Kaat jumped
and danced her way up
And then we all got rewarded by two marmots (the picture is of the same one)
Duuk was soooooo happy being outside
And Rick was also filled with joy - I was kind of expecting him to start a sound of music song on 'the hills are alive' any minute
Of course, even after just 1.5 hrs or so Duuk was worn out by all the fresh mountain air
And we found some cycling team being unloaded next to our car for a training run. They looked kind of professional so I quickly snapped a shot - honestly having no idea who this may have been.
No worries! Martijn, Neel & Wybe have educated me on the matter.
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