This time last week, we headed to Dijon for our first family visit. Regular readers will know that our family will up sticks and move across the channel next June. My hubby has been over there a few times with work and so he is familiar with the area. For Ava and I, it would be our first visit. The main reason for our trip was to look at two schools for Ava, who will start in September.
All in all, with waiting time at the airport and the two hour drive from the airport at Lyon to Dijon, we arrived at our hotel 9 hours after we left home.
Along the way we managed to accidentally upgrade to a Mercedes, which Ava was quite keen to get her hands on.
Due to an admin hitch, we couldn’t book the AirBnB apartment we had picked out, so we were to stay in the Holiday Inn, beside the huge Toison D’or Shopping Centre. We had joining rooms, which worked out really well and Ava loved having a double bed all to herself.
When we arrived, we were greeted by this amazing decoration outside and Ava, although she was so tired, just had to investigate. The French do Christmas decorations very well!
[vc_video title=”Dijon” link=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vd45hYrmhZE”]
On Tuesday, our school appointments were in the afternoon, so we headed into Dijon on the tram to get a feel of the place. Ava loved that the trams were pink.
I quickly came to realise that Dijon is packed with glorious statues; I loved this group of children looking into the water.
The town was very festive, with the Christmas Market, fabulous decorations, fairground rides and the ice rink, it really got us into the spirit.
We didn’t have too long before we had to go back to the hotel and pick up the car. Visiting the schools was quite overwhelming for me. I don’t speak French, and so felt as if most of what was being said passed me by, especially at the second school, where only French was spoken.
Part of my overwhelm probably comes from a huge desire not the make the wrong decision for Ava. We both felt that the second school was our preferred option. We couldn’t put our finger on why, although we did like that the Maternale (up to the age of 6) was in a completely separate location to the main school. There are only 2 places left in one and 4 in the other, so we need to make our final decision.
I think we all felt a little battered, so instead of heading back to town to see the lights, we went back to our room and tried to switch off a little (although I had to work!).
The next morning we went on a drive round the local villages. It’s too early for us to find our house, as hubby’s employers will only start renting our new house for us in May. However, I wanted to just get a feel of what it would be like, so we went to see one house which had been up for rent for a while. Not a bad spot!
We headed back to Dijon to look around a bit more. We wandered through the market, went ice-skating and had a spin on the big wheel.
All around are these little owls on the pavement, which you can follow round the town.
We had plans to meet one of my husband’s colleagues at their house early evening. So with some time to kill, we went to explore the shopping centre.
It was quite an emotional trip, but we did have fun and we liked what we saw; so it was a positive visit. This one wouldn’t get enough of the rides!
So now just 7 months to wait, a house to find, a school to secure, sort out 2 dogs, 3 people and all our stuff to move across the channel! Piece of cake…….
