Le gîte

Either I was too sick to think, or I was too occupied with Tasha, but I didn't take any photos of the outside of our vacation rental, called un gîte rural in French. I did remember to snap a few inside. This is the fourth time we've stayed in a gîte since moving to France. We started staying in rental properties, both country houses and apartments in Paris, on our annual trips to France back in 1993!

The living and dining area. The front door is on the right, between the brick wall and the mirror.

This is the living/dining area. There's a small sofa behind the louvered screen on the left that folds out into a bed, but we didn't need that. The regular sleeping area is behind where I'm standing. They had a nice flat-screen television, but it was small and it was hard to see anything. Still, we weren't there to watch a lot of TV, just the news and weather. The place had wifi, too, so we got to do our blogs, read internet news sites, and check the weather on line. Ken even watched television news via the internet on his tablet in the kitchen.

The eat-in kitchen was well-equipped. The little fridge is just under the oven. Behind where I'm standing (see my reflection above the sink?) is a big glass door that opens onto a private patio.

And, speaking of the kitchen, here it is. It was equipped with nearly everything you'd need for cooking and eating. The little wall oven worked well, as did the two-burner electric stove, but we didn't use the dishwasher at all. We washed dishes the old-fashioned way. Good thing we brought our own dish soap.

When Europeans rent gîtes, it's understood that they will bring with them their own bath and kitchen towels and bed linens. The owner can provide them, but at an extra cost. When we traveled from the States, we couldn't bring our own linens, so we had to pay for them. But now we can just load sheets and towels into the car with ease.

The place was very comfortable, over all. The bathroom (which I didn't photograph) was modern and clean, but the shower was a little cramped and the water pressure was weak. We ate all our meals here (mostly food we brought from home), except when we took picnic lunches out on the road. I like renting gîtes. It's a little like camping, but much more comfortable, and better than a hotel room.