Our Holiday in France: Grasse

We were pleasantly surprised by how much we loved the town of Grasse. We went there because I wanted to buy perfume and the town is considered to the world capitol of perfume (according to Wikipedia, so obviously it's true). We didn't read too much about the town before we visited and I guess we expected it to be more industrial or something.

In reality, the town center is actually pretty darn beautiful. It also has a very medieval feel to it, particulary the church. The town was full of families out having a good time after Christmas and everything just felt really happy and carefree. The views from the town were also particularly beautiful.

I went to France and all I ate were churros.

  

I have an confession: on our trip to France, I (Kate) consumed an embrassing number of churros. Ever since they were the Friday dessert in elementary school lunches, I have loved churros. Up until a few weeks ago, I hadn't eaten a churro in a very long time. So, imagine my surprise when we got to France and all of the small-town Christmas markets had them.

Is fair/market food generally pretty darn unhealthy? Yes. Is it a little much to order them three days in a row? Sure. Did my gluten allergy act up a bit after my binge? Yup. But, if eating hot, delicious, sugary churros is wrong, I don't want to be right.

P.S. I put the "crazy eyes" pictre on the blog so you can know just how serious my love for churros is.

Our Holiday in France: Vidauban

On a whim, we decided to spend the week of Christmas in Provence, France. It was a relaxing and refreshing week, to say the least. We visited a few towns that we loved (and a few we thought for just ok), but all in all it was a great trip! Provence is a very charming part of the world.

We stayed in a cute little cottage in the town of Vidauban. Vidauban wasn't in any of the guidebooks we read, but it's an authentic little French town that is worth stopping off in if you're driving by. Plenty of restaurants, bakeries and little shops to keep you busy!

One of the really funny things about Vidauban/France that really struck us is how normal it is to see a personal walking down the street at lunchtime with 3, 4 or even 5 baguette under their arm. We were trying to think of what the Italian equivalent right be, but couldn't come up with one. Any ideas?

We'll be sharing more photos from our trip in the next few days!

Family photos in the countryside

On one of our first days in the Chianti region we set up our tripod and took a few quick "family portraits." It was all done on a whim, so imagine my surprise when I saw how cute they turned out! I love how the lighting makes everything a little hazy in the background.

Driving Around Southern Tuscany

With our anniversary dinner actually planned for two days later, we found ourselves trying to figure out how to spend our third anniversary day. I can't remember which one of us ended up suggesting it, but considering we had a rental car and quiet country roads, it only made sense to pack up some snacks, throw Winston in the back seat and head out for a little drive around Tuscany.

One thing we didn't do? Make a plan. Nope, no plan. We just decided to drive down roads that looked fun, follow signs to towns that sounded neat and just generally enjoy a carefree day. Let me tell you something, country roads in Tuscany in August? Empty. It was like the owned the place and it was awesome. Winston loved it, too, as you can see above.

I was caught by surprise by two things. First, the number of sunflowers that we saw! Now granted, we were about two weeks late and most of the fields were dried up, but I had read that it can be hard to find sunflower fields sometimes. We, however, saw them everywhere, particularly on the country roads between Montepulciano and Cortona. Second, I was truly amazed by how quickly the terrain changed. In Chianti, the hills are a lush green color and it's all very rich and fertile. Just an hour or two south and the colors are golden and crisp. I think we underestimated how diverse Tuscany is.

All in all, we spent about 5 hours in the car and had a total blast. It is an anniversary I'm sure we'll never forget.