(The charming and historically-rich Languedoc Roussillon region provides visual vistas like this.)
It’s a new mecca for Americans who wish to live elsewhere, sampling an international lifestyle. And better news yet: Living there supposedly costs under $500 a month to rent a lovely place in that region. “Where is it?“ you ask. Languedoc, France, in the southwestern part of the country, is the new region being touted as one of the “Best Places Outside of America to Retire to“…(It’s one of several hyped in the link below).
Oh, I don’t want to live there from this point on; I just think it’d be fun for a while.
I must say: The whole notion intrigues. I can see me now in the French countryside, easel set up, as I paint pastoral scenes all about, for “Isn’t this the land of that French impressionist, Matisse?” Yes, the last time I was in France some 24 years ago, I hurtled along the country’s central roadway system, on the opposite side (the one they drive on), trying to avoid being taken out by insane drivers.
Defensive driving there means one similarly runs at speeds of 100 kilometers, on 2-lane roads built for half that speed. If you don’t keep up, you flirt with death. Even Citroyens (they look like matchbox cars) rev up their little engines and blur past; it’s the French way of life.
Further benefit? Because I’ll immerse in their culture, I’ll get a real chance to use my French (I minored in that language in college). Years ago, on an earlier trip to that country, I used it sparingly and never got to the point of fluency (when one “thinks in French.”) We weren’t there that long.
My most prescient memory of a language glitch was our first night when we visited the Eiffel Tower. I stressed over the exchange rate I couldn’t understand (the franc was still in use), but the clerk behind the glass booth had no patience and angrily dismissed me, waving me away.
When she thrust my change at me and the paper blew off with a gust of wind, I resorted to the only phrase I knew: “Tu es laid (ugly) and tres stupide!” To drive home my contempt for her, I’d used the familiar “tu” for servants and underlings, thus adding to the insult, instead of the polite “vous.” It got the proper reaction. She went ballistic, and I hurried my little group away and into the elevator for our ride to the top.
It wasn’t nice of me, but I was tested beyond the max.
I must say, that experience worried me as I’d heard (before our trip) the French dislike Americans. Happily, I found that rude woman the one exception as all others were gracious indeed. Maybe they just really sympathized with the fact I was a lone woman, traveling across Europe, with 3 kids in tow (two were 15; one was 5). That was the trip where I brought a friend for the older one.
But here’s what I found remarkable on that journey: the countryside is still as it was hundreds of years ago. Highway signage is almost non-existent, towns appear “quaint;” stonework is everywhere (cobblestone streets, churches, cottages). Modernization has not confounded its charm, as was evident when we visited the walled medieval town of Carcassonne.
I remember driving past numerous fields of sunflowers, rolling hills and pasturelands, thinking: “Of course, this panorama invited the masters of art; it even calls to me to replicate it.” Fortunately I had a camera.
Over that period, I took amazing shots of the countryside, with its gorgeous vistas. Stone archways beckoned, caught in the best light of day (early or later) where the shadows mix in a thrilling juxtaposition of light and shadow; flowers spilled out from rich window boxes adjoining farmhouse kitchens; fenceposts listed, dotting the landscape where cattle lazily grazed in verdant green fields.
“Do I want to go back?” Of course. But only for a while. I want to see if life there still remains as it was. But I don’t wish to make my permanent home there, for there’s far more of the world and my own country I want to see.
But for the money (under $500 a month to rent a beautiful home), one can easily have: idyllic surroundings, medical care second to none, and a community of Americans bent on similar mission. For all those reasons, I’ll take it.
If you wish to come along, let me know, and we can form our very own community where we gather and share experiences. You can start by e-mailing this post to friends who might consider (buttons are below). But then again, our forming a transplanted community of Americans would obviate my stated intention of learning how to speak French fluently, and I do wish to accomplish that.
Why? I never want to be reduced to fumbling for a response to a clerk who is rude and dismissive (the one at the Eiffel Tower). But I’m not really sure that that alone is good reason to seek fluency in a foreign language.
In fact, I’m pretty sure it isn’t.
Now, tell me what you think of my idea? “Voulez-vous venir avec moi?” Do you promise to try and speak only French? Comment spot is beneath the post…Check in and let’s begin to plan for our own American community in Languedoc region. Won’t we have fun???
http://www.ehow.com/list_6962070_places-americans-retire.html
http://www.aarp.org/home-garden/livable-communities/info-07-2010/best-places-retire-france-languedoc-roussillon.html
And here’s AARP’s info on this retirement destination: http://www.aarp.org/home-garden/livable-communities/info-07-2010/best-places-retire-france-languedoc-roussillon.html
The photo to the right shows the kind of matchbox cars that blur past you along the French countryside. Younger daughter, Amanda, stands before one to give it size perspective. She probably also liked the fact its color was similar to that of her hair.
And here’s what I’m talking about with beautiful stone archways that catch the light at neat angles. Those are my daughters, huddled in the corner, trying to hide from my camera. I took this picture 24 years ago when they were 16 and 6, in Carcassone, when the 3 of us went on a 5-country expedition, all by ourselves.
I really like reading a post that will make people think.
Also, thank you for permitting me to comment!
Ran across this website while doing preliminary research on retirement sites.
I’ve traveled extensively throughout my life am familiar with this region.
I’m now a single. Wondering how a single woman
would get along in this kind of community?
Quelle idée magnifique! I was an exchange student to France in 1975 and became a French teacher so I could share my love of the language and culture with my students. I have been giving serious thought to the idea of finally returning to France to live. I think it would be amazing to “share” this adventure with other like- minded folks. Let me know who’s ready!
Je suis enchante do faire votre connaissance, Michelle.(Can’t use familiar…I’ve forgotten it!) Yes, let’s round us all up together, we like-minded individuals and have a glorious final third of our lives…enjoying the French countryside that I’ve seen so often portrayed in Impressiionistic works…C’est la vie magnifique, Je pense…
My partner moved to the states from France 21 years ago on a college tennis scholarship and has been here ever since. We met 5 years ago and I have gone with her to France every August the last four years to visit her family. We stay with he dad in a village of 1,500 (St. Pargoire) in the Languedoc region. The village is 40 minutes NW of Montpellier (pop of 250k in 2008). Every afternoon we would leave her father’s house and travel 30-75 minutes to see a different site to see and then stop at a nearby cousin or uncle’s house for dinner outside on the way back.
We will marry soon and I will apply for French citizenship and she can, at that point, can get dual citizenship as well.
She owns a condo in Montpellier that she rents out. It is a dive that is worth a enough money due to the location that we could sell it and get a nice place in a little village.
I am in the process of researching what to do to retire there. Lots of questions in that regard. For example, should we work there for a while to acquire medical insurance? I have already read that medicare that I paid into all my life is worthless there. I will retire before her. She is planning on working there for a few years anyway.
Any advice or links that would aid me in preparation for retiring there would be greatly appreciated. ducks in a row type stuff.
After a brief visit to the Dordogne area of France in 2009 ( celebrating our retirement), my husband and I returned last September and rented a house in Domme for a week. It was such fun! We also spent 5 days in the Languedoc/ R. Our favorite place was Collioure. I am trying to talk my stay-at-home sisters to go there for at least a week. (Already looking for apartments). Alas…I speak no (beyond phrasebook) French! But have looked into taking classes at the local community college. Occasionally I look for houses to buy….preferably stone cottages with views. Dreaming of rural France and market days. Sigh……..
Did you drive around Barbara? How did you get to and fro? I rented a car and traveled through the entire region from north to south, but I wasn’t really sure of my destinations (probably missed some REALLY big, important things, but what the heck? At least we did it.) Yes, I’d love to go back…another region I loved was the beaches at Bayeau (where the tapestry is) and where our troops came in for D-Day! What an experience to see those cliffs…and those beaches. Thanks for commenting. Maybe we should all get a communal place there or a time-share in one of those old French buildings with so much charm? What do you think?
Just blundered into your idea. Tres bien! My wife and I will be in France September and early October 2012 on vacation/scouting trip for retirement a year later. Could we meet? Coffee and croissants are on me. Here’s a variation I’ve thought of on your idea. Buy a small chateau of perhaps 400 square meters. Buy a couple of good used cars and bicycles. Split above among 3-4 individuals and/or couples for about 200,000 euros . Everyone has their own private room and bath and we share common areas. Possibly hire a local person to cook for us 5 days a week. Or alternatively, each of us could cook dinner for all once or twice a week. Great cost savings by pooling repair costs, buying in bulk, etc. Champagne living on a beer budget.
“Ah…tres bien, mon ami”…sounds delicious, but alas, we are currently on verge of going cross-country to see America (see my other site at http://www.grandpaandthetruck.com). We’ll have to put off that idea, but keep my contact info and do let us know and when we get through with this, we may very well be ready to take you up on your idea. Yes, we are bikers, too, and I LOVE the countryside of France…Remember…Dwight…contact us. We’ll have great fun (you sound like our kind of people.)
22 years ago I stayed on a goose farm B & B in the Dordogne region. I fell in love with the charming little villages and stone streets and churches. So different from what I grew up with in California. After a 28-year career in the aerospace industry, I find myself thinking more and more about the French villages, a little two-acre vineyard, an old stone house, and morning esspresso at the local patisserie (no Starbucks). And Carcassone was my favorite place in my travels. One stumbling block is I have four kids still at home (three in elementary school). But what an experience that would be for them to live in France and experience that wonderful way of life.
My first step in this direction is to vacation in the region this summer. Then put together a three-year plan to ease out of the hectic pace here in the US and slide into the good life in France.
Glad to hear others share the same thoughts and feelings.
Richard Hodgson
Once I travel across the United States (my first dream I’ll realize as I stated in a former post) when hubby and I will go via a Pleasure-Way van from New England to Washington and Oregon, then Canada, to the Gulf Coast, I want to end up spending my later years, painting in the French countryside. My only hope? I don’t bump into the Brit. I just wrote about in “Samantha B’s B-Word Disaster”…after all, she claimed all the other ladies in her countryside retreat were older retirees, so she looks ‘beautiful’ by comparison.
Yes, France is beautiful indeed, hence why it is scene for such gastronomic splendor…I traveled it once as I said in that post…fileds of dazzling sunflowers everywhere. Maybe we’ll meet–our two families, that is…Thansk for commenting, Richard Hodgson…We’ll help keep each other’s dreams alive.
Hi,
I simple love the idea of creating a community in the Languedoc & Roussillon area of France. At this point, I am more than ready to leave the US and retire to another country – and, from what I am reading, this area is the best place to consider. I’m hoping that I can do my research/writing business from there as well as my artistic pursuits (labyrinths and mandalas). Also, brushing up on my college French and will definitely want to pursue becoming much more fluent. Let’s do it!
You’re “on”, Catherine…Let’s build a community of hopefuls, start doing the research, and move into a planning stage. If enough of us are seriously interested, we can merely enjoy a transplanted mini-USA in the French countryside enjoying the setting, the food, and the experiences. As you can see from Biddy’s recent post, I have already put my home of 20 years on the market. I am dead serious about simplifying my life; I don’t ever want to feel like “I wish I’d have done that.”
I will do it. Thank you for sharing and I rely on you to get your troop together…Let’s “talk” again.
I would love to retire there together, if only I could retire NOW! My five years of French started in 7th grade (35 years ago) so isn’t as well-developed as yours and is also quite rusty. But I would promise to try to speak French at least some of the time (especially on occasions that call for “Ooh la la! or “Voila!”). Since I can’t retire yet, can we simulate some of this community here at home? Some of the attraction, I think, is the emphasis on enjoying living and enjoying each other’s company; why do we do so little of that here? (Is it just me?)
It is definitely NOT you, Suzanne. Americans live in a frenzied vortex of their own making. We have been the focal point for all sorts of news lately that paints them as obsessive, overworked, maniacal folks chained to jobs…jobs…jobs. As a nation, we work harder and much longer than all others (industrialized, that is.) It’s so important a topic that I will have a post on it and its message be to enjoy more now. Don’t wait. Its theme, too, will harken back to Emerson, Thoreau, and the Transcendentalists, the guys who wanted to live life simply. Of course, I still think the women folks of that era were so enslaved in domestic responsibility, kids, households, they didn’t even have TIME to consider what they were missing. Again, thanks for your thoughts.
That photo leading off the article is stunning!
Yes, I do want to retire there, if it’s with you and if it’s for a specified length of time. But I fear that my Arkansan accent would get in the way of my trying to speak French. What do you think, Biddy? D’ya think anyone would know what this Southern boy was saying?
What a wonderful idea! And if we made up our own little community, we could at least forego the need to speak in French sometimes. The only problem? We might never want to go back to our former lives. Yes, I, too, want to travel and see other lands and our own country, but I do find this whole idea fascinating and I’m going to talk it up with friends. Didn’t F. Scott Fitzgerald, Oscar Wilde, and others do this very thing many years ago? Of course, they lived in the hub of excitement for the young–Paris. They had no desire to be in the countryside, while I do.
Yes, the authors you mention were the Intelligentsia, the Bon Vivants (which just translates to Party-Animals, a much classier version of today’s Jersey Shore group.) The grape figured prominently in their adventures, as another –Hemingway–made us all aware, but I don’t think he personally limited his intake to wine (when I read his accounts of consumption, I wonder how they even functioned).