azay-le-rideau

michael and i had a great weekend with my host family in tours. save for an excursion to the nearby château azay-le-rideau and a basket-maker (how my grandmother would have enjoyed this!) on saturday, our time was spent primarily overcoming language barriers (my host brother now declares himself bilangue), exposing michael to the delight of my host mother's cooking, and experiencing the relatively tame tours nightlife.

the entrance to azay-le-rideau.

pretty blue trim.

group shot by the moat. not sure what the peace signs are about but clearly i missed the memo! from right to left: carl, maika, annie, sarah, allison, valerie, moi, stephanie, and michael.

the basketmaker — the business has been in his family for seven generations!

entertaining the group with my basket-woven headpiece. sarah is loving it!

happily accepting the bracelet that michael made me. i think we've stumbled upon a promising career path for him!

we also made some serious headway in our preparations for our future vacances: upcoming weekend trips to amsterdam and switzerland (for which my brother, grayson, will be joining us!) as well as the first two weeks of april, which we'll be spending in italy and greece!