Well, as of May 11 our isolated quarantine has finally been lifted here in France. Though we still have many travel restrictions imposed on us, we are finally able to leave our homes and travel short distances beyond our place of residence. We can go up to 100km away to be exact.

This weekend we jumped at the opportunity to get out of the house and headed to the village of Gerberoy, a quaint little village known for its roses, gardens and for being the home of the French painter Henri Le Sidaner.

With its cobble stone streets, historic half timber homes and flowers literally everywhere, Gerberoy is by far the prettiest town that we have visited in France. It was even prettier than Lyons la Foret which is said to be one of the top 10 prettiest villages in France.

We saw them both on this day and were far more impressed by Gerberoy.

There were quite a few people in the streets taking photos. I'm sure that we weren't the only ones clawing at the walls to get out of the house. This little dog sat in the window checking out the people and barking at the dogs passing by.

As mentioned, the town of Gerberoy was home to the painter Henri Le Sidaner who built a large garden in town that is normally open to visitors at this time of year. Not surprisingly, it was shut down for Covid. I guess that gives us an excuse to go back at another time.

I took quite a few pictures of my wife that day standing under the flowers. The town is basically an Instagrammers paradise.

A small cafe with outdoor seating. Unfortunately it was closed due to covid restrictions.

Blue doors and shutters with pink rose accents. In a town like this, curtains are a basic necessity.

There were literally flowers everywhere and it was hard to go more then a few feet without stopping to take pictures. There were quite a few tourists all doing the same thing. I couldn't help but thinking that it would actually be really annoying to live in such a town. They must have loved the quarantine "Finally some peace and quiet!"

Considering the amount of people there that day, it actually wasn't too hard to take photos without strangers in them. The streets are wide and everyone was there for the same reason so most people were very accommodating of each other.

Its hard to say what the town would be like at peak season though when the historic garden is open and there is no virus to keep the majority of people at home. Maybe people aren't so accommodating then?

Another shot of my wife with our dog in the roses.

This landscape shot of the rolling French countryside is one of my favorites. I don't think the that the residents could ever get tired of that view.

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