What a dreadful night! Dates and possibilities swirled through my head and Schengen regulation enforcers had new and tricky interpretations, which were not in line with our understanding or with Keith’s idea that everything will be what he thinks is reasonable. In the morning we were both exhausted since my tossing and turning had woken Keith.
Yves rang the Prefecture in Lyon and was passed on to the one in Grenoble, to check our understanding and our options. All went well until he asked for an English speaker and put me on. After my explanation of what we had done so far, he said that we had already overstayed our time and would need to leave the country, and that if we wanted more time in France that we would have to go back to Australia to get a different sort of visa. I was in shock – this was worse than my imaginings. I handed the phone back to Yves, quickly telling him what I had understood the man to say. Luckily Yves was able to have a discussion with a completely different outcome, thank goodness. In this discussion, there was no mention of a six month period being of any consequence, and it emerged that we could stay for ninety days every time we left Schengen countries and then re-entered. That meant that we had ninety consecutive days after June 24th, when we entered Slovenia. Hooray! All our problems were solved but it is a pity that we had been unable to find out anything, despite inquiring, in Australia.
I joked with Yves that he could have visited us when we were prisoners due to Schengen breaches. It seems that being Australian and harmless types as teacher tourists contribute to no problems being envisaged.
After lunch we went for a ‘walk’ in the car to Point Vert (Green Point), which is an area for recreation beside the Rhône a few kilometres from Quirieu. It is a very tranquil spot, with lawns, a beach of imported sand, sailing boats, swans with signets and kayaks. Immediately opposite is the ‘Vallée Bleue’ (Blue Valley), which is the noisy side with camping, speed boats and motor vehicles of different kinds for the water and the land. The hill with the Quirieu Chateau on it looks down on a long stretch of the Rhône, including Point Vert. In former days there was also a Port of Quirieu, which was where boats were loaded and unloaded with merchandise and stone. The stone was loaded onto wagons for transport to the port, the horses, still hitched to the wagons went on the boats and, upon arrival at their destination, continued on their way. Afterwards the horses pulled the wagons, perhaps laden with other goods, back to the boats for the return trip.
We didn’t walk very far before we came to the boat yard where Yves hires a sailing vessel now and then. He is good friends with the people there and we stopped for a long chat and a drink. A young man told us of his battles with bone cancer, with such charm and cheerfulness, that it was impossible not to be impressed by his approach to life.Back in the car, it was a short drive to Montaigne, a little village on the mountainside, where many retirees live. It is a magical village in terms of stone buildings, winding roads, well tended gardens and amazing views over the valley. On top of that, every available wall, balcony or surface has been enhanced with pots of flowers, which are all in full bloom, and whose vibrant reds, yellows, purples and oranges contrast so well with the grey and yellow of the stones. Even the Mairie (Town Hall) had flower pots attached to its walls.
The church is small, simple and very beautiful, and of course, decorated outside with blooms. Its interior is simply decorated with small reliefs of the Stations of the Cross, and the altar is flanked by statues in alcoves on each side of a wide, arched opening in a black wall. Simple, stark, beautiful, and sadly not used for worship any more since there is no longer a priest who visits.
Our stroll around the streets left me with a longing to live in a place like this, and conveniently, there was one abandoned house and another for sale. Keith had looked in an estate agent’s window in Montalieu and found that property prices were not unlike those in Australia, but Yves said that charming stone houses in desirable villages are becoming more expensive because they are becoming scarcer. He also said that in some parts of South West France it is like being in England, so great has been the buying up of homes and the migration. I thought it was all food for thought, but I could tell that Keith was not wasting any time considering my proposal of missing winters by living six months in Australia and six months in France. Even the ‘education and language learning’ card drew no response.
The hillside is striped with vines, which Yves says produce a beautiful and distinctive white wine. 
Even a chook yard looked charming to me, and then I spotted a secret garden with a black wrought iron gate. Missing were children and people in general, but we were to see some as we left. A whole group of walkers was returning from an outing, with everyone looking as if they qualified to be a Senior Citizen. Being holiday time, everyone else may have been away, working elsewhere, or taking siestas.
Back home we set about watering the fruit trees, which naturally brought on a wild thunder storm and lots of rain. It was still hot. I read a book on the Compostelle walk and then we worked out possible plans for our travels. It seems that we will be going to Belgium at the end of July, then England, but will not visit Ireland or Germany. After that we will do the walk in southern France and then see what we want to do, but more time in France is not out of the question. Of course, all plans can change but at least we have a basis for the next four weeks, which allows us to take advantage of cheaper travel if there is any.After tea we watched a program about New Zealand, which we haven’t visited but which looked to have many spectacular and interesting areas. Unusual to our eyes now, and to Yves and Anne-Marie’s too, was the broad acre approach to a vineyard, where the view from the house was of uninterrupted green, rolling over hills in all directions.
1 comment:
Yes, cool I like the way you are saying it, because in most times I see a post I don't see simplicity and clearness. Thanks :)
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