La Belle Provence

Senanque Abbey - typically known for the lavender fields, which weren't in bloom yet :(

Falling asleep with fromage in his mouth.

Reenactment of my favorite childhood Disney film, can you guess which one? >_<

Climbed up to see the remains of an ancient chateau at Les Baux-de-Provence.

Mike conquering his fear of heights, with bebe in tote...

Homemade meals to replenish our pockets.

These moments make it it all worthwhile.

What most of our meals looked like, and no he didn't end up eating the greens.

No camera can fully depict this breathtaking cliffside view of Gordes.

The secret's out.

The estate featured in the film A Good Year, starring Russell Crowe and Marion Cotillard is what inspired our trip (lack of a storyline, but consider it landscape eyecandy).

He was actually quite terrified!

The site where Van Gogh was hospitalized after he went mad and cut off his ear has been renovated to depict one of his paintings.

Little wine-o in the making

Wine tasting in la cave.

The new Bordeaux.

I love you "this much." : )

Red rock....are we still in France?

Taking a stroll through the Sunday markets.

French strawberries seem to be a different breed - heart shaped and beyond delicious!

Marius Fabre - one of the remaining traditional soap factories 

I never grow tired of seeing French blue shutters.

The French workout.

The charming little town of Lacoste (not the company).

Just when you may have thought I was finished with France, the pictures continue to pour in. It's difficult for me to narrow down close to four thousand photos, but that is what happens when we are traveling in the country I love with a camera in hand. I promise there is only one more post from our France trip and that shall conclude our trip! 

Looking back at our photos, I honestly don't know how we saw all the sites that we did with a 1 year old (will post more about that in the next post!). Reliving the moment through these photos brings back some of the "challenging" moments as well, which would have been just as interesting to document- but of course one never tends to think of doing so in times of stress...

The southern regions of Provence and all the quaint little villages were probably one of my favorite locations during our mini "Tour de France." Some of the most beautiful landscape views can be found here, and the best part is that it doesn't cost a penny to have a self-tour of each of these villages! Although not everyone spoke English, I found the people to be charming and kind, as are most people in smaller towns. The food also veered towards the traditional, but we decided to save our pennies by cooking most of our meals at the Airbnb  apartment we rented during our stay, which by the way, is the most economical way to travel comfortably with a kid. It also gave us a chance to live as the French do, shopping in the open air markets that featured fresh eggs, garlic, meats, produce and so much more. I find that the best thing to do when traveling is to immerse yourself into the culture to see life from a different perspective. And sometimes it's refreshing to get out of our own perspective in order to see the bigger picture.