Toulouse Stopover

Toulouse is one of the airports  convenient to Sète, and the city makes for an interesting stopover - we did just that!

Our Tour

1) arrived by train, checked (9.50€) our bag, walked toward...

2) The Capitole! The plaza is from the 18th century, surrounded by buildings completed after 1850. It is the center of government for our region, but also contains a theater, and is very popular for weddings (in fact, the last time we tried to see it, it was closed to the public for a wedding). This time, there was a simple security check, with no line, no charge, to enter.

The interior is full of symbolism!

Rick loves this - his initials are *everywhere!*

We went around the corner to check in with the tourist office - we wanted to know where and when the May 8 celebration would be.

3) We had lunch, then went on to the Musée des Augustins, a museum that I had been looking forward to for many years - my goal: see the statue of the very young madonna. No joy! The museum is undergoing renovations, and a large section is closed - well, we missed it in 2011, it won't hurt to try again later :-\

4) We turned to the cathedral of St-Etienne. We had visited before, and were happy to again.

5) The Monument aux Morts was next; this is where the ceremony will be to celebrate the Victory in Europe day.

6) The Halles aux Graines is just a bit further; it is a theater, but unfortunately closed to visits today.

7) We decided to walk along the Canal du Midi, stopping off at the Church of St-Aubin

8) And, back at the gare! After a lot of resting and figuring things out, we bought dinner for later, and grabbed the subway out of town, and switched to a tram for our hotel near the airport.

Tax Season(s)

Tax Season! Or is that a multiple?

As American expats, we know that we have to file taxes in the states, no matter what :-\ We also know that we get an automatic extension to the 15th of June. But, as long as we have all the information, we still aim to file (preferably electronically) by mid-April. This turned out to be a very good habit, since we needed all this data for our French taxes!

For France, the deadline is in May, but changes depending on your situation. If you are filing for the first time (like us), you have to file on paper, and your deadline is earlier =-O AND! The forms seem to change every year, and are only available at the end of April!

2042 main tax form for 2017 taxes

May 1st rolled around - we (that would be Rick) had our forms, and had taken a stab at understanding them; we attended a webinar, and at the end, as promised, our forms were (essentially) filled in. But (of course) we had some questions :-\ As part of our filing, we have to list all non-French accounts - not just bank accounts, but also things like PayPal and Transferwise. Some effort later, we had that sorted out as well.

Our kicker? We have a trip planned! Even though our deadline is May 17th, we only have a few days to get our forms completed and mailed! We ran out and got the big envelopes, and made it to the Post Office Saturday morning. We sent the packet by "recommendé avec avis de réception," meaning that we can track its progress, and get a receipt indicating when they received it.

Then we dusted off our hands, and went home to pack!

What will probably happen:
- some time in September, we will get a tax bill (for 2017), due shortly after. It will indicate our tax number for future filing
- based on that, we will get a bill for our cotisation (health coverage)
- next year, we will file online (and have more time)

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Update: we still don't have the official receipt, but we tracked our package - it got to the tax office on Monday.

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Handy links:
Find your tax office
https://impots.dispofi.fr/centres-des-impots
Get your tax forms
https://www.impots.gouv.fr/portail/formulaire/2042/declaration-des-revenus

Our French forms:
2042 - the main form, similar to US 1040
2047 - foreign income (USA income is excluded from French income tax) referenced on 2042
3916 - foreign accounts, one per account (note - you can just list all the information for all the accounts on a blank page instead)

The Big Three

If you had to guess, which would you say are *the* three days of the year when everything shuts down in France? Everything, as in - no buses, no groceries, no nothin'. Possibly excepting a boulangerie...

You would probably get New Year's Day. And, given the Catholic history and culture of France, you could likely guess Christmas Day. But the third? If you're American, it simply wouldn't enter your mind - May Day!

Muguets by Mary Douche 2018

Why May Day?

"La Fête du Muguet" is celebrated in France much like in America, when flowers are given to loved ones.  Here, the prefered flower, muguet (Lily of the Valley), gives the Fête its name.

But why is May Day such a major holiday in France? What else is it known for?

Well, it's Labor Day here, and "Labor Day in France is always a designated day of action. Trade unions and other organizations take this day to organize marches and demonstrations to campaign for workers rights and other social issues."*

"It is, in fact, the only day of the year when employees are legally obliged to be given leave, save professions that cannot be interrupted due to their nature (such as workers in hospitals and public transport). Demonstrations and marches are a Labour Day tradition in France, where trade unions organize parades in major cities to defend workers' rights." *

It became a public holiday here in 1941. The day was chosen to commemorate a huge strike in 1886, part of the fight for an 8-hour work day. Believe it or not, this happened in Chicago - yep, America - whose Labor Day is later in the year, and is definitely not a "Day of Action."

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* Quotes are from here; read these for more info:
From 2016 https://www.thelocal.fr/20160429/what-to-expect-in-france-this-may-day
From Wikipedia:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Workers%27_Day