Today we set out for the towns of Blois and Beaugency in our little rental car (the second one following yesterday’s incident). In Beaugency we walked through a smaller, very old church with incredible stained glass windows. In many of the churches, the stained glass panels placed around the church told the stories in the
Today we took a roadtrip to visit the spectacular city of Chartres, which is north of where we’ve been in Orléans and SW of Paris. This beautiful, walkable city blew us away! They have a light show there that plays every evening with the old buildings as the backdrop to display artistic images. We had
We’re now three weeks into our year in France and our stay in Orléans. Adventures always bring unexpected learning experiences and gratitude to our lives. Here are some things that we’ve learned about during our stay in France that have been less than ideal: These are really small things though, things to experience and navigate
We spent a couple of days and a night in Paris this week. It was one of the first European cities we visited on our first magical trip in 2015 (London, Paris, and Rome) and it’s still beautiful. It’s such a huge city as you can see from this vantage point in the artsy Montmartre
Greg has his bike re-assembled and his gear unpacked. He’s starting to take long and winding rides on the bike paths along the Loire river. The Loire Valley has an extensive network of bike friendly trails, which was part of the draw of coming here in the summer. Yesterday, Greg rode 40 miles round trip
We visited the Saturday Market again today, with the intention of actually buying things to make to eat. What a haul we made! Right away, I used the English cucumber, tomatoes, kalamata olives, and some of the feta we bought for a salad, with some vinaigrette dressing I bought at the grocery store. Everything was
We’ve been to the same bakery (“Maison Ayrole Maureille”) a few blocks away from our apartment for four days in a row now, trying various pastries, a baguette, small pizzettes with ham and cheese, and a sandwich with ham, tiny pickles, and butter. I’m starting to get embarrassed! But what has me literally dreaming about
Photo from the inside of Cathedral Sainte-Croix d’Orléans, which dates back to 1288. It’s been partially destroyed and rebuilt a number of times. It’s been a busy first week here in Orléans, France. We had several critical to-dos that needed to take place this week to set us up for success in the coming year,
If you are a mother, have a mother, or even just know a mother, I wish for you a happy day today! Our family has a 20-year tradition for celebrating Mother’s Day for me. I’m not much of a gifts and flowers sort of gal for holidays. I’m into spending them with people I love
It’s Saturday morning which is the day that many French people head out to the local street markets with their baskets and wheeled carts to buy their food for the week. This is a picture of the offerings at just one stand, out of probably 30 that are just for fruits and vegetables. Every one