Les Coqueliroses, Azay-sur-Cher, France, Day #1

Yes, it was that time of the year, when the time has stopped and we were in holiday for a week, just the two of us... 

France is always a reliable destination, the most romantic country ever, and I'm not talking here only about Paris!

Our destination was this time the Loire Valley, with all the chateaux and jardins, and beautiful villages...

Bogdan found an amazing accommodation, Les Coqueliroses, a beautiful farm house near Tours, with tasteful decorated rooms and a much better price than a hotel. 

The owners, a lovely French couple, created a welcoming atmosphere with all the necessary comfort. In the backyard there is even a swimming pool!  

We arrived on Saturday, earlier than the suggested time, but Eliane was so nice, even we disturbed her siesta, and invited us to take a nap in our room. Which was received with enthusiasm, 'cause we were awake from 5'o clock in the morning, traveled by plane and by car, and really tired.

In the evening, we wandered in the neighborhood, we visited the old village, took a walk in the waterfront of the nearby river, the Cher, and by the fields.

 

We just enjoyed the silence, the beauty, the presence of each other.

 

 

We took the dinner in Cormery, a nearby village, in a restaurant named Auberge du Mail, which I highly recommand!  

 

The food was truly delicious, starting with the bread and butter and finishing with the cheese and dessert, all of it watered with a soft and lavander flavoured rosé wine of Bandol, perfect for a first dinner in France.

Mara's Room Renovation Project #1

Yesterday, together with Runa, I started the renovation project for Mara's room, she'll be in school in September, so she needs a better place for her to live and to study. It was fun and Runa was such a big help! 

We started by covering the wallpaper on the back wall with a more graphic and clean one, in Mara's favorite color, mauve.

Good bye, Disney Princesses! 

Hello, Big Girl!

Happy Birthday for my Sweetheart!

There are things in life you can choose and other you cannot. 

We come in this world and for us is the very beginning of the world there without knowing with whom we are going to share our lives in the very first place. 

Later is a matter of choice with who we want to travel and to share our memories and our love. 

I am so happy I am the one you chose to be by your side in this journey. 

If there is an end to this world there is nobody else I would like to share it with.

I couldn't adore and love you more than I already do. 

I am so grateful for you being in my life, for raising our kids together, for all the beautiful things that happen when we are side by side.

Happy Birthday, Bogdan!

via http://icanread.tumblr.com

Happy Weekend Behind {part two}

Is Wednesday already and I'm wondering where all those days are going. It seems so long ago since our weekend in the mountains, the heat is almost unbearable, the things are moving slowly.

So, I'm back with our adventurous weekend pictures, when we wanted to mount on Babele peak. First we went to the cable, but it wasn't even open and the line was already huge. So we rented a car on the spot and we went off-road from Sinaia to Babele. It was a difficult road for me, with my painful back, but the kids were absolutely astonished and delighted. 

We took some steps up from the Bucegi Plateau, where wind and rain have turned the rocks into spectacular figures such as the Sphinx (2216 m) and Babele (2206 m).

After a while we went down by cable and rushed to get home to celebrate. What? Oh, Bogdan's birthday. 

Well, it wasn't his birthday at all, but Mara wanted to celebrate earlier, because she knew she'll be in the camp starting today, so she's gonna miss the real birthday party.

Guess who turned out the candles? Of course, Radu. And Mara. And Runa. 

But... we all ate the cake!  

Mara left today for her first camp and I'm kind of sad and worried, but she seems so happy... She called me and Bogdan today many more times than I remember and told us how fine she is. 

So, I guess I'll be ok, isn't it? (big and deep sigh)

Happy Weekend Behind {part one}

Last Friday, when we heard at news that the temperatures will rise at almost 40 degrees in weekend, we suddenly decided to go to the mountains. Saturday morning, not very early, we left our burning city and we tried for the first time the new highway to Ploiesti, the A3. It's opened few days ago and I loved it, is shortening the time to reach Valea Prahovei. But in Sinaia the traffic was awful, so we decided to go to Peleș Castle, the former residence of the Royal Family and one of Queen Marie favorites.

Thanks to Ana, who highly recommended it, we went to Piatra Șoimului Hotel, a very children-friendly place in Sinaia, with their own restaurant, Kuib, where we felt really very welcomed. From our room balcony we could watch the children playing outside in the grass playground, from the restaurant terrace we saw them playing in the sand playground. In the evening, Radu had to be washed from head to toes, because he literally swam in the sand. 

In the restaurant, a nice surprise, we had our table already reserved and arranged (I was kind of anxious about it, knowing they scheduled a nice show in the evening - Love and Fire, with Eugen Istodor and Gigi Melody!).

The food was perfect, the show was nice, we went to bed only to get ready for a new adventure on Sunday morning!