Fifteen photos taken “just walking around the neighborhood” on the way up to the Cité Médiévale de Carcassonne after a light dusting of snow in Carcassonne. This week has been the first snow Tracy and I have seen in our last two years in Carcassonne.
Thirteen photos taken “just walking around the neighborhood” in the Ville Basse (the lower city) of Carcassonne.
Seven photos taken “just walking around the neighborhood” in the Ville Basse (the lower city) of Carcassonne.
On Saturday and Sunday, January 6 and 7, about 3.7 million residents of France, with 1.5 million in Paris alone, conducted national Unity Rallies in memorial to the victims of the Charlie Hebdo magazine and the Hyper Cacher kosher grocery store in Paris.
Twenty thousand marched in Carcassonne, a community of about 50,000 residents. The tragedy created a consolidating influence similar to what occurred in the US after the 9/11 attacks, Oklahoma City Bombing, and Boston Marathon Bombing. There was very much a “United we stand, divided we fall.” message being conveyed.
Alan participated in the one hour event that included a “Blanc Marche” or White March from the Jacobin Gate to La Cite de Carcassonne, while Tracy and Sami stayed in and watched the Paris Unity Rally live via an online link.
After the mass murder of 12 people at the Charlie Hebdo magazine office in Paris on January 7, 2015, there has been an outpouring of support for the Freedom of Expression and journalism, whether satire or straight news reporting, in France. It started as a hashtag on Twitter of #JeSuisCharlie (I am Charlie) to show support to the victims and survivors of this terrible act of terrorism. #JeSuisCharlie soon moved to the front page of newspapers around the country and to people and businesses posting “Je Suis Charlie” in their windows. We were pleased to see “Je Suis Charlie” posted around Carcassonne which has also hosted Unity Rallies advocating free expression and in memory of the victims.
In the months of July and especially August, it is not unusual for Tracy and I to see a local French businesses closed with a sign on the door saying, “Congés Annuels -Fermé” (closed for annual leave).
I was recently visiting our local pet store buying dog food for Sami the MinPin and the proprietors made a point of reminding me that they would be closed for the month of August for their Congés Annuels. So I purchased a second bag of dog food to get us through the month and wished them a bonnes vacances.
It is a norm for French people to take a month off in July or August for annual vacation with often entire businesses closing for the month. Tracy and I are learning to plan our shopping and dining accordingly around Congés Annuels. Some French people identify themselves as “Julyists” (who take their month-long vacations in July) and “Augustists,” (who take their vacation in August.) Since we currently live in a tourist town where many French people visit during their holidays, some businesses and workers will take their Congés Annuels later in the year, often over the Christmas/New Years season. Coming from America, it’s a major culture shift to see these annual month-long holidays in France (and there are additional holidays throughout the year.) The French have long cherished their vacation time with family and enjoying recreation prior to returning to their careers refreshed and rejuvenated.
France has a social culture that makes full use of holiday time, requires most businesses to be closed on Sundays, encourages turning off business cell phones after hours, and allowing office e-mails to wait for the following workday. France has a different tone toward vacation than we are used to in the US. French people often see Americans as obsessed with work and unwilling to relax. “Americans work 137 more hours per year than Japanese workers, 260 more hours per year than British workers, and 499 more hours per year than French workers.”
It was interesting to learn that there is no statutory requirement for paid vacation in the US. The US is the only advanced economy in the world that doesn’t require employers provide workers with paid vacation. This is especially true of low-wage workers, part-time employees, and workers at small businesses. The EU requires “at least 20 paid vacation days per year, with 25 and even 30 or more days in some countries. Canada and Japan guarantee at least 10 days of paid vacation per year.”
Unlike 25% of American workers, I did have employer-paid vacation during my careers. But I learned that in the US since “1976, (there has been) a huge decline in the share of workers taking vacations. Some rough calculations show, in fact, that about 80 percent of workers once took an annual weeklong vacation — and now, just 56 percent do.” “(In the US) 15% (of workers never) take any vacation at all.“
The vacation company Expedia conducted a survey in the US and learned “that Americans are only using 10 of the 14 days they are given. That’s a whopping 577,212,000 vacation days left on the table.” Glassdoor Survey say “61 percent (of) employees who have taken vacation/paid time off admit working at least some while on vacation. One in four (24 percent) report being contacted by a colleague about a work-related matter while taking time off, and one in five (20 percent) have been contacted by their boss.” Tracy had a former boss (who was seriously lacking in managerial skills, but big into “letting people know where they are on the organizational chart”) who telephoned her twice about work matters during our honeymoon. (Yes, our cell phone was on in case of an emergency with one of the kids.) Tracy was a graphic designer at the time and still jokes about the “urgent design emergencies” that necessitated interrupting our honeymoon; where she had no access to her work computer. And this was after having planned our wedding around the college’s publications schedule.
Why don’t Americans use their vacation time? The Wall Street Journal says “Workers pay a career penalty for vacation.” Although there are ” . . ill effects of refusing to go on vacation, documented in research, include fatigue, poor morale, heart problems and reduced productivity,” according to Forbes magazine, people are afraid to take vacation time. ” . . . (P)eople suffer from feeling like their employer really doesn’t want them to take time off. In order to increase their sense of employment security, employees are trying harder every year to make themselves “indispensable.” This leads us to believe we really can’t be gone, or there will be a huge mountain of work facing us (and countless unpaid overtime hours spent digging out) when we return from a break. Or worse, the job won’t be there when we come back. . . . (C)all this the “work martyr complex.” No matter how much we love family, we are martyrs to employers in order to keep that incredibly necessary, and fleeting paycheck. . . . After 2 decades of CEOs who lead by “operational improvements,” causing round after round of cost cuts and layoffs, employees have learned that the day they take off could be the day their budget is slashed, or their job eliminated.”
While some businesses and organizations may believe they are enjoying short-term savings and productivity from unused vacation days, many other organizations are realizing the long-term costs of employee burn-out and increased attrition for their organizations. Some US businesses and organizations are now trying to create a culture of encouraging employees to make full use of vacation time or even requiring its use.
Some workers are able to “roll over” vacation time to their advantage for planning an extended vacation or an extended maternity/paternity leave. On retirement, Tracy had an exceptional option of having her remaining vacation days, along with her sick days, paid off at separation, an option she made full use of during our retirement planning. As faculty I had no vacation time or sick time at retirement (like many peoples’ excess annual vacation time) was “use it or lose it.”
In the mean time, Tracy and I are enjoying the phenomenon of “Congés Annuels” in France and thinking how we would have greatly enjoyed the extra vacation time with our children when they were growing up.
“No one ever said on their deathbed, ‘I wish I’d spent more time at the office.’ ” ~ Harold Kushner
I recently read a Buzzfeed humor article, 31 Important Things You Learn When You Move Across The World. The article had two lines that really struck a chord with me: “You learn that forms that ask for a “permanent address” are evil, and didn’t account for people like you” and “ ‘Please provide a permanent address.’ *Cue Panic Attack*”
There is a lot truth in those lines, with Tracy and my retirement lifestyle of selling our home, being expats living abroad, short-term renting, and changing our city of residence every year or two has made us – by some definitions – without a permanent address.
In my previous career in police work, “No Permanent Address” or “No Fixed Address” was a euphemism for a person being homeless. (Tracy and I commented about being “homeless” after selling our house and the lease running out on our apartment rental just prior to our departure to Europe. It was an unsettled feeling for us, but certainly not the same as the reality faced by real homeless people.)
Wikipedia defines ” ‘No Fixed Abode’ or ‘Without Fixed Abode’ (as) a legal term generally applied to those who do not have a fixed geographical location as their residence. This is applicable to several groups:
While we do have friends who are full-time RV travelers in the US, almost all of them currently own a piece of real estate or physical home somewhere (even if it is currently rented to a tenant.) Tracy are I are hardly vagabonds who are randomly camping in Roma settlements around France, but our process of moving frequently creates a necessity of updating our visa status, address, and other issues with French government agencies. Our French visas actually classifies us as long-term “visiteurs” rather than as residents.
No longer owning a home in America and not physically living there has created a bit of a “grey area” with residency. What is our “permanent address?”
The concept of “no permanent address” is a legitimate concern in today’s world. In these modern times, if you want to vote, have a driver’s license, open a bank account, register a vehicle, have a credit card, or obtain health insurance, it isn’t just enough to have a U.S. passport, you need a permanent address. In addition to American expatriates living abroad, this is a very common problem in the full-time RV community in the US. A post office box in many states is insufficient for a legal domicile. The demand for a “permanent address” has spawned companies (especially in Texas and South Dakota, Escapees RV Club being one example) who cater to full-time travelers by legally providing a permanent address.
Tracy and I, like many expats, have elected to use a family member’s address as our permanent address in our former hometown of Reno, Nevada. (When I was college-aged I used my parent’s address as my permanent address as I “hopscotched” between living arrangements and roommates.) Because of Tracy and my decades-long connection to Reno and Sparks as residents, students, workers, taxpayers, homeowners, raising children and still having local family, and it being our last home, Reno serves as our official, permanent US residence.
This need for a permanent address isn’t just an issue for RVers and expats. George H. W. Bush had a long career of public service as a congressman, ambassador to the UN, envoy to China, director of the CIA, vice president, and finally president of the US. That career frequently required that he lived in Washington D.C., New York, Virginia, Maryland, or overseas. From 1985 until his retirement in 1993 he used the Houstonian Hotel, Club & Spa in Houston, Texas as his legal domicile and official voting address (although he moved out of Houston in 1981, stayed at the Houstonian intermittently, paid rent only for days his rooms were actually occupied, and owned an actual residence in Kennebunkport, Maine.) Former President Bush had signed an affidavit stating that he would build his retirement home in Houston and the “intent” stated in that document satisfied Texas that he was a bona fide resident of Texas (although Texas’ action did annoy some residents of Maine who, because of his home in Maine, felt former President Bush should have been considered a Maine resident and pay the Maine state income tax.) After leaving public office former President Bush did make good on his promise and retired to Houston.
By no means do Tracy and I attempt to be “Perpetual Travelers” whose primary motive is to avoid becoming legal residents of any country with the ultimate goal of tax avoidance and evading any legal responsibilities of residency. We contribute our fair share and fulfill our responsibilities to our countries of citizenship and occupancy.
While Tracy and I like to entertain a romantic fantasy of ourselves living a free-spirited, Bohemian, and unconventional expat life (cue images of Hemingways’s “Lost Generation” traveling from Paris to Pamplona in the 1920s or Montmartre’s diverse arts community from the movie, “Moulin Rouge!”), we are actually fairly orthodox, living within the many rules of “the system,” and we are definitely “on the grid” with a permanent address . . . but with an untraditional – and ever-changing – physical address.
“I thought to see fair Carcassonne, that lovely city—Carcassonne!” ~ Gustave Nadaud
Our return flight from Rome to Marseille via Ryanair went as smoothly as the initial flight. However we did have some concerns since the French rail strike was still going on. But our train was one of the 60% still scheduled and running. At the “moment of truth” the train arrived and we had our assigned seats waiting for us with no overcrowding. All in all we had been extremely lucky working around the national rail strike.
We enjoyed the trip west along the Mediterranean coast and made it back to our current home in Carcassonne.
We took a day to hike to the top of Château de Montségur is a former fortress located about 80 kilometers (50 miles) southwest of Carcassonne near the Pyrénées mountains and the Spanish border. The ruins are the site of a razed stronghold of the Cathars. The fortress is referred to as one of the “Cathar castles” that gave shelter to Cathars during the Albigensian Crusades.
We also visited the nearby village of Mirepoix which has a substantial medieval ambience.
Casey and Megan were finally able to catch up on some much-needed rest in Carcassonne and enjoy the vacation part of their trip. And Casey discovered Ricard pastis as a traditional summer-time French beverage. At the end of their stay (with the rail strike finally over) Casey and Megan took the train back to Paris for a two-night stay with tickets for a day at Disneyland-Paris. Knowing he is a big fan of Mickey, it was our birthday present to him.
We waited until the last possible minute to warn them that there was talk of an air-traffic controller strike. Our silence paid off as at the last-minute the strike was culled down to only 10% of planes and limited to those going to other European countries. The kids made it to the airport and their British Airways flight without suffering through any more of France’s transportation worker strikes.
All in all it was a fantastic visit. We enjoyed meeting Megan and seeing Casey. We were overjoyed to finally being able to congratulate him in person for his university completion. The kids followed up their visit with a nice long Skype date so that we could meet their daughter, Izzy. The best thank you ever!
Part 3: Rome with Casey and Megan: RyanAir, Pantheon, Colesseum, Roman Forum, and Trevi Fountain
Part 5: Carcassonne with Casey and Megan: La Cité De Carcassonne, Château de Montségur, Mirepoix
“St. Peter’s Basilica, the greatest church in Christendom, representing the power and splendor of Rome’s 2,000-year domination of the Western world.” ~ Rick Steves
Casey wanted to visit a micro-nation. Originally he wanted to see Monaco (I believe because of his computer-like math capacities and the world-famous casinos – see the film, “21“), but the idea of walking completely across a country in just minutes intrigued Casey too. He enjoyed the concept and structure of a modern city-state, complete with its own military, police, broadcast facilities, and international ambassadors known as Nuncios.
We started with a visit to the famous Musei Vaticani (Vatican Museum) and the adjacent Cappella Sistina (Sistine Chapel.) While we stood in line Casey and Megan went far to try real Italian gelato which they gave two “Thumbs Up.” While waiting the clouds gathered again and we were rained on once more as we waited for entry. True to our past experience, new immigrants arrived to the waiting visitor with a selection of folding and full size umbrellas, ponchos, and rain coats. Fifteen minutes before the storm the same men had been selling souvenirs. Our “entrepreneurs” worked the line almost to the point of aggressiveness, wanting to make their money quickly before the rain stopped. Each of us were holding an umbrella, but that did not deter several of our impromptu salesmen. “Would you like a poncho too?” “A larger umbrella?”
For fun we overlapped our umbrellas like ancient warriors would overlap their shields on the battlefield. Tracy selected one particular friendly, but persistent salesman as our principle nemesis: “Poncho-man.” Poncho-man would check with us every time he passed, about every 10-15 minutes if we were certain we didn’t need two umbrellas each rather than our paltry one. The approach of Poncho-man would cause us to tighten our umbrellas into a “turtleshell” and a verbal response of, “No, Poncho-man, no!” It became a game to pass the time with Poncho-man approaching with a smile and “Hello, my friends!” through the gaps in our umbrella and our cries of, “No, Poncho-man, no!” Nice way to pass the time while waiting in the rain. Meanwhile, inside the museum, patrons were declining to exit considerably slowing the entrance of new patrons.
Casey hadn’t realized that the Vatican Museum had 55 galleries and was the fifth most visited museum in the world with more than 4 million visitors a year. He was very pleasantly surprised at the size and variety of the collections. Casey and Megan were especially impressed with Michelangelo’s 500-year-old paintings the The Last Judgement on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Sadly no photos are allowed inside the chapel.
Coming out of the museum we headed inside Vatican City, behind where most visitors get a chance to see. Tracy had arranged for us to take the “Scavi” tour. It is a tour of the excavations of the underground necropolis that lies beneath Saint Peter’s Basilica. Our guide was a Ph.D. archeologist who is one of the supervisors in the work. He shared amazing insights into the excavations, the controversy of Saint Peter’s tomb inside the necropolis, and the history surrounding the basilica.
After exiting the Scavi tour, we visited Basilica di San Pietro in Vaticano (St. Peter’s Basilica), the largest church in the world able to hold over 80,000 parishioners at a single service. Afterwards we explored Saint Peter’s Square outside the basilica and just outside Vatican City we followed the Passetto di Borgo (the covered fortified corridor) to Castel Sant’Angelo (Castle of the Holy Angel) and the Ponte Sant’Angelo (after a stop for adult beverages to re-hydrate from all our hiking.)
Although not nearly a long enough visit to Rome and Vatican City, it’s time to show Casey and Megan our current home in Carcassonne, France.
Part 3: Rome with Casey and Megan: RyanAir, Pantheon, Colesseum, Roman Forum, and Trevi Fountain
Part 5: Carcassonne with Casey and Megan: La Cité De Carcassonne, Château de Montségur, Mirepoix
An Italian Point Of View 