Jul 16

Jul 16 A Year in the Ardèche

My mother and I have decided to spend a year in the Ardèche, working on our beloved home Lou Tinaou and traveling around Europe. While listing the projects and construction that we would have to do in order to maintain our house, we concluded that one summer in France would not be enough! A year in the Ardèche would be the next chapter in our lives, revolving around the French lifestyle and language. With suitcases and our zoo of animals (two sweet dachshunds and two spoiled cats) in tow, we started our adventure. Together my mom and I have vowed to continue writing on this blog about the process of restoring our home, the adventures we have while traveling around Europe, and of course more delicious classic French recipes.

Our first week here we already had family friends come and visit the Ardèche! We shared some of are favorite unique areas close to home such as the Vallon Pont D'Arc, Viel Audon, Melvita and the best ice cream at Beatrix (previous posts are linked). We also went to see the Chauvet Pont-d'Arc cave. This cave has become very famous globally since its discovery 20 years ago. It holds some of the oldest to date paintings done by the first homo sapiens, and because of this the actual cave itself is off limits to the public. So this April a replica of the cave opened, and we were so surprised how life like the reconstruction was. The replica took around 15 years to complete, and the artists who copied the paintings used the same techniques as first homo sapiens did. This included carving with their nails and then later tools, drawing with charcoal and painting with blood. This cave was completely breathtaking and we highly recommend seeing it.

Me (Left) and my friend Brielle (right) with our huge ice cream sundaes at Beatrix. — Me (Left) and my friend Brielle (right) with our huge ice cream sundaes at Beatrix.

Our friends have since left to explore other places in France, and for us that means back to work! We unwillingly rolled out of bed at 7:00 am to begin our day. We began by weeding the plant beds in the courtyard and cleaning out our basement. We worked until the afternoon before it became unbearably hot and the thought of continuing to work was inconceivable. We retreated into our home for a refreshing lunch of crunchy salad and mouth watering sweet melon. Yum!

We are extremely excited to be maintaining this blog, and to share are year in the Ardèche with you! We hope you'll follow us on our journey throughout the next couple of months.