France
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Pont-Audemer (Eure, Normandy): the little Norman Venice
After Le Bec Hellouin and the poppy fields, we continue our little tour in Normandy stopping in Pont-Audemer for lunch. In thisn’t so small village, water is omnipresent, so it is called “the little Norman Venice”. Part 1: Travel Diary Part 2: Practical Tips Part 1: Travel Diary We have to admit that we have never been to Venice, so it is impossible for us to confirm if it really looks like it 🙂 The city center is small but very dense, with a lot of traffic. In the surroundings there is even an area with shopping malls. Pont-Audemar is on the list of the “most beautiful detours in France”,…
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Poppy fields in Normandy (France) – Travel diary
It’s poppy season! While driving around Rouen, JB and I came across this absolutely incredible field of poppies, like in a dream. I wanted to bring back 2 poppies to use as templates for my paper flowers, but we were having trouble finding a place to stop and pick them. And then we saw this field, absolutely beautiful, on the road between two small villages. I think it is a field left fallow, invaded by wild plants and flowers, to the great delight of the bees. This is the first time I have seen such a beautiful field in real life. And then, a little further on, at the edge…
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Le Bec-Hellouin (Eure, Normandy): A Village full of charm
We take advantage of our 2.5 months in Rouen to rent a car from time to time and radiate around Rouen.Our 1st destination: Le Bec-Hellouin, one of the most beautiful villages in France, 44 minutes by car from Rouen. Part 1: Travel Diary Part 2: Practical Tips Part 1: Travel Diary Météo France announces rain everywhere in France but we passed between the drops. If it rained during the first 15 minutes of the trip, we even had a few clearings during our visit. The path leading to the village is already super beautiful, we go along a small beautiful stream, before parking just behind the church. These beautiful half-timbered…
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Where to go in France this summer? A Google Maps map with more than 800 places of interest
While preparing my road trip itinerary for August, I integrated in Google Maps all the places of interest found here and there and came up with a huge list of 800 places of interest all over France, including : The UNESCO World Heritage List The Most Beautiful Villages of France 2018 The must-see according to Lonely Planet 2019 Les Villes/Villages Fleuris (4 flowers) 2019 The most beautiful castles of France (according to my personal ranking) It would have been a shame not to share them with you, especially since I spent a lot of time on them. The link to the custom Google Maps is available here (link) Once you’ve…
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Test & Review of Seazon: delivery of ultra-fresh dishes (+20€ promo code)
If you are looking for a coupon code for Seazon, you can click on this link or use the promo code DIEUANH3SVM to get a 20 € reduction on your first order. For those who follow us, you must have understood that we like to eat a lot but cook much less. Since we travel abroad most of the year, eating outdoors is an experience we love and is the best way to discover the local gastronomy and culture. Confined for two months in the Paris region, we had to cook for ourselves. There were a lot of delivery possibilities (which we succumbed to a few times) but it was…
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Loire Valley Castles (France): Chambord, Chenonceau, Blois & Villandry – Travel Diary
Having a lot of free time at the moment, I’m looking back at my old travels, through editing videos for the blog as well as storing the hard drive. There are three trips that I want to “dig up” because it brings back very good memories with my friends. Including this one to the Loire Valley castles. It was in 2013, I had too many vacations, JB didn’t. I proposed to my best friend to go and visit the Loire castles to use our RTT days. It was thus in the cold that we left for 3,5 days of road trip. He had to take care of the transportation and…
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Testing of station luggage lockers in Paris (France)
Arriving in Paris from Tours to attend a birthday party before going to Saint Raphael (finally cancelled because of the coronavirus), I decide to leave my suitcase in a locker, it’s the first time I use this service in a Parisian train station. The SNCF offers a luggage deposit service in 16 stations in France. Among them: all Parisian stations (Austerlitz, Gare de l’Est, Montparnasse, Gare du Nord, Gare de Lyon). I went to the Gare de Lyon’s locker room but the principle and the rates are the same in all SNCF locker rooms in France. Baggage drop-off times SNCF lockers are open 7 days a week. Schedules vary according…
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Opinion on a cryotherapy session at Centre One in Tours (France)
While looking for a place to do a sauna session, I discovered by chance the wellness center Centre One which offers cryotherapy sessions at an affordable rate. The opportunity or never to test the experience of the great cold at a temperature of around -100°C! What is cryotherapy? Cryotherapy or “cold therapy” consists of applying intense cold to a pathological area or even the entire body. Cryotherapy offers many health benefits and isn’tably used to promote physical recovery (high-level athletes have been using it for several years), to soothe pain, to promote blood circulation, to improve skin quality and even to eliminate fat. My session at Centre One After making…
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Discovery and opinion on the Russian sauna Bania Babushka in Tours (France)
While passing through Tours, I am looking for a place to do a sauna / hammam session. I discovered by chance Bania Babushka which proposes Russian sauna sessions: the famous bania. I already had the opportunity to discover the bania in Belarus but it was without the treatments, so I seize the opportunity to perfect my learning. Bania Babushka offers several formulas that can be booked directly online. I chose the discovery package which costs 69 € for a 90-minute session. If the website has a design that reminds me of 20 years ago, it works well. You receive a confirmation by e-mail and even SMS reminders The first good…
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Opinion on Ma Gestion Locative agency: renting your property from abroad
As we told you in this article, we took advantage of having a file that was still presentable at a bank to get into debt and make a rental investment just before leaving on a trip around the world. It was a project under the Malraux Law (rehabilitation of old buildings) which required heavy work. It is only 18 months after the signature that we recovered the keys. In the meantime, we had decided to continue to travel for an indefinite period of time, so it was essential to entrust the management of our apartment to a rental management agency. We were in a hurry for several reasons: We had…
