And the winner is...

We chose our hometown in France

Enough bitching about appliances. There is so much more to love about France than those lengthy spin cycles. 

And we’re not talking only about the wine and pastries–although, I mean, come on! We’re drawn by the lifestyle and the people. The glorious architecture, the stellar transportation, its commitment to gastronomic pre-eminence, its reverence of history and that cool National Anthem. 

After studying it for 25 years, the language is a big pull for me. (Nowhere have I heard such lyrical, clear, precise French as I did in Tours.) There’s also the guiltless lingering over two-hour weekday lunches, prioritizing family and leisure over work, the unfailing politeness. (If you just scoffed at that last one because you think the French are rude, I have news for you: You might’ve gotten off on the wrong foot before even opening your mouth – because you didn’t open your mouth to offer the obligatory formal greeting, “Bonjour.” Turns out, they weren’t rude. They were offended!)

Then there are the little things: They speak quietly, make excellent coffee, and their skill at throwing a fashionable trench coat over a pair of jeans and white button-down is simply breathtaking. This lifestyle honors café culture where you sip, snack and people-watch en terrace. It supports a 35-hour work week, open-air fresh food markets, six weeks of vacation, and 400 varieties of cheese. 

So in this country that we love, among these people we admire and this language we try so desperately to speak, how do we narrow our choice? We created an official list of criteria, and even printed up cards to keep track of our selections. After visiting each city, we compared how that locale stacked up. 

We were searching for: 

• Robust public transportation and walkability to allow us to finally ditch our cars for good.

• A sizable town to offer plenty of places to go, things to learn, parks to visit, bicycle routes to explore, French and English people to connect with, and–of course–good beer.

• An affordable price for a renovated two-bedroom apartment with a refrigerator bigger than the one in Barbie’s Dream House.

• A mix of old and new architecture.

• Cool temperatures (because global warming is here).

• Music, art, a good language school.

• Plenty of quality restaurants, cafes, brasseries.

• Small, independent boutiques and bookstores.

In these days of pandemics and presidential elections, we’ve also closely watched how carefully citizens follow virus precautions, and whether they voted for loathsome far-right Trump-ish candidate Marine Le Pen.

There were also some surprising things that mattered:

• Driver behavior. Brittany drivers seem laid back and polite, drivers in Nancy seemed even more aggressive toward pedestrians than those in Philly;

• Type of cuisine. Strasbourg and Nancy are big on that pig-knuckle slathered in ‘kraut kind of meal; and

• How well the town lives around its rivers and canals. Tours, on the Loire, surprisingly does not do a great job on this.

We added it all up one night last week over a Bockbier and a nice red wine. It was not easy, but we did it. 

Our next home will be Rennes, the capital of Brittany, in the West of France, just a 90-minute train ride from Paris. 

We’ll tell you more about Rennes down the road. But for now, it’s time to take a breather before we start packing.