Relaxing with picnics, wine & cheese in the French countryside

Geez, it seems like so long ago that we were in France on vacation, relaxing without a care in the world.....and now I realize....it was so long ago! We left for vacation on June 28th and I am just now blogging about it and organizing the photos in Kodak Gallery. Yikes, when did I get so busy?

Anyway, about our trip! For my birthday (May 13), Kent gave me a trip....we also rolled in our anniversary (June 2) and his birthday (July 2) and a little celebration/break for Kent after the end of the last/third term of school and before he started his summer job. Through a contact at Kent's college here at Oxford, we were able to stay in a little cottage in the middle of Brittany. When I mean the middle of Brittany, I mean the middle of nowhere! It was so quiet and remote, near the tiny village St Goueno - population about 800. The village had a few small pub/restaurants, a grocery shop and a church...that's about it!

We decided to give the Eurostar a try instead of flying, and it was really a nice experience. Very comfortable and not stressful - no airport security, no need to be there hours ahead, no liquids restriction, no seatbelts. Although, we did have to take 3 trains and change stations via taxi in both London and Paris....it was still a pretty relaxed day of travel. We went Oxford - London - Paris - Rennes, France. From Rennes, we rented a car and took to the tiny roads. Good thing the map the owner of the house gave us was very detailed! Here's a pic of our little cottage, with our little car:

We spent a lot of time doing things like this.....

We enjoyed almost every meal outside in the gorgeous weather and flowers....enjoying really great wine and cheese, olives, a bit of fresh produce from the potager and wild strawberries from the yard, and of course fresh pâté for Kent.

A few runs and hikes around our village and some day driving trips were the extent of our sightseeing. We spent a lot of time reading and relaxing, and I even got Kent to do yoga one day. :) Here are a few pics of our exploration.....le Mont St Michel was amazing, although we went on a rainy day when the tide was out. We saw many of the small village churches and chateaux just driving around - really beautiful. Stopped in to a local town market on Kent's birthday to grill him up a nice big steak.

We took so many more pictures - I can't post them all here! Let me know if you don't receive the Ofoto album and I'll send it along!

Phew - a few more stories to go before I catch up! -K