Hervé moved back to France

That is it. I have done it. Early this year (2001) I received a very good job offer in Geneva, Switzerland. The only thing that was keeping me in the US was cave diving and it was getting bad with all the rains and more in the forecast. So I decided that it was the perfect time to leave.

June 1st was my last day of work in the US. I spent the month of June diving and preparing the move. On June 27th the moving company from hell (long story of major incompetence), Covan, picked up 2 tons of my stuff for shipping to France. The same day my friend Ed Pellar came to pick up the van that he bought from me and I rented a very fancy red convertible sporty car. Then I went to my friends the Werners to spend the night with all my luggage packed and in the trunk. The next day I was in the plane to France.

I then spent the month of August in France and Italy. The first 15 days I spent with my parents who had not had to put up with me for that long since 1987!!! It went pretty smoothly and they even seemed happy to have me!!! After that I enjoyed a little trip with my friend Sylvestre. We first went to Venasque in the South of France. There was a lot of partying there during the evening and walking or swimming during the day. We then took off to Italy for 5 days. We drove painfully through Genova (world trade organization meeting), then visited the tower of Pisa. We even did some karting on 2 consecutive days as a warm-up for Maranello (the town where they manufacture Ferraris). We also stopped by Florence (very nice place) and drove by Turin.

After that it was time to find a place to stay near Geneva but in France. That was a major challenge as the demand for apartments and houses is much greater than the offer. You have to be very fast, aggressive and lucky. I found a very nice apartment in Divonne les Bains, within 400 yards of everything in town yet in a very quite area. I have 1 bedroom, 1 kitchen, a spacious living room and nice mezzanine. The ceilings are very high: 3 meters and more.

Divonne les Bains is a touristic town. A lot of people come here to recover from health problems with water treatments and soft exercise. Divonne is situated at the foot of the Jura mountains so it has tons of walking paths, some flat and many going up towards the various mountain peaks through the forest. Divonne is at 500 meters of altitude, the Jura peaks are at 1600 meters, so it is not too hard yet very pleasant. I do a lot of running in the area so I learn a bit more every day.

The list of nice things in Divonne is very long for a small town: small lake with beach, wind surfing, sailing, running and biking tracks around the lake. Olympic swimming pool with slides and diving boards up to 10 meters high. 3 soccer fields, 1 hippodrome, mini-golf, 2 4-star hotels (one is a castle), 2 3-star hotels, a dozen other cheaper ones and a superb camping site. 18 hole golf course, mountain bike rentals, top class Casino, old style cinema, restaurants everywhere, historic sites, etc. etc. All this 1 km from the border with Switzerland right by the lake Leman and 15 km north east of Geneva.

Work in Geneva is good. The work is the same as I was doing in the US only I get 26 days of vacation a year instead of the standard 10 in the US, the so-called country of freedom where so many work like slaves all their lives, get divorced at least once and die of a heart attack as soon as they retire. Money is the big carrot and only the smart ones don't bite. You think I exagerate? Ever so little... Quality of life is what I was looking for and I found it.

So come and visit my little healthy paradise!