Winter weather has been pretty extreme just about everywhere this year. Western Europe has had tons of rain and as such, a lot of flooding. Angers has experienced flooding conditions that apparently rival the floods of 1995. In the picture above, the water you see is covering a street which has been impassable for 2-3
We just returned from a 10-day visit to the U.S. to visit family. After enjoying the slower pace of France the past nine months, the U.S. feels rather overwhelming to us now. From the 24-hour news cycle reminding us constantly how bad things are to the insane number of commercials on television all hawking things
We took a field trip out the the countryside, just 20 minutes from home, to the little village of Grez-Neuville. Really, it’s a village made up of two smaller villages: Grez and Neuville, which are separated by the Mayenne River. A lovely bridge connects the two. This photo was taken standing on the Neuville side,
The New Year has arrived and with it, a chance to look back at the exciting Christmas week holiday we spent with one of our children who came to visit us in Angers. It was a fun week and we kept busy, despite it being bitterly cold and each of us getting mildly sick with
The holidays look a lot different this year and we’re not entirely sure how to feel about it. In the past, we’ve cut down our Christmas tree and decorated it with ornaments that we’ve collected over decades. We decorate the house. We make mountains of cookies and share them with our friends and family. We
The Christmas Market season is upon us and we walked through one of them recently in downtown Angers, complete with a Ferris Wheel, mulled wine and hot cocoa, traditional French foods like tartiflette and crêpes, roasted chestnuts, and a variety of gift items and handmade goods for sale. While not as spectacular as the Christmas
We have so much to be thankful for, living in the lovely Loire Valley in France. We count our blessings in all of these areas: Though we are missing our friends and family in the U.S., we hope that each of you are able to share time, meals, and traditions this week with those you
Six months ago yesterday, we landed in France, full of hope and excitement for the adventure ahead. While the road has been bumpy at times, France has largely delivered a satisfying experience for us and we’re happy to have enjoyed it so far. We’ve made a few purchases lately to enhance our French living experience.
I find myself posting less these days, not because there aren’t good and interesting things happening — there are, in fact we are working on a couple of new things that we’ll share soon. I think this is happening because living in France has become less like a “what adventure are we going to have
As mentioned recently in another post about our fall activities, we’re making a committed effort to increase our ability to speak and understand French. We’ve been taking French lessons twice weekly for the last three weeks. I can’t lie — it’s hard! Our teacher is tough and very focused on giving us a solid foundation