Ah, time flies when you have the post vacation blues but soon Il Divo will be coming to the USA and  the World Tour will start.  A few more weeks and the new CD and DVD will be out. 

Here's a sneak peak.

Wonderful time at the concerts and meeting all the fellow Il Divo fans.  Nice article in the Bray paper about our gathering the night before.  What a great bunch.  The mayor of Bray was a delight.

Here's a nice newspaper article about our get-together.

http://braypeople.newspaperdirect.com/epaper/viewer.aspx

It's early morning and I've been up for hours.  Not my usual routine but perhaps it will help with the jetlag.  We will be off early this afternoon to the airport and hope that Delta will see that it makes sense to put us on an earlier plane to Atlanta.  The way they've sent us just leaves us 40 minutes to deplane, run down the B terminal to the connector, get down to the tram and over to terminal C, and then find our gate for our plane to Dublin. 

I called last week and got a snarky agent who said they could do it for well over $200.  I hate Delta.  I called Air France to book and learned that if you press 1 for English you are routed to Delta.  Delta treats Air France customers like steerage.   Coming home from Paris we'll be on an Air France plane.  Finally!  I keep booking through them and they keep putting me on Delta. 

They now fly direct to Paris from Orlando but it's new and the dates didn't align with this trip.

Looking forward to Dublin for two days, then to Bray for the Il Divo concerts.  I've never been to Ireland so I am looking forward to it.  Then flying into London to spend 5 days there and then to Paris.  We've rented an apartment for 10 days and I am so happy to be going back again.  It almost feels as though I'm going home.  I love Paris. 

I'll try to blog while we are traveling.  Although it doesn't look as though anyone is reading my blog.  Oh, well.  I do.

This is where we are staying in Dublin.  Clontarf Castle Hotel

Time to get ready for our trip to Ireland, London and saving the best for last, Paris.  Suitcase is in the guest room along with piles of things to sort through and choose which will go and which will stay.  Some new things and some old favorites are in the piles.  We are limited to one suitcase for a 20 day trip so it will be difficult to pare it down to the essentials.

This is my first time going to Europe at this time of year.  Way, way, way back, almost ten years ago, I went to Denmark at the end of May through early June, but ever since then I seem to travel in the winter. This is a good thing.  I dont' need a heavy coat and a pile of woolies, gloves, hats, and scarves.  They say that the nights in Ireland can get cold and rainy so I need to prepare for that.

I'm so exited and counting the days.  The tickets for the 2nd Il Divo concert have finally arrived.  We still have a spare Champagne/Orangery ticket for the nineteenth (19th) to sell and I"ve listed it on eBay so hopefully someone will want it. 

Here's a taste of Il Divo and a new song from the new album.

I'm doing some research on a move to France.  Of course I've run into one of those Catch 22's on the Consulate website.  It seems I need to apply for the long-stay visa at least 2 months prior to any move and when I apply I must show a lease or proof of where I'm going to live.  Hmmm.. How do I get a lease before I get approved for the visa?  Can I get a tentative lease?  

I did see that I can bring my two cats with me, although it means finding a place that will let cats share my abode.  How can I leave my two best buddies behind? 

Here's Shadow:

He's just such a fun cat and is devoted to me so he must go with me.  Sassy might not travel very well so I need to think about what is best for her.

So far I'm sorting through my accumulation of "Stuff" and I've managed to sell some things from the garage on Craig's list and have started putting odds and ends on eBay.  Most things will be in a huge yardsale later this year when the weather cools down and the Snowbirds appear.   House will go on the market and hopefully not take too long to sell.  Then a big Moving Sale and I'm outta here.  The plan is to get this all done in less than a year.  

I'm hoping that there's no age discrimination in letting me live in France.  If not this will be one happy geezer. 
Advice and suggestions are welcome so please feel free to comment.

I'm looking into relocating to France.  Seems there are some places where I can live cheaper than what it costs here and the standard of living is so much richer. 

The area around Bearn looks interesting.  I was nearby in the Lot/Dordogne region a few years ago and it's such a lovely place. 

Here's some information on the area.

France Today on the Bearn area.

Here is another video I did at Patrick's concert in Las Vegas on July 2nd.   I have no idea what he was saying but he says it so nicely.

Returned Monday from a short trip to Las Vegas. I'd only been there once before, on a New Year's Eve, about twenty five years ago. It has changed and grown since then but still a loud, crazy place. I went to see Patrick Bruel in Concert at the Wynn Casino. Beautiful place and the concert was wonderful. The meet and greet afterwards was badly organized and poor Patrick was just mobbed. There was no security for him at all and his many fans just overwhelmed him. I did get to say a few quick words before he moved on.

Most of the others attending were French and the few Americans I met were French teachers. I saw Celine Dion's husband, René Angélil, moving through the crowd. He'd been backstage to see Patrick and there were some odd characters hanging on to him as he was leaving.  I heard that he, like Patrick, is an avid poker player.
Here is just a short video I did. I have a few more short ones that I wanted to put together but can't figure out how to do it so just posting this one.

They are back.  Il Divo at the Classic Brit Awards with one of the songs from the new album to be released in November.  I'll be seeing them in Ireland in August!