Ep.8: Alone in France! What could go wrong?

hey everyone I'm back in um my first few days were a bit crazy but things are going well now stay tuned for a look at my first week here alone salute we're Beth and Patrick and we're moving to France we're transforming an old townhouse into our home and an artsy event space so come on along this time I decided to avoid going through Paris that airport is just too busy and pretty inefficient which is a very frustrating combo a viewer commented that they often flew into and out of knot so I looked into that lucky for us we have a direct flight to Amsterdam from Austin on km once in Amsterdam we can connect to not on one of km's City Hopper flights [Music] and then take a train into UMAS which takes about 2 hours this route requires fewer train connections no Metro stations and a lot less stress I arrived in umbas at 8:20 p.m. and saw the sun setting over this beautiful town on my walk it was a really nice welcome the locks on my door weren't quite as hospitable but eventually let me in here she she is pretty much how we left her it's dark so looks pretty dingy but uh I've only put on a couple lights P there not too bad first I needed to go into the scary basement to turn on the water I had Patrick on stand by on the phone talking me through what to do I don't know why the camera is so out of focus here but it's a perfect visual for how my sleep deprived brain felt at that moment [Music] o nice warm sweater I spilled um sauce on it from my takeout sushi dinner last night so I rinsed it and left on the radiator bonus it's nice and warm I took my first peek at the Garden in daylight and was delighted with all the pops of color we hadn't been here since March remember so we haven't seen the Garden in full bloom like this I had to go outside to get a better look there's so much going on out here we have some more videos about the garden and The Works be sure to subscribe so you don't miss those [Music] I went to my new favorite coffee shop shantii or chanelli as we'd say in English for breakfast it's a really cute place with great coffee and pastries and light fair for lunch as well I've been going there a [Music] lot I then hit the farmers market just in time for a downpour but it didn't matter everyone was still in a cheerful mood and the sun quickly came back out again [Music] I got some of this delicious ryus tea and some chamomile as well there's so many wonderful vendors even a plant stall the market area is just up from the riverbank here's a panoramic shot of the town from the walkway and here's what I nabbed at the market that morning if you recall I don't have a stove yet so I got cold things like a pre-made couscous salad and veggies that I can eat raw my aim was a little off here sorry things aren't quite in the shot I also went to the corner store and got a few other things and this is what I put together for my lunch so this is the floor sample to the bathroom which had a lot of mixed emotions in the comments some people really don't like it some people don't understand why we're not keeping a wood floor but it's a guest bathroom and we don't want to have to worry about maintaining the original wood floor we'd rather have something like this on top of it to protect it it's waterproof uh the colors are not quite as vibrant as I had hoped this is more of a a peach than an actual pink but I still like it I think it's really pretty am I actually getting that on camera I probably had it too high I'm bad at figuring out where the lens is um yeah so cool also had a couple of packages at the uh C the little grocery store the one that's like a little Corner Grocery like a BGA it's also a package relay station these are cool I like the a cardboard in the US we get way too many packages of plas so this is smartphone neck holder and oh these are some glasses had to get some more reading glasses to read here um and the whole Upstairs Downstairs thing oh my God so we got to have some upstairs some downstairs nothing's Everywhere You Want It and then um yeah this is uh so I can walk around like a big nerd with my camera on for videos for y'all it'll be easier to deal with and this should be a triod and selfie stick for the same reason yep and I'm really embarrassed to have a selfie stick so I hope yall appreciate it I also walk to this charming kitchen shop electric kettle so uh I can make anything with boiled water tea obviously but also I like oatmeal and other things like I don't know noodle soups or something anything that requires um boiled water cuz uh yeah it's only sort of cooking method I have at the moment but I also got this so that sorry I'm doing a crappy job here so that I can make cres going to teach our how to do that [Music] also super fun is the woman at the store asked if I wanted the black one or the pink one so I mean you don't know what I said obviously I wanted the pink one yes so stay tune for me learning how to make crepe learning how to make CP CPS Crepes crep you know you know what I'm talking about [Music] um here's a little reality check I just realized I can't make CS I don't have a stove that works I don't have a burner I don't have a heat source to put that on uh I originally meant to get like an electric one like a griddle but then I got so excited when I was at the kitchen store this morning and I saw them I saw I was like oh that's for that's for making CPS that's what I want um and didn't think of through so I won't be using that anytime soon after a much needed nap and then two cups of coffee I got ready to go to the luaka monthly Meetup it's a group of English-speaking expats plus French people that want to speak English and this was my second time going to one of their events we also went to one when we were here back in March the early evening walk was lovely right along the ramparts of the Chateau the owner of meon OT was our gracious host it's a beautiful bed and breakfast that you should look up if you're planning a trip to OSS this is the only photo I took cuz I was too busy making new friends is this being myself that's Sean being himself I'm just panning the room this is me telling a ghost we may have to please stop playing tricks on me so for a little perspective I'm not used to being in a really big really old house full of strange noises like this especially not alone um I got it translated into French so I'm going to tell them in French uh to please stop I was a little spooked already so then the electricity thing really frigged me out it didn't seem to make any sense no matter what was on or off it still kept tripping the main breaker so it felt a bit paranormal yes I have an overactive imagination that's what makes me a really creative person but it also makes me Afraid of the Dark the next morning still not able to get the electricity to stay on I had to get out of the house for a while I went to my other favorite place bigo for an omelette and a hot chocolate a delicious distraction later one of my new expat friends came over and tried to help me figure out the electrical issue we went all over the house looking to see if there was anything obvious like a leak that had allowed water in or bad wiring or something we spied this shoddy looking wire which was peeling away in the entrance hall and thought it was the culprit but alas the power was still unstable every few minutes the breaker would flip off it was a pretty chilly night and the house was getting kind of cold so I got a hotel room [Music] then I took another lovely evening walk heard some local live music and had a great pizza with chili oil a really nice Finishing Touch on the way back to the hotel I admired the cool details I saw in the buildings so many cool details everywhere you [Music] look one night I had the weirdest but best appetizer involving strawberries and of all things green peas who knew that that would be a delicious combo well the French did I ended up staying in the hotel for three nights I got a technician out to the house on the third day after a whole lot of rigoll on the phone with our service plan that didn't quite live up to its promise but he couldn't find anything wrong shrugging and saying it's very old and complicated wiring it didn't seem like troubleshooting was part of that service plan either so he left and I went back to the hotel for the night the following morning Patrick had left instructions for me to carry out the test one fuse at a time routine to try to isolate the bad one I did that and none of the fuses seemed to be the bad one on now we wait and see if it Trips Again while we're waiting going to have a little coffee break little store bought coffee but it's good in a pinch can you see how Ripple melty wibbly water probably that old glasses I love that so cool a very old [Music] [Music] window so it's not the Sonet which is a new word I just learned doorbell and that's good cuz I love this crazy old doorbell uh while I'm waiting I just thought I'd take a moment to say I had kind of a change of heart about uh the house like it was really making me feel kind of defeated like like like she was pushing me out you know like she do want me here and I'm I mean I'm kind of superstitious and weird about that kind of stuff anyway like I always greet the house when I come in I sayour my hello my beautiful house and I want the house to feel uh loved and that we're trying to care for it and so I had a change of uh mindset where like I realized um maybe maybe the house isn't pushing me away it's crying out for help like the electricity thing the what the reason it is going on Haywire is because it's asking us to fix it it's asking us to redo it you know the whole wiring is all old and weird and uh TR like the electrician said yesterday uh and the house is asking us for help and so looking at it that way makes me feel a lot better um and a lot more comfortable in here so maybe I'm crazy but whatever it helps [Music] [Music] [Music] it's nice and sunny today I mean it's going to be a bit overcast but not a downpour like yesterday when I was walking to the hotel um nice and sunny and it makes these windows so sparkly and pretty the stained glass I love this the colors there's like a pink and a yellow and of course the red borders and there's that's a set of doors and then there's a matching window on the other side of the fireplace oh hey that's me [Music] okay we're down to the last view [Music] so I hope it's this one hope it turns the breaker so we'll know what's going on okay it's the last one going to flip it and we'll see if it pops I bet it does the electricity ended up staying on after that so I guess the problem was a loose fuse maybe and after taking them all out and then putting them back in I had fixed the issue in any case it is a very old and complicated system and it isn't up to code at all we're going to have it all redone fingers crossed that it just keeps working a little bit longer so the last several days have been nice just getting to know my way around better and starting to feel more at home doing little tasks like going to the laundromat and putting my clothes away in the closet [Music] it's a holiday week in France so there have been tons of tourists in town it's a taste of what this summer will be like I'm guessing that [Music] the tiger and lots of color I mean you can't be in France without a scar it's just it's just not done this pork belly dish was good but this dessert was amazing it was a piece of Brio with pears and vanilla bean ice cream nothing complicated but just perfectly done set I've just rented an ebike so stay tuned for my Adventures cruising around town iaan thanks for watching y'all if you enjoyed this video please give it a like and leave us a comment we'd love to hear from you be sure to subscribe so you don't miss our next video

Channel: Austin to Amboise

Views: 5,022

Keywords: moving to France, French house renovation, chateau renovation, expats in France, Americans in France

Id: By625Ixf4WY

Length: 23min 27sec (1407 seconds)

Published: Mon May 13 2024