How's this all gonna work?

Well that was quick...

Of the two viewings, we received two applications from well-qualified renters. We opted for a young couple with a Puggle (half Beagle / half Pug). I guess that’s more of the vision we had for the house. The other potential renter was a single male…not that he wouldn’t have been a nice tenant, but its all down to the energy people bring. We imagine it will be a small family that will love our house as much as we do. At least I hope so.

Doesn't get more Pugglier than this guy

Things are really moving at warp speed! We even have someone coming out today to look at the VUE. We’ll need to downsize to a one-car family. This should be quite easy in Luxembourg, but I’d like to have access to the vehicle for a while longer while we’re state side. Who knows, this guy may just hate it, and I’ll end up selling the thing to the bottom-feeders over at Carmax.

Jeni has been running around frantically trying to sort out all of the last minute details for her transfer to NATO. No one is making it easy for her. Hopefully all of the paperwork will be filed this week, and we can get a date set for the movers. At this rate we’ll be packing right up to the last minute. Sheesh - you’d think these people would have done this before. I swear between the DoD and NATO, we’d have been better off asking these two to coordinate things.

A Minor Diversion

We took a little jaunt this weekend out to Virginia's wine country in Shenandoah Valley. The mission wasn't all for fun we had to pick up our wine from the wine club we belong to before shipping out. Unfortunately we had to suspend our membership for a while, but we are looking forward to Luxembourg wines! Plus we'll be only a short drive over to the Champagne and Alsace regions of France...yea!

 If you find yourself in or around Mt Jackson, Virginia, you're doing yourself a major disservice by not dropping in on Randy Phillips and his amazing vineyard - Cave Ridge.

Idyllic setting nestled in the Shenandoah Valley

Virginia has plenty of great vineyards and vintners, but Cave Ridge is our absolute favorite! Randy is a true craftsman, and his varieties range from the standard-bearer of VA wines, the Chambourcin Grape, to chunkier varietals such as Cabernet Franc, Syrah and Petit Verdot. These he bottles on their own and blends into all sorts of tasty concoctions. Since Virginia is a bit cold in the winter, his white wines include Traminette (my personal favorite), Reisling and Vionier. The traditional hot and dry summers out in the valley create some top notch wines. I think Randy and his cohorts in the valley are really making their mark on the wine world. Don't take my word for it - go out and see for yourself!

No caption really needed...

Here we are with the wine-master himself - Thanks Randy!

Transitions

We officially put our house on the market Tuesday, August 21, and our realtor, Seth, already has two viewings lined up for tonight (Thursday August 23). Seth did a great job with the listing. Heck, I hope we find something this nice in Luxembourg! You can check out his work here.

While not palatial, our home is very dear to us with lots of great memories. We will miss our neighborhood full of wonderful people. Our area, Westover (not Old Town), is a real eclectic group of town-homes ranging from in age. Some were built in the thirties, our house was built in 1941 and some of the newer homes were added in the 1970’s and 1980’s. It will be really interesting to see what we find ourselves living in when we get to Luxembourg. From what we’ve seen on line at www.athome.lu/rent houses and apartments range from traditional French styles to mid-century clunkers to sleek modern design…we’re hoping for a sleek modern place with a bit of green space for the boys. As with everything in real estate, it’s all about the location (and our budget of course).

1930's era House in Westover

Our little part of Alexandria is changing so rapidly. The government-subsidized house (aka ‘The Hood’) is being torn down at an alarming rate. These are being replaced with a mixed community of market rate new homes as well as new public housing units…really brilliant urban planning. And, if people want to pay upwards of $900,000 to move into the neighborhood, I'm all for it! The housing density went way up, but the concept will help harmonize a community that really stigmatized an entire group of people for decades. I peeked in one of the public units while walking the dogs…they are quite nice. It will amazing to see the transformation when we return!

What's left of 'The Hood'

It's all cranes and pile drivers right now

Yep, this is what they really look like

Getting started

Logistics

For such a tiny country, the Luxembourgers do not lack in the language department. They have three official languages: French, German and Luxembourgish. Luxembourgish, who knew!? We’re focusing on French right now, as it appears most of the signage and documents in Luxembourg City are in Français. I’m also brushing up a bit on my German. Hopefully being immersed will make things easier. Not even going to attempt Luxembourgish. We’re only there for a three-year rotation.

Shipping the pooches (Toby the Dachshund and Jonas the Feisthund) isn’t that difficult on paper, but anyone that has had the pleasure of meeting our boys knows this is going to be a real traumatic experience for all those involved (sorry luggage guys). Exhibit A

JoJo with his ever present sock

Mr Tobias von Wigglebottom

 We’re slowly acclimating them to the crates, and when its time, we’ll load them up and hope for the best. Once in country, we’ll get them Pet Passports, and they’ll be free to move throughout the European union. I love that they are so dog friendly!

We put the house in the rental market this week. This should be interesting. Renters can be a real crapshoot, but I feel confident in our property manager, Seth. More on this as things develop. We love this house, and we definitely want it to be standing when we return.

I took the boys out for one last hike in Shenandoah today. We saw a little black bear. He couldn't have been more than a year old. Between wrangling the dogs and looking out for Momma Bear, I wasn't able to snap a photo. He couldn't have been more than 30 feet away. Fortunately the boys didn't notice. I think the bear is a portent of good things to come. Jeni and I saw a bear on our very first hike together just about a decade ago. Toby was on that hike too.

La Grande Aventure

Well it’s official. Ever since Andy Schleck’s chain dropped off in the 2010 Tour de France, my wife, Jennifer, has been stalking the poor boy (ha-ha…just a joke Interpol).  We are absolutely thrilled with our pending move to Luxembourg. A place until six months ago we weren’t even really sure existed, let alone where on the planet it might be located. As it turns out, Luxembourg is a real place, a Grande Duchy no less, situated among France, Belgium and Germany. We’re on our way there in a few short weeks. The cycling Schleck brothers (Andy and Frank) are just one of many perks.

Our plan to move to Europe was hatched nearly a year ago, when Jeni was offered a job with her current agency in Germany. That gig subsequently fell through. As it happened, Jeni was not deterred from this goal. She bought a new pair of shoes and a new handbag, flew to Luxembourg and landed her a new job working with NATO in, of all places, the Grande Duchy (thanks for the great line, Debbie T)! We have a lot to do before we can move abroad: learn the language (somewhat), ship our gear over, ready our house for the rental market, fly our dogs over, and on and on. I intend to describe our little adventure in bite-sized posts, and I hope to be able to present fun and new people, ideas, food and cultures that we encounter along our travels.