Well, we are less than one month out from our grand adventure… Wrapping up our things to do. Some changes happened to our itinerary.
Turkey, to which we were all very much looking forward to, decided to have a revolution. Some say more like Occupy Istanbul protests that got a disproportionately violent response from the government. While my husband and I would probably chance going anyway but having our babies in tow weighs against exposure to tear gas. So, we had to quickly decide on another place that is:
- outside of Shengen zone (aww no Greece);
- not FREEZING cold in the winter (there go Croatia, Russia, and all Scandinavian countries);
- relatively inexpensive to get to from France for six people (bye bye East Asia);
- relatively inexpensive to live in (sorry, Switzerland, land of fabulous chocolate)
- interesting culturally, gastronomically, and architecturally ; and
- would be cool to brag about to our friends
And the winner is… MOROCCO. It meets all of the above criteria. So after our first (French) leg of the journey, we will head to Marrakech.
The French leg got reshaped too. In searching for accommodations I discovered www.sabbaticalhomes.com. How perfect is that? It’s a website that lists properties available for three to nine months primarily to academia. There, I discovered a beautiful little house in Nice. Our French friend JP recommended in favor of Nice over Marseilles or even Paris. And the price was right – after we asked to pay the asking sum in Dollars rather than Euro, saving 30%. So we are all set for the three months in Nice from where we can explore Marseilles, St. Tropez, and Monaco.
Finally, even our American leg changed a bit. After we fly into Oakland, we will spend a week in the Bay area. Then we will head to Seattle. Then – Paris!