Summer 2023 - A day in Bretagne

There isn't a more perfect day for me than morning yoga at the terrace with my gymnast girl, a good brisk family walk along the littoral enjoying the seaside scenery, choosing the ideal beach house for us (with quite different architectural tastes) and discovering an oyster/moule seller by a tiny seaside harbour. At the house, we studied carefully with my eldest the Marmiton receipy and prepared a delicious lunch "Moules à la Marinieres" with some green salad, baguette and camembert for dessert. My husband appeared to have an ecstatic experience while enjoying his oysters with some white wine. "J'aime beaucoup!"declared my youngest. I could not agree more. Namaste.

Summer 2023 - Vallée de la Loire

It feels heart warming to be back in Europe. The memories were still very vivid from our amazing summer 2020 and 2022 tours along the Atlantic Coast and hence the whole family had a mutual wish to spend the last leg of our summer vacations in France. Following two days of maniac washing and re-packing we headed our way to beloved France. We had chosen quite randomly two houses in small coastal villages in Bretagne. To break the 750 km route we decided to stop in Vallée de la Loire and visit a few castles. The lesser known Ferbre Saint Aubin, the famous Chambord and - from recommendation of an elderly local lady while buying our morning croissants at the village boulangerie - the Cheverney castle. It is difficult to summon concisely the experience and emotions visiting the French castles and their grandiose gardens trigger. Whereas their beauty and architecture makes you awe, they unavoidably make one also wonder the never-ending egocentrism of their concepteurs - Francois I in the case of Chambord. We booked tickets to an impressive and entertaining horse show/act and admired the talet and acrobatic skills of the riders while learning a bit of French history. I thanked once again for the fluency of my kids French as they are able to enjoy the French culture to the fullest. A small confession, the Cheverney castle won my heart with the beautiful decor and furniture and charming Orangerie in the gardens. The family's (who lives in one of the wings) creativity and attention is visible everywhere. We even got to cross over an item in my imaginery "bucket list" and taste and buy a few bottles of the local white wine. (For the past 14 years I have happened to be every time visiting a cave either pregnant or breast-feeding!). We did experience an almost-crises over our lunch plans as we forgot for a moment we were indeed in France, where you have to follow The choreography if you wish to be fed conveniently. Still recovering from jetlag our appetite was not in synch with the French cuisine (restaurants clise by 2 pm) and so we actually had to settle to some baguette and cheese at the village park (kids were obviously super happy). By sunset we drove the last strech to the coast and arrived to our cute beach house and home-to-be for the week to come.