We chose to visit France this year because friends of ours moved there almost two years ago and we thought it would be a great opportunity to spend time with them and have a personal tour guide (Eric’s French and Virginie’s Belgian).  We also had the pleasure of meeting the newest addition to their family, Solene, who turned one year old the day we arrived.  Camille was 10 months old when they left so it was like meeting her all over again too.  If you want to see how cute they are you should check out their blog.

Eric and Virginie live is a small village outside of Lyon, so we flew in to Paris and took the two-hour train ride to their home.  I love the ease of traveling by train in Europe.  Our first full day we went to see the third largest city in France, Lyon.   A view from the top…

This awesome fountain is by City Hall and the art museum. There was steam coming from the horse nostrils.  Oh, and that’s me and Jason.

We really enjoyed Lyon and our day there.  The next day was a hard one because I was sick pretty much the whole day.  It was my worst day there, but we still managed to visit Perouges, a village developed in the 14-15th centuries.  I loved the rocky streets and medieval charm…

On Monday we headed to Beajolais country and it was one of my favorite French excursions.  Here’s one reason why…

How beautiful is that?  The hillsides are dotted with vineyards and small villages.  We visited a few of the villages and I loved the quaint beauty.

Virginie and Eric were so very kind to let us stay with them, cook for us, and to show us around the region.  And the girls were so much fun!  Here’s a pic of Jason getting a little advance training…

I think he’s got it figured out 🙂  It was great to visit with friends and to ask all kinds of fun questions.  Did you know they still don’t use garbage disposals over there?  And did you know it is MANDATORY to vote in Belgium?  I could go on, but I’ll leave you with a cute picture of our friends.  Stop by tomorrow for the time we spent in Paris.

Thanks guys!  And Jif peanut butter is on the way 🙂