And the house we chose is....

Fantastic.  First we narrowed our picks down to two.  And then finally to one.  It was a hard decision, we loved both houses, but they were very different.  One was basically a villa, seriously a villa, but once we spoke with the agent about all the other "fees" to keeping the house (gardener, pool cleaning, etc...) the rent basically doubled.  Too expensive for us.  The house we chose is perfect for us and we loved it the minute we walked in. Big fenced in backyard, 5 bedrooms, 5 bathrooms, studio for Bruce and me, lovely back terrace, great kitchen and lots of light.   It's in a tiny village of about 100 people (no commerce) about 15 minutes north of Girona.  It's also part of a 1,000 year old castle.  It doesn't connect, but is right next door to the castle, which has been restored and it stunning.  The owners of the house and castle are super nice people too.  He was a michelin star chef, who then sold his restaurant and then bought the castle, restored it and opened a restaurant in the castle.  But this year due to health reasons, the restaurant is closed.  She is a famous potter throughout Spain.  They love art and are lovely people.

I'll post some pictures once we move in and get settled.

So excited about our new adventure!

Our landlord was so nice and took us up to the village that our village is part of to get our census. She thought it would be easier for us if she was there.  We got the letter we needed (to show the police for our NEE).  Then we headed into Girona to visit the Police, who give us our NEE card.  We ended up being there for 2 hours, not because of long lines, but because everyone was so nice.  A few of them spoke english and they loved that we were originally from California.  They told us where they were from in Spain and showed us pictures of their home towns.  I swear, everyone is so nice in Spain. We have to return to the Police in 30 days to pick up our card, but we got our number, so that's a good sign.

So we have a house, we have our NEE card, we have a checking account in Spain.  It's all coming together.  We rented a truck and will be taking our stuff down to Spain on the 15th, then we'll come back up to France to clean our house here and then we'll turn around and pack up the dogs and the cats and move into our new home in Spain.  Can't wait.