I see London, I see France...okay, just France

So, I'm back from France - and it was fabulous! Such a nice break from the daily grind. It really felt like we were a million miles away. Just to give you a sense why, I thought I'd show you a few pictures of the places that we visited in the Loire Valley.

We stayed in a small Chateau - named Chateau De Vau. Here's what the Chateau itself looked like from the front:

Isn't it beautiful? Can you believe we stayed there? It's a little B & B that was very special. Now, here's the view from our window:

I don't know if you can tell...but those are sheep!!! Yes, we could actually see sheep from our window. We would wake up each morning to the baaing of these sheep. I kept trying to make friends with them...but unfortunately, they weren't the most friendly of sheep.

So, for our trip - the Loire valley is known for having all of these amazing chateaus (castles). The most famous of which is Chateau de Chenonceau:

It is very beautiful - but because it's the most famous of all of the chateaus, it was overrun with tourists. It was very crowded. Plus, we made the mistake of going on a Saturday so that didn't help things. So, we didn't enjoy it as much as we had expected because of all of the crowds.

Our favorite chateau, by far, was the Chateau de Villandry. The castle itself was quite lovely from the outside as well as the inside:

But, it was the gardens that were truly spectacular. Here's an image of part of the gardens that's particular gorgeous:

As I mentioned, this is only PART of the gardens - there are other parts that are equally beautiful, but I can only post so much!

Anyway, this is just a small taste of our experience in France. We went to so many chateaus - and saw so many little towns. We also ate the most amazing food - very rich and delicious food. It was really all very special and magical - and now it's so difficult to be back to reality!

Quickly, in knitting news, I'm almost half way done with the baby blanket. I still HATE the lion's brand homespun yarn - it keeps squeaking and bunching..yikes! But, I know that when it's done it will really make a lovely soft blanket..so I'm putting up with it. Also, I've been working on my hubby's pair of socks - it's on size 2 needles - so it's taking a little while - but I'm still enjoying it.

So, I still have off from school until next Tuesday. It'll be hard going back - but I'm trying very hard to get a lot done in the next few days - lectures, writing, recommendations, etc. etc.