First few days in France

I am blessed to have family all over the world, so visiting with them is a big priority for me.  My sister lives in the south of France
 and a visit was long overdue.  

After 12 hours of travel, the first priority was nourishment!

Homemade Zucchini  Quiche

Travelling through Toulouse, I came across the "Minotaure",an amazing piece of machinery, weighing 46 tons and 13 meters high, taking its passengers for a ride with the smoke coming out of it's nose ....what a beast.

The main purpose of this trip was to travel by car, with my sister and her family, from the south, to the north of France, in particular, Normandy, to visit with my uncle.  Before heading north, provisions had to be purchased.

When you buy wine in France, it is not always at the store, but preferably directly from the vineyard. ..Both places we visited had spectacular houses and views.

The thought of a 12 hour car trip was not particularly appealing, so we decided to do it over 2 days and spent the first night in the Loire valley.  We rented a whole house not far from the town of Chinon.  It was in the middle of nowhere, but it was  a charming restored stone barn turned into a cozy home.  A menage of animals completed the ambiance; 1 mule, 2 dogs and 4 cats.

 

While in the area, we took advantage of visiting
 the medieval town of Chinon.

We stopped in Azay-Le-Rideau to relax...

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and visit the Chateau

Our evening sky was mesmerizing

 Welcome to Normandy tomorrow.