White weekend

Checking out the apple orchids that are almost ready to be harvested. Had a taste and man were they good! My outfit for the Baptism White dress from Naf Naf a french clothing store. Check out the site! http://www.nafnaf.com/fr/


~~~~~~~~~~~~


So this weekend we had a couple of events scheduled, the first one was a civil baptism and the second was a 20th Birthday party. Here are some pictures of What I wore... Pretty much white the whole day. Luckily I didn't get myself dirty.

The civil baptism a very odd concept for me. It is a way of officially and legally naming the god parents. Except to my knowledge it was meant to be a religious affaire... well the times have changed. The new thing to do in France for those who don't have a religion or believe in God is to do baptise their children through the city Hall. They have the benefits of offically naming the 'marraine' --> God mother and the 'parraine' --> God father, with out the religous attachment. This may sound appealing to some while there are those who prefer the more traditional route. In any case its a good excuse to have a huge lunch and party!

Saw this beautiful creature on a tree.

Ladybug love.

On our way to the baptism we passed by Pont St. Esprit a cute calm village in the Gare department in France. I had to stop for a quick picture of the bridge which connects the banks of the Rhone river.






~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Later on that evening we headed out to a White Party! It was M's best friend's cousin's 20th birthday and she celebrated it BIG! Turning 20 in France is a big deal kind of like our 21st birthday in the US except its a bit more logical. We celebrate it big for our 21st because it's the age when you can drink alchohol legally and go to the night clubs among other things... but let's face it mostly because of alcohol. In France you celebrate your 20th. It has nothing to do with alcohol since at 18 you can legally drink. Honestly even at a younger age, but let's stay politically correct here. In France they do it big for every decade i.e 20yrs old, 30yrs old, 40yrs old etc. This marks points in your life where you're meant to be in a different stage. Maturity, stability..etc. I find that a bit more consistent than being old enough to drink, but that's just my personal opnion.

I find it so interesting to see and compare the cultural differences between the American, Dominican, and French way.
I find it makes me more open-minded.

The 'lavoir' or village wash house. This is pretty much a staple in all small french villages. This was the place where women would go to do laundry and socialize, yes a place many will only read about in the history books. Dress from H&M. Venejan, France

Many years ago these fountaines actually had drinking water disposible for the villagers to take at their disposal. These days you can find some with clean drinking water, but most of all it's used as decoration and a reminder of the past.

Village 'Moulin' or windmill at the top of the hill. Venejan, France

Love the simple romantic lanterns surrounding the swimming pool.

Apero time!

Playing around at the photo booth with the guys.

Well hello there!

The cake!

The biggest bottle of vodka I've ever seen in my life!

Silly me :)


Until next time mes amies!

R

Weekend Escapades! Au Bord de la mer.

Hanging out, getting ready for our picnic. Funny story about our bamboo fort; On our way to the beach M realized that of course there is nowhere we can take cover once the sun starts beating down so we wanted to stop and buy a PARASOL or beach umbrella, only that it was a sunday afternoon in France... EVERYTHING is closed. So we decided to take matters into our own hands and M (or McGyver as I call him sometimes) went out and picked up some bamboo. With the bamboo, his fishing gear (rods & fishing line), and a random blanket we got to work and built this beauty that kept us cover for quite a while. We were very proud of our creativeness, who needs an umbrella when you have nature?! Later on it got windy so M made a wind-shield, i didn't get a pic but it was kick-ass as well.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~




Bonjour!

This weekend we spent a lot of time hanging out by the sea it was quite nice and relaxing. In the south of France we aren't only lucky to have gorgeous weather most of the year, but also to be surrounded by the mediterranean sea which can be a treat during the hot summer months.On saturday afternoon we decided to head out and visit Carry le Rouet with M's sister, but instead we took a detour and went to the tiniest beach ever in ensués. Boy was it tiny... There were maybe 50 of us squished up like sardines but well worth it. The water was crisp and clean not extremely over populated as you can find in Cassis and Marseille. It was a really nice day.

We wanted to keep the beach momentum going so M planned to take me to a beach he used to go to often years ago. This beach was a bit different. First of all it was a bit far from where we live about an hour and a half, yet it took us 3 hours to get there... let's just say someone had a hard time with the GPS and the directions in their head. This beach is well know for being a bit secluded, a nice place to camp in and have bbqs, you can literally drive your car up to the beach and chill out the whole day; night, week, month or entire summer. There are Kilometers and Kilometers of sandy beach for everyone so you're not battling it out for a spot to place your towel. The beach is very very shallowand warm so it's quite great for families with young kids. Most of all this beach is known for its kite surfers and kite runners because it's very windy. But who minds a bit of wind on a hot summer day?

Not to mention, this place is not accessable by GPS and the road.. well let's just say you're not bringing you're brand new BMW over there beacuse it might just not make it.

I really enjoyed this place, its unlike any other beach experience that I've had. And as you know I like things that are out of the ordinary. Welcome to Beauduc.

Having fun in the water as the sun was setting. The best lighting of the day.

Some of the landscape as we road through the bumpy dirt roads to get to our final destination.

I absolutely loved this! These are poles that lined up the dirt road and the passerbys stack the rocks as they often do in buddhist traditions. I love this because it reminds me of my life in Korea and my travels all over Asia. It brings me back in time.

There's life in everything you see.

As the sun begins to set slowly.

To infinity.

Typical 'Taurea Camargues' or a heard of Bulls from the Camargue region in France.

This is on our way home. As we were leaving Camargue we saw the beautiful hues in the sky which reminded me to take the time and appreciate life's beauty which is in its simplicity. In nature.

As the sun sets the birds fly home and the flamencos relish in their habitat. La camargue. France.





Thats all for today! Bisous to all. I hope you enjoyed this weekend re-cap.

Photo Diary: Genoa

We walked into this beautiful courtyard and were immediately attracted to the man-made lilly pond and its koi fish

Hey Hey, so I'm back with a quick photo diary of our day trip into Genoa, Italy. It was the day with the worst weather out of our entire stay in Italy so we decided to check out this city. Genoa wasn-t part of the original itinerary but sometimes a little change doesn't hurt. We took the early train from Levanto to Genoa which took about an hour and 15min, once we got there it started pouring and we had to take cover for about 20 min so we stopped at a bar and had a nice tall glass of Prosecco, a nice bubble Italian white wine. It was so good I should have brought some back with us! Once the rain stopped we went about the city and explored our little hearts out. And this is what we found....

I wonder what they used to make this pond orange... It was quite out if the ordinary which i thoroughly enjoyed!

Can't remember the amount of times we've asked strangers to take pictures of us, it's only fair that M return the favor.

Church

A portion of the old fortress

site seeing

site seeing

The streets of Genoa

The buildings of Genoa

As we walked in the center we came across this Antique shop and I was mesmerized by the display of their merchandise felt like a few centuries of garden decor thrown together yet oddly enough it made sense, as if it belonged together effortlessly.

The intricate detail of this sealing tells a story.

let's take a look inside!

The City view!


and Voila! Here is a bit of Genoa! Until next time :)

Photo Diary: Cinque Terre

Riomaggiore was the first of the five villages that we decided to visit, we took the train from Le Levanto where we were staying to this picturesque village. The building colors harmonize beautifully, you can hear the seagulls squawking and the Mediterranean sea crashing into the port. It was really breath taking. this village was a bit crowded with tourists, seams like everyone had the same itinerary in mind as we did.

There are old colorful fishing boats aligning the petite harbor which adds a bit more of a typical fishing village aura to this incredibly touristy town. It's a burst of color, which I happen to love, that just happens to work.

We decided to hope on a boat and head east. This is the view from our ferry to Portovenere. It's like a painting.

As we came around in the ferry we laid eyes on this beautiful rock-like structure, It's name is St. Peter's Church, with the gray and white stripes very typical to the region you can't help but want to photograph it from every corner

Getting in closer we start to see more of the village and the homes aligned straightly, making it a bit different from the villages of Cinque Terre most of which are built on a mountain.

This picture was taken coming in on the boat from Portovenere.

Monorola seems to be the most densely compact with the trademark buildings more so in the orange and yellow tones. It was getting a bit late and we were getting hungry, we decided to hold off and take the train( there is no port in Corniglia) to Corniglia since we heard it be one of the smaller more calm villages of all.

When we arrived in Corniglia we realized that there was a long way to the top. There were two paths proposed, we decided to take the most challenging way, and oh boy was it challenging! We climbed 33 flights with about 382 steps... I was sweaty and whiny all the way up at this point it seemed like my stomach was eating its self I was so hungry. We stopped at the closest restaurant we could find. Man was I glad to sit down drink a nice glass of wine and get some delicious Italian food in me! Once at the top we stumbled upon this cute little garden with the most spectacular view of the sea and chickens running around.

Waiting for my dish to arrive I enjoy a glass of wine and a stunning view of the mediterranean sea!

M ordered this mouth watering seafood pasta dish. He kept mentioning how good it was and how he though he made the best choice... I didn't mind I was very happy with my choice...

My choice this baked potatoes and anchovies dish with pomodoro sauce, it was excellent! M was drawn back by the anchovies, he's not a big fan and what do I mean by not a big fan... he's repulsed by the idea of eating anchovies, must have been a bad experience in his youth. I enjoyed every bit, and hesitantly offered M a bit, surprisingly even with his strong hate for anchovies he accepted my proposition and really liked it! I don't know how they did it but the fishy salty taste was not as strong as your typical canned anchovies. After getting stuffed we wanted to burn off some more calories as if we hadn't done that with the 382 stairs already; so we headed out to explore this little town.

walking around I fell in love with this village. It was one of the coziest towns in Cinque Terre. There were plenty of with typical products and colorful ceramics. One of the things That I enjoyed about this shop was how they used drift wood to decorate. It had me thinking, I could totally do something like this, you know a DIY when I get home! That's still in the works...

Flowers in the streets of Corniglia, that we eventually bought for our little garden in the balcony.

More shops with colorful souvenirs.

I have no idea what these are called but they were all over the place! I believe they are used to deliver supplies, food, necessities etc. into the village since there are no cars allowed. The streets were really long and narrow. This thing was surely a necessity in their daily life.

As we continued to walk around Corniglia we fell upon this beautiful view. We seemed to be consumed by the beautiful colors and the tranquility of the sea. We took it all in and realized how lucky we were to be able to enjoy the beauty of the Italian Riviera.



Stay tuned... There are a couple more villages to see. Until next time!