France Photography Workshop Update

I'm back from France now but had a nice time at the photography and food styling workshop. Unfortunately the weather was a real drag. It was rainy, windy, and cold for 4 out of the 5 days of the workshop, which threw off the itinerary and prevented us from getting outside much. It was a shame in such a beautiful place (southern France, in the Languedoc wine region) where the weather is normally sunny and about 75 degrees most days this time of year. Alas, we can't control weather, so nothing could be done about that but make the best of our indoor time. But it was great to meet and learn from Beatrice Peltre and Lara Ferroni, and I met a lot of nice people who came from all over the world for the workshop. Here's a peek into our workshop days.

Props

This weekend I'm headed to France for a 5 day photography and food styling class. We're instructed to bring some props, and since all our kitchen stuff is in storage, I decided to hit the Anthropologie sale table. I got a few fun plates, bowls and linens. Here are a few. I'm very excited about the class! The weather forecast isn't looking too great, but I'll take France rain or shine. Rolling green hills, a chateau, beautiful food and photos, interesting new people to meet... I'm ready! See you soon from southern France.

Glamping in France

Now that's my kind of tent! Does't it look wonderful to you too? That is a desert tent at Camping Les Ormes in southern France. I read about the campsite on My French Country Home a while back and made a note of it. A farm, restaurant, pool, lake, fun outdoor activities... it looks amazing! I'm more the glamping kind of gal than the rugged camping kind of gal, though I've never really been to a campsite so beautiful. I appreciate running water and toilets very much! I'd really love to go camping here this Summer. It looks especially great with kids. If you'd like to have a relaxing family vacation in France, this might be a good option. Here is the web site for more photos and information. Photos here are from their site. 

My mom arrives today for a visit, so I'm very excited! I have a lot planned for us in the next few days, so I hope to have lots of posts about our Paris outings.

Greetings from the Road! France and Spain

Greetings from the road! Our road trip has been a wee bit stressful at times with the little bundle in tow, but still a lot of fun, and daddy's done a great job driving. We started in Marseille and made our way south to Barcelona, where we are now. We explored Marseille, took a Mediterranean Sea voyage, explored Carcassonne, drove through the eastern Pyrenees Mountains, hiked up to Chateau de Peyrepertuse, stayed in a cute little town called Cucugnan, then made our way into Spain and stopped for tapas in Girona, and now we're in Barcelona. Whew, we've done a lot in a week and have one day to go. Here's a bit of what we've been up to so far...

In some places the Mediterranean Sea just looks fake it's so beautiful. We walked along the coast and took in the view. But we needed to refuel and had something sweet on our minds. We bought some very good orange blossom cookies from the bakery below. 

Lois had her first boat ride! (Oh wait, it was her 2nd boat ride!) We cruised along the coast to the calanques. 

Before heading out of town we checked out the local fish market. 

Then we headed to Carcassonne, a really neat medieval fortified town. It was very touristy, but we still enjoyed it. 

Back on the road, we stopped at Chateau de Peyrepertuse, one of the Cathar Castles. We hiked to the top  and took in the beautiful view. Lois had her first real hike, and she was a trooper!

Driving through the Pyrenees was really fun and a little stressful at times, like when we encountered this big truck o' logs. Tiny narrow road, on the side of a mountain--we were just praying for cars not to come, but they did anyway. We had to back up for this truck but we all survived. And we weren't even in the BIG part of the Pyrenees. 

We stayed in a cute little town called Cucugnan. Just look at these pictures! Adorable. Below is sunrise in Cucugnan and the valley just below the town. 

After leaving Cucugnan, we headed for Spain. We stopped in Girona where we had some yummy tapas. 

To be continued, from Barcelona. 

Alsace

For our last weekend in Switzerland, we decided to take the train to Alsace, France. Above is a little collage of some of our pictures. Thanks to Caroline for showing me how to do that! (I've only been meaning to learn for forever.) Alsace has a long history with German roots, which you can see in the style of architecture throughout the region. The town we stayed in, Ribeauvillé, was so darn cute that it looked a little bit like a theme park at Disney, only this was the real thing. The scenery was beautiful, and the wine and food delicious. We stayed at a nice hotel on a hill that provided an amazing view. We also had a terrific dinner at the hotel restaurant (with Lois sleeping soundly in the car seat next to us). We had an equally great lunch at Zum Pfifferhus. It was a great way to spend our last weekend in Europe, and we look forward to going back!

I left my heart in Alsace! Really, though, we did have one of these little tarts and it was sooo good!

Above is a Kugelhopf, which we didn't have, but the area is known for them. It's a type of cake or sweetened bread. Just ask MyKugelhopf, she'll tell you!

A real castle on a hill! We saw quite a few castles on hills.

The view from our room. It might be hard to tell since it's not quite spring there yet, but the hills were covered in grape vines.

The sky looked pretty.

Lois and Andrew had a great time. Here they are on our patio checking out the great view. See you next time Alsace!

Tongue in Cheek in France

Andrew and I have been talking about possibly going to France in the spring, so lately my head is in France. We'd also like a new sofa, though. Hmm, a new sofa that will last for years, or a trip to France for a week? We'll see. In any case, I love looking at pictures on French blogs lately. I've been to France once and it was everything I expected and more, and I can't wait to go back with Andrew. One of my favorite French blogs is Corey Amaro's Tongue in Cheek. She is an American living in France and writes her blog in English, so hers is one of the few French blogs I've come across that I can actually read. I love reading her posts about her flea market finds and how she uses them, her experience learning the language and people's response to the way she speaks it, and just her experiences in France in general. And as you can probably guess from the title of her blog, she has a great sense of humor. The pictures on her blog, as you can see here, are beautiful. Here are a few of her personal pictures from her house and from her neighborhood that she said I could post, including the top one--that's one of her Friend's views from the apartment. I'd take that view any day!



Photos all by Corey Amaro