La voiture!

For the first month in France we had a company-provided rental car. The second, we were partly on Christmas vacation, the other part getting settled. But nearly six months in and no car? Looking back, we would have approached it more aggressively!

We live in the city and walk everywhere (supermarket, shopping, work for Roberts) have a convenient tram line, and on weekends enjoy the allure of train travel (Paris, Lyon, Vichy). On other weekends (Chatanet, Allier/Loire valley, Gorges of Tarn), we have rented a car from Europcar. But looking forward, even at the start of our time in France, we knew we would be taking more frequent day trips, weekend trips, and we could not keep relying on the kindness of friends for transport to mom/baby clubs and work functions.

Among the many vehicles we investigated, we found a Ford Mondeo at the local dealer a few months ago. Then the salesman insisted we needed to agree on a price before test-driving the car. Huh?

We also found a Passat that was just about perfect, and even took it for a test drive, but waited one day too long and it was sold. The lesson here is that if you have done your research you have to trust your gut; we missed a fair price on a good vehicle. Next time!

And so, when Roberts found this Mondeo on Tam Tam, the intra-company selling/buying site, he surprised us by acting quickly - and came home with the car the next day.

Happiness, contentedness, the stars aligning – I can explain it in many ways. Henry Ford said about his Model T that you could have any color as long as it was black. We would have settled for any black or any color, but this baltic blue looks perfect, mainly because we finally have a car for our family.