It's official! We are moving to France!

We have loved our time here in France so much that we have decided to relocate. We had some extra time today so we decided to look around for houses. We have our two top choices, maybe you can help us finalize our decision??

First house is a bit older and bigger than our house now, but I think with a little vision that we could make do! What do you think?? It has great curb appeal!

It was really a drag that the realtor wasn't available to give us a tour inside. So we asked around about potential issues we should be concerned about, here are a few we have to consider:

1. There is no garage, I guess the original owners either Ubered everywhere or perhaps used stables for their horsepower.

2. They warned me that the house requires some maintenance every hundred years or so. It is undergoing its seventh renovation based on that time schedule.

3. The house could be haunted since there is a painting in the brochure that shows their architect/designer dying in the owner's arms. Apparently the designer created a very unique double helix stairwell for the home. His name was Leo and he had some pretty cool ideas.

4. The house comes mostly unfurnished, I think just a few trips to Ikea would take care of that though.

5. It could get a a little annoying to have to swim the moat if you wanted to cut through to your neighbors house.

With all these considerations, we were not completely sold so we headed down the road about an hour to our next option which happens to be holding an open house! We have always wanted waterfront property and once you see the backyard you will realize you can't get anymore waterfront than this!

The good news is that this one comes almost completely furnished.

This will be our neverending hopscotch room!

So sorry the realtor left all the nude photos on the walls, I should talk to them about that....

Would it be awkward to keep paintings of the previous owners (with fantastic hair styles) up on the walls after we move in? Apparently a guy named Louis XIV used this room as a drawing room when he came to visit.

I think the best feature about this house is that it was already set up once as a hospital where the most wounded patients were tended to. It would practially eliminate my commute.

I think this one is our favorite, do you think it is our style???

Oh no! We just remembered we are expecting our new foreign exchange student from Sweden in just less than 2 weeks. Neither house would be big enough to have company and we would miss our family and friends so I will call the realtor and pull out of escrow. It was sure fun to dream!

Btw, first home is Château de Chambord which was the first royal home to King Francis I in the renaissance period before the Palace of Versailles was built. His favorite designer was none other than Leonardo Di Vinci.

The second home is Château de Chenonceau. The estate was first mentioned in writings in the 11th century but the current castle was built and expanded over the river (on old mill footings) between 1511-1560. The owner fell into debt to King Francis I and lost the house to the King. When the King died, King Henry II gave Château de Chenonceau to his favorite mistress Diane de Portiers.  While no Kings actually lived in this house they did visit the home and the last royal visitor was King Louis XIV in 1640.