Montluel and Bourg en Bresse

Travelled: 300km (over 2 days)

Stay: Montluel -cousins home on 27 May/ Paray-le-Monial- free aire on 28 May

Well, we have had a interesting 2 days. Monday morning we drove to Caluire et Cuire, as Mark had an appointment with an Osteopath regarding his neck and headaches. We then went to the car insurance company so that we could get an updated green certificate printed with the new registration number. By law this little green ticket must be displayed on the windscreen. Then we drove to Montluel and did some shopping and then Mark went to see the dentist to get his modified plate after his broken tooth was extracted. Next stop was my cousin Isabelle's house and we cooked a lamb roast dinner and enjoyed some beaujolais (Chenas) wine.Today was visa immigration day. We were a bit apprehensive as the letter we had received about his appointment had mentioned attending 4 day courses and testing of his french language skills. First he had to get a chest xray, then he had to pass a medical examination. Luckily all is well. He then  meet the immigration officer. We had to plead our case that the french consular in Sydney has been unwilling to explain the implications of the different types of visas that were available to him.  As it stands we had applied for a spouses visa that automatically requires him to sign a contract that adheres him to attend the courses and that he has to reach a certain level of french (not in million years!)  But all we really wanted was a tourist visa! So the very understanding immigration officer kindly gave him 3 of the 4 certificates, with him having to go back next Friday to attend an information session only which included a interpreter and lunch. Once he has done this he will never have to do it again...phew. However, if we return for more than 3 months next year, the medical will still need to be done! Crazy. It is with some relief that we head out of Bourg in the rain (again). Original plans were to head west to Bordeaux, but as we need to come back in 9 days we have to rethink our destination. However, as we head west we realize we are passing past Mr Martin (JL Loisirs), so we called in to pick up the 2 window alarms we had ordered. Another thing ticked off the list. Tonight we stopped again in Paray as it was getting late.