The Creche (Day Care)

Mathieu was finally accepted into a Creche (day care center) here in Lyon. What an ordeal!!! Sometimes I feel like we are in the baby capital of the world. Everywhere you look there are babies. Well, it definitely becomes more apparent when you are trying to secure a spot in a day care center.

After 6 months and several letters they have finally placed Mathieu. There are 2 day care centers in our area and of course we didn’t get into the one that is right around the corner. Instead, my new morning commute involves a 15 minute walk down to the day care with Mathieu which is conveniently located next to a Vélo station (Lyon’s semi-free biking system – greatest invention in the world by the way) where I take a bike and then bike 20 minutes to work. At least I am getting my exercise but I am not looking forward to this routine in the middle of winter.

Anyway, as always there are a few wrinkles to iron out. Basically once you are approved you have a meeting with the Director of the day care and at that point they tell you about their center and they give you the rate you will pay which is an hourly rate. Well, this rate is based on your combined revenue and cannot exceed a specified level which is defined by the city each year. Well, lucky us, we have to pay the highest amount and even more interesting is that it is higher than actual established rate by the city. Hmmm, seems a bit bizarre. Makes me think we are paying for all electricity bills.

So, Valerie called the city hall and they said that the director is not allowed to charge more than the set rate which will not rise this year. Well, after confronting the Director, she said that she never received information stating that there would be no raise in rates from the city hall. Ok, she works for the city but she never heard this information and she has conveniently created a rate just for us. Once again seems bizarre. So, now we are playing the waiting game to see what we are actually billed at the end of the month. Should be interesting.

On another note, Mathieu seems to be doing fine at the day care. Unfortunately, I have the crappy shift (the drop off) in which the second I put him down or hand him over he starts crying and reaches out for me, but apparently after I leave he quits crying. Val has the good shift since he is really happy to see her and go home. C’est la vie.

Mathieu Loves Rocks

All the Bad in Brittany

Ok, our trip was really fun but it didn’t come without its problems. We rented a car when we arrived from Hertz. I didn’t take the insurance because I thought that we had a base coverage through Opodo, the site I used to reserve the car. Well, apparently, I was wrong.

On our way down south we got a nail in the tire and it deflated right on the freeway. We immediately pulled over and Valerie called Hertz. Hertz said that it wasn’t covered and we needed to pay for that. On top of that, we needed to call a tow truck because it is illegal to change a tire on the freeway. Well, there was no way we were going to pay for a tow truck and a tire out of our pockets so I quickly changed the tire to the spare and got the hell out of dodge.

Anyway, the next day we went to the garage to have the tire fixed. It was only 20 euros for the repair so it wasn’t that big of deal. Now here’s the whammy. On the way out of the garage I rear ended another car. Boom! No insurance for the tire repair and now an accident. Well, it so happened that there was no damage to the rental car except a bent license plate. However, the other car, I must add was a piece of crap Twingo, had some bumper damage. Initially, I had given Hertz a caution of 670 euros. Our first thought was there goes our 670 euros so we decided we would ask the person (a woman in her 70s) if they would have the car checked out without going through insurance hoping it might be cheaper. A day later the husband gets back to us and says it will be 1200 euros. 1200 EUROS, for a little bumper damage on a car that is probably worth no more than 3000 euros. There was another dent in the back of the trunk that I don't believe we caused and I guarantee the garage wanted to fix that too. Of course, we said no and are now waiting for the response from Hertz. Hopefully we will get back some of our caution… On a side note, I just subscribed for an American Express card which will cover these types of problems next time.

All the Good in Brittany

I have to say Brittany is beautiful. Everyone says don’t expect to see the sun while you are there but for some reason we must have brought it with us. Located in the west of France bordering the Atlantic and the English Channel it tends to get weather typical of the UK. But during our trip it rained the first 2 days and then it was sun, sun, sun.

First, Brittany is well known for crepes, seafood and its beautiful architecture in which we were not disappointed. We spent 2 days visiting St Malo (a fortified port city still surrounded by the walls of the original fortress located on the English Channel) and Mont St Michele (town that was built on a small island 1 kilometer from the shore).

The Mont St Michele is really an architectural beauty. At certain times of the year when the tide is high the island is completely surrounded by water and it appears as if the town springs from the depths of the sea. As you enter the gates of the town you follow a cobble stone path that circles around the island town to the highest point on the island where the cathedral is located. We really enjoyed the beauty of the Mont St Michele however there were way to many tourists when we were there. Along with the rain and the massive crowds it made it difficult to really enjoy walking through its cobble stone streets.

I want to make quick mention to the town we stayed in the first night called Dinard. This is a beautiful seaside town with houses easily rivaling anything in California. They were huge!! We would have liked to stay a couple of days there but we were a bit anxious to get over to the Atlantic Ocean.

Anyway, once we arrived in the south of Brittany to a town called Erdeven the sun came out. We stayed in a Mobile Home about ¼ miles from the beach. We spent the next 5 days visiting beautiful little villages along the ocean, meeting locals, basking in the sun, swimming and even a little surfing. The amount of people surfing rather surprised me but also made me happy since it was easy to find a rental shop so I could go.

I can’t stop writing without mentioning the food. Seafood, crepes and beer was the theme or more specifically mussels and oysters. I ate mussels twice maybe 3 times, I lost count, and Valerie ate crepes a couple of times. One night we stopped in an oyster farm where the oysters are fresh from the water. They are opened up right in front of you and you find yourself a seat on the ground or at a table if you are lucky and eat oysters with a nice bottle of Sancerre. The best part is that they forgot to charge us so it was all free! And I have to mention the beer, I don’t get this one. The beer is really good in Brittany. They have tons of great microbrews but they don’t sell them anywhere else in France. Beer every else in France sucks. WHY???