Care for a little culture?

Our holiday in France would prove to be the beginning of a cultural whirl.  We arrived in Paris and unsuspectingly thought we would have to go through some kind of customs check before we could head out of the airport.  Wrong.

Like most of our time away we were surprised at how easily one moves from country to country.  In Barcelona we were directed out of a door only to find ourselves on the street awaiting a bus!  No check of our luggage nor any need to declare stuff.  Paris was the same, and no sooner had we walked off the plane than we should walk straight onto the Paris Metro.  My nerves about how to get ourselves around Paris were soon dashed as I mastered the train system with compliments of the Paris Metro app on my ipad.

Inner courtyard view from 5 storeys up!

We managed to get ourselves all the way to Gare du Nord station, just around the corner from our accommodation in Montmatre.  We walked our suitcase, backpacks, pram and children up 5 storeys to our apartment in a very ancient looking building just off a courtyard.  Whilst the apartment was small it was cozy and the kids adored that they got the double bed in the bedroom while mum and dad had to settle for the pull-out sofa bed.

At a pub in Montmartre

Our first night was spent heading out to look around the local streets.  We ended up eating out in a little pub around the corner from our apartment - our first taste of the local food and beer.  The supermarket, also within walking distance of the apartment was awesome - and the next 2 nights and 3 days of food was taken care of.

The Louvre

We discovered Poisonnaire station just 50m from our apartment, so that became the central point for all of our travels.  The next morning was a real highlight.  We travelled to the Louvre, stopped, had a look, took photos and then moved on to find where our tour bus was to leave from.  The tour was awesome.  The first part was spent on the bus driving around the key places in Paris.  Great views from the bus and an excellent way for those with small children to get around Paris with limited time and happy children!  We stopped off at the Montparnasse Tower (the Eiffel being unavailable to us on that day due to broken elevators) and spent some time taking photos of the romantic city.  Of course we missed the bus...the rest of the tour party left without us!

A juxaposition of emotion!

A quick taxi ride later we were at the Eiffel Tower.  Impressive.  Lily was happy...her dream had come true. Although impressed with the tower, she seemed far more impressed with the pigeons that played underneath and the people all around her who were posing in interesting ways for photos.  She and Ben decided to join in for fun.

                  The evidence of course is here.

Not sure if it was worth it!

McDonalds was the treat of the day (of course) and after quite some walking and eating we headed for our boat ride on the River Siene.  This was the highlight of the day!  Just awesome and informative.  The kids had an absolute ball.  Tuckered out though, we headed home, stopping on the way to play at the local park with other children.

Jason decided that night to go back to see the tower so he could take night shots.  Good plan.  But as all good plans go there had to be a hiccup.  I awoke at 2am to notice he was not home.  I tried to call him but he had no cell phone...he'd left it at home.  I tried to email...but he had no service with the ipod.  So I waited.  And waited.  And waited.

Gardens at Versailles

At 4am I began to worry.  I looked up the telephone book for hospitals and police stations.  At 5am I called these to see if anyone had found him, fearing the worst.  They of course all hung up on me because I did not speak French.  I walked down to the front door to see if he was trapped outside having forgotten the door codes.  No Jason.  By 6am I was distraught.  I phoned the man who owned the apartment just as Jason walked through the door.   You cannot imagine my anger.  You cannot imagine how tired he was.  He had missed the last train and instead of paying for a taxi to get home (tight bastard) he had walked around the tower all night and surrounding streets.  He now knows Paris quite well.

On the steps of Versailles

 Without any argument he had a shower and we were off for the day
 to Versailles.  How impressive!  the kids were absolutely fantastic as we walked for a couple of hours around the place, and even though they were occasionally jostled by other over-enthusiastic tourists, they held their patience.  We walked around the gardens and then called it a day.  Three trains later we were at the graveyard of those famous names including Jim Morrison and Oscar Wilde.  Cool!  Jason's day was topped off.

A very tired crew fell asleep on a lovely Parisian night, including an exhausted and apologetic Jason, and the curtain of day closed on my watching of the Olympic Games; all in French, of course.

Labour of Love Gites

The next day it was back on the road...or the train to head out to Guemene Penfao in the Loire Valley.  The train ride was easy and the rental car drive out to this little village was delightful.  The biggest delight was leaving the Nantes rail station in rain.  We hadn't seen rain in almost a year.  Having to use the window wipers was such a treat for us all.  We arrived but the rain stopped and before us was the sweetest gite (Labour of Love gites) to ever behold.  Lily and Ben were straight out the door to run around on the grass and play in the garden.  Bikes, toys, petanque course, playhouse...the kids were in raptures.

What a cute place to stay!

Our stay in the Loire Valley was much like Spain.  Totally relaxed and peaceful.  A nice contrast to the pace of Paris.  Driving through the countryside you could be forgiven for thinking you were driving through rural NZ; with the exception of the stone buildings.  Highlights included the little town of Guemene Penfao (5 mins from the gite) which provided us with beautifully fresh croissants, pastries and french bread every day.  A horse and cart, a beautiful church and a picturesque bridge just added to the flavour of this rural retreat.

On the bridge in Guemene Penfao

Les Machines in Nantes was another highlight.  The gigantic mechanical elephant proved a double-edged sword for Ben.  He was both delighted and frightened shitless by it!  When it sprayed him with water he couldn't get away fast enough.  But when riding upon it he was fearless and brave.  We met lovely people waiting in the lines to get into the museum where all the mechanical pieces are kept. This place held a specific fascination for Jason who watched intently as the engineers built in the workshops  below.

At Les Machines in Nantes

Chateaubriant was another amazing place to visit.  We visited a couple of chateau during our time, but this was the most beautiful.  This part of France is littered with amazing chateau, and we feel privileged to have been to this one.  The dungeon proved another helpful tool in toddler training - the possibility of a dragon in the depths of the dungeon kept the behaviour in check.  I'm sure we've damaged them!

At Chateaubriant

Le Croisic was a fascinating place to visit.  It is a gorgeous fishing town that is picture postcard.  It was neat to see the salt farms, visit the ocearium and walk among the little shops dotted along the port.  On the way back a quick dip into the ocean (freezing!) rounded off another splendid day in the French sun.

The final night in our gite we talked about how lucky our kids were to be having such an experience.  They were soaking everything up and at the same time just doing what normal kids do...having fun.  We had discovered that at this stage of the game travelling with the kids was actually better than what we had expected.  In fact, what we had done/experienced during this trip would not have been the same if they hadn't been with us.  We were fortunate that they were along for the ride with us, so that we could do things we may never have even considered doing.

So vastly different to Spain and yet just as impressive and fascinating.  We loved France; we loved Paris and Loire

Le Croisic - Ocearium

Valley for totally different reasons, but both were unforgettable.  We wondered how lucky we were to be travelling these wonderful places.  We had experienced an eclectic mix of tourist must-sees and the most beautiful places largely untouched by tourism.

  What a privilege!