We are so happy to have Cindy and Don visit us at our new home in France

Week 27 in France 2/1-2/7/2026. We have been in our home in the village of Chabanais in the Charente department of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine Region of France since the middle of December. By the way, the Charente department is the northern part of Southwest France.

Welcome to the 55th weekly post of our Baby Boomers Move to France blog.

This week Don and Cindy visit us in Chabanais. We also have some tentative plans to visit some sites near us this week and then on to Sarlat la Caneda the following week and then finally to Bordeaux. Updates to follow. We share our weekly update and, in the Lifestyle and Culture section I include a brief write up on banned foods in France

Our home in Chabanais

Things on the agenda this week:

There are some things that we want to share with Cindy and Don while they are visiting this week

• Thursday morning Market day
• Chabanais
• Brunch at Cafe Lillian
• Confolens
• Brunch St Germain de Confolens
• Oradour sur Glane
• Cindy’s Birthday
• I almost forgot wine
• E.Leclerc
• Rochechouart
• Then some planning
  • Planning the Sarlat trip
  • Planning the Bordeaux trip

Weather forecast:

It looks like we can expect more rain this week, but not too cold. Highs in the 50s and lows in th low 40s and a bit breezy.

Why this Blog?

Long story short, we are “Baby Boomers” that have moved from Venice, Florida to the beautiful French countryside as retirees. After a little over a year of planning and fretting we sold everything in Venice and made the move on 1 August 2025.

We publish a brief update of our adventures every Sunday to share our experiences, tips and mistakes.

If you are thinking about a move to France? We are happy to share our thoughts and answer questions. Just drop a question in the comment section below and we will get back to you.

If you are wondering what got into our head and inspired us to make the move, check out some of our earlier posts. Again, if you have questions about our adventure, drop your questions in the comment section below.

We are learning a lot about the French culture and lifestyle as we make our life here and each week, we include in the blog some thoughts on what we learn. If you have a specific question about France, let us know and we are happy to answer. Other folks probably have the same question. If we don’t know the answer, we will share resource information.

This Week in General

We had a quiet Sunday. Washed the car and filled the gas tank. So we are all set for Don and Cindy.

On Monday we drove over to St. Junien

I wanted to check on hearing aids and EB wanted to do some grocery shopping at Hyper U.

Didn’t have much luck with the hearing aids. I miss Costco now. I did get a hearing test and the lady used her translate app on her phone to clarify that I need to see a doctor for a hearing aid prescription. She gave me a phone number so I called without much luck. I will follow up in 2 weeks.

I had set up one more quote appointment for a pellet stove for the Summer kitchen. The contractor came over and checked it out and will send a quote. While he was here, I asked about air conditioning. He will prepare a quote for AC too.

Tuesday: Picked up Cindy and Don at the Limoges train station (gare)

They were scheduled to arrive at 7:56 PM (19h56). WE drove over and got there 10 or 15 minutes early and figured out what platform they would arrive on. We waited just outside of the stairway to platform H and we caught them just as they arrived. Perfect timing!! Rosie came along for the ride. We were home well before 9:00 and quickly made a plate of cheese, sausage and bread and enjoyed a bottle of wine while we caught up. It was a long day of travel for them having flown directly from Los Angeles to Charles De Gaull airport in Paris then they made a couple of train connections and arrived on time in Limoges. Despite the long day we stayed up late as they regaled us with the trip details.

Wednesday: Happy Birthday Cindy

We walked over to Cafe Lillian for lunch. I mentioned this cafe a couple of times before. It is a really nice English cafe owned by super nice folks from the UK. Cindy enjoyed Fish and Chips, I tried the Pasty (a traditional English dish}. We had a glass of wine with the meal and then a dessert. I feel like I have to have dessert because Penny bakes everything from scratch. We had a nice chat with Ian and Penny and walked home in the rain.

EB made up another platter of meats and cheeses, and I open a bottle of wine and we toasted Cindy’s birthday. I fired up our new Marshall Bluetooth speaker with some good music. Since it is a very special birthday, I opened another bottle of wine, and we wished Cindy happy birthday again. We played a game of Carbles and that got everyone fired up so I opened another bottle of wine.

Thursday: A visit to Oradour Sur Glane and Sous Vide Tri Tip.

I told you all about Oradour Sur Glane a few weeks ago. It impressed EB and I so much that we wanted Cindy and Don to see it. You will recall it is the village on the Glane River that was destroyed by the Nazis in 1944 towards the end of World War 2, where they rounded up and killed most of the village population. The French government has made a memorial of the village as a reminder of the horrors of war.

Don and Cindy in the village of Oradour sur Glane.

This is a sign posted identifying one of the locations of the killing of one of the groups of men from the town of Oradour Sur Glane. The Women and children were taken to the church where they were killed and the church set on fire.

An example of some of the ruins at Oradour sur Glane is shown above.

It is an important memorial and part of history that I think people should experience.

On a happier note: Don and EB set up the Sous Vide in the morning to cook a really nice Tri Tip. The tri-tip takes about 9 hours to cook. By the time we returned from our trip to Oradour sur Glane the meat was just about ready. I set up our little Bar-B-Q and lightly browned the finished Tri tip, and we all settled in for a terrific meal.

A little more wine and a game of Carbles and some talk about politics and a little more wine and snacks and life is good.

Friday started out nice then rained pretty hard

We thought that we would go over to St. Germain de Confolens for lunch at the little cafe Naomi.

Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate so revert to plan B which aint bad. The weather brightened up so we went to the beautiful village of Rochechouart. We parked near the chateau and took a short walk through the village to a tiny crêperie and omelet cafe for coffee and a brunch of the cafe specialties. Don had a crepe. Cindy, EB and I picked out omelets and Don did a crepe. While we sat a table for four a few more folks crowded into the little cafe and filled in the remaining tables. What a treat to have found this little cafe for lunch.

EB took this picture of the fantastically preserved chateau in Rocherouart which is now an art museum. It was rebuilt over the original castle around the 15th century, but parts dating back to the 13th century are still in use. The art gallery opens in the middle of March each year and remains open through the summer. We will definitely go back when the art gallery opens.

EB took this picture looking down from a small grassy area in front of the chateau. Very pretty countryside.

Don walked down a little hill and was able to take this photo of the back of the chateau. Impressive.

Saturday: Nice quiet day

Sunshine and a little bit of rain.

We took a walk along the Vienne River and Rosie came along. Thanks to Cindy for taking our picture with Rosie.

We walked across the pedestrian bridge that spans the Vienne River and took the below picture of Don and Cindy. What a gorgeous day!

Thanks again to Cindy for taking the below picture of 1 of 3 boulangeries in Chabanais. This is the closest one to our house and very handy.

Cindy checked out our garden and gave us some suggestions on how to make it beautiful. There is a lot of potential.

On Saturday night we spent some time talking about our meet up with Cindy and Don in Aix Les Bain in September. You will remember that Cindy is participating in an international Dragon Boat Regatta with her team, the Los Angeles Pink Dragons, on Lake Bourget near the Swiss border. Elizabeth, Rosie and I will drive to Aix Les Bain to watch the race and hang out with the Pink Dragon team. Don has taken on the big job of planning our site seeing road trip from the regatta venue back to Chabanais. The four of us and Rosie will see some new parts of France.

So that was our week.

Don and Cindy arrived and settled in with us. So nice to have them here. We are so happy that we get to share our French experience with them. Our French village, local favorite restaurants, and sports bar are fun places to visit and share. Next week we will pile in the car for a trip to Sarlat la Caneda where we will be based for the next couple of days of site seeing. EB and I had visited Sarlat before moving to France and love it.

French Lifestyle and Culture

US foods banned in the European Union (EU)

We noticed that there are several foods made in the US that are not on the shelves at our supermarkets in France. Some items are even banned in the EU due to ingredients and such. France and the EU in general work on the premise of precaution. This precautionary principle is basically that if an ingredient potentially poses a health threat, it is not allowed until clearly scientifically documented safe. As I understand it, in the US the principle is rather use it and if problems arise then regulate it.

I am not a biochemist; I didn’t do well in chemistry at all in college. I guess that is why I chose a Mechanical Engineering degree at California State University. I make that clear now as I am not going to attempt to name the additives that are banned in France. This is just general information as we have noticed some American brands are not on the market shelves here in France. It seems that various additives cause problems or are potentially health risks. Artificial dyes are a well-known example.

Meats like beef, and chicken are processed in manners not acceptable or injected with chemicals not acceptable. Things like Twinkies, Mountain Dew and Wonder bread and the like are outright banned due to additives.

A very interesting cultural aspect of this is in the coloring of food items. For instance, neon colored icing on pastries or even on children cereals like Fruit Loops are just not culturally acceptable. Thus, not in high demand in France. I guess children are taught and thus are predisposed against bright colored or sugary sweet foods.

Bottom line is that there are cultural and lifestyle differences that influence the foods and products seen on market shelves in France. The Precautionary Principle based on science also influences the decision to ban certain foods.

Next Week (la Semaine Prochaine)

• More fun times with Cindy and Don and a little trip to Sarlat
• We do have some French admninstrative chores that need done regarding our Carte Vitale (French Health System)
• Update on the Solar power
• US and French Taxes. WE need togather up all of our documents and forward all to our US tax guy then do the same for our French tax prep. We will use a firm that partners with French Connections HCB with English speaking agents.

Weather forecast for next week

It looks like we have another rainy week ahead and cool temps. Highs in the low 50s^o F. Overnight lows get down in the 40s. Pretty much a repeat of this week. It is funny that despite the dreary forecast we usually get a window of sunshine just about every day.

Signing off for the week

As always, we sign off wishing you all a good week and remind you to take care of yourselves and your family. It has been a fun week with Cindy and Don here. More to come next week.

Keep in touch and leave questions, suggestions and comments below. We really enjoy hearing from you.

Wishing you a good week (Bonne Semaine)

Mark and Elizabeth Beiley

Babyboomersmovetofrance.com