We’re in the final couple of days in Orléans and packing up to go to Angers (pronounced Ahn-jzay) on Saturday. We’re saying goodbye to our favorite bakeries and trying to figure out how to get all of the belongings we’ve distributed around the apartment back into our bags. We’ve put most of our stuff in storage
One down, eleven months to go on our one-year visa! We’ve learned so much in this first month, and yet we feel that we have so much more to learn to determine where we might want to stay a while. We had a strategy when we got here and it’s still the strategy, but being
The rental car saga finally came to a quiet end on Friday (read the Day 1 and Day 2 posts if you haven’t already) after we took the train back to Blois to return the car keys and try to solve the issue of returning a car to a different facility than the one we
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 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
Because we closed on our house earlier than expected and we have a longer gap between selling and beginning our French adventure, we’re in this funny “hurry up and wait” time. We’re really happy to be able to share more family time before we start this adventure and are making the most of it. How