chinon castle

While in the Loire, we took in some of the amazing castles and churches dating back as far as the 9th century. Here are the kids in front of the chateau at Chinon. The girls dressed as fairy princesses for the excursion...


While the chateaus were built on high ground for strategic reasons, I suspect that on days when they weren't under siege they probably didn't mind the view of the countryside...


... or the town. I'll have a few more chateau and church posts later so you all don't think we just ate our way across France.

la vie a la campagne

Here's a little chronicle of our time so far here at Amy & Laurent's. We've had mostly beautiful weather, and the little spell of rain we had yesterday resulted in this spectacular rainbow over their house.


The markets have, of course, been amazing. Here's Tizzy with a bouquet for Amy.


Beautifully merchandised spices...


Le saucisson sec... we've eaten a lot of saucisson sec...


We had a little dinner party last night featuring this beautiful roti de porc cote. I wasn't sure which butcher to use, so I chose the one with the longest line. Good call...


Entree de moules...


On Tuesdsya we picked blueberries on the side of the road and peaches from the tree in their field so Kim could make us a delicious crumble...


And Laurent and I fired up the wood oven to make some pizzas...



They turned out great!


Country life isn't too bad.

restingne

On Saturday we took the train to Restigne where our friends Amy & Laurent live...


After our train ride, we were ready for some exercise, so we headed out for a ride with Lucia and Max...


Here's Max ready to roll...


And of course, I'm never one to be left out...

bateaux mouches

On day two in Paris we decided to take a tour on one of the famous Bateaux Mouches boats that are a constant presence on the Seine. Kim and I had never been on one, so it seemed like a perfect way to give Tizzy an overview of the city.


She got to work right away documenting the journey in vivid digital glory.


There were too many photos to post them all, and each more spectacular than the last.


So here are just a couple favorites...

chocolat chaud

Tizzy enjoyed her first Paris chocolat chaud yesterday at Mondrian, which is the old Le Mandarin on St. Germain...










... No further caption needed, eh?

tiz the photographer

We got Tiz her own camera for this trip. She's shown some talent for composition in the past, so we thought we'd set her loose and see what images she captures in one of the world's most photogenic cities.


These are her shots from Luxembourg Gardens. "Fountain? What fountain? I'm taking pictures of myself..."


At least this one has a little shrubbery in the background...



And I got a tiny cameo here...



Then finally she relented and took a pretty decent portrait of Kim and I. So sorry... no flowers, fountains or palais for you tonight. Just us happy to be out in the world.

first pics from paris

Here are a couple quick shots from our first day in Paris. We were pretty jetlagged, but Tizzy rallied for a visit to the Eiffel Tower.
Considering the view from our rental apartment, it's amazing that we went out at all!

More to come...