To us, nothing says a fairy-tale Europe like exploring historic stunning castles. We’ve visited several stunning castles in Europe and we’re always on the lookout for more. We’ve listed all of the castles, chateaux, palaces, fortresses, and citadels we’ve mentioned on Tapped Out Travellers.
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Paris is incredibly kid-friendly. Here are our top 10 tips for having an amazing family-friendly vacation in the City of Light.
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Such a beautiful, fast-paced city with so land landmarks, spread out across such a large area; it would be easy for kids to be overwhelmed with Paris. Kids’ Paris Travel Books are meant to prepare them for the concepts they will see in the City of Lights, and hopefully, give them a few tidbits of information to pass along to mom and dad during a tour.
Lonely Planet Kids: Pop-Up Paris
Paris will come alive with this beautiful and colorful pop-up book from Lonely Planet Kids. With a set of six stunning pop-ups and gorgeous illustrations, this book is the perfect introduction to the magic of Paris for any age. This stylish look at the city’s iconic landmarks will kickstart the travel bug in young explorers!
Paris: A Book of Shapes
Paris is a treasure trove of fascinating shapes: there are triangles at the Louvre Museum, rectangles at Notre-Dame Cathedral, arches at the Arc de Triomphe, and stars in a beautiful Parisian night sky. Explore shapes all over Paris in this gorgeous board book!
Stickyscapes Paris
Sticker, learn and play! Create your own real and imaginary Paris with over 100 stickers that will bring this panoramic play scene to life.
The Tiny Traveler: France: A Book of Colors
The Arc de Triomphe, the Moulin Rouge, the Eiffel Tower—there is so much to do and see in the colorful city of Paris. From graphic designer Misti Kenison comes an adventurous new board book for your toddler. The culture and monuments of France are rendered into bold, graphic illustrations accompanied by vocabulary to teach toddlers basic colors. Traveling to foreign places has never been so colorful, or educational, for young children before!
Henri’s Scissors
In a small weaving town in France, a young boy named Henri-Emile Matisse drew pictures everywhere, and when he grew up, he moved to Paris and became a famous artist who created paintings that were adored around the world. But late in life a serious illness confined him to a wheelchair, and amazingly, it was from there that he created among his most beloved works—enormous and breathtaking paper cutouts.
This is Paris
With the same wit and perception that distinguished his charming books on London, New York, and San Francisco, here this famous Czech painter presents his impressions of Paris in This Is Paris, first published in 1959 and now updated for the 21st century. We see its famous buildings, its beautiful gardens, the museums, the sidewalk cafes, and the people who live there — artists, the concierges, the flower girls, and even the thousands of cats. Take a tour along the banks of the Seine, or through the galleries of the Louvre, or to the top of the Eiffel Tower. Elegant, vivid pictures of one of the most beautiful cities in the world, This is Paris!
Madeline
“Bemelmans’ drawings have put an authentic Paris within the covers of this book. The rhymes in which the tale is told make it one that children will enjoy repeating.” The New York Times”
Pastry School in Paris: An Adventure in Capacity
The Zills family is off to Paris to see the sights and take a class at the International Pastry Academy! In class, Matt and Bibi have to measure liquids to make lollipops. It’s hard work, but knowing about different liquid measurements comes in handy when the Inspector General pays a visit while everyone else is out.
Crepes by Suzette
Part story, part grand tour, Monica Wellington’s tale of a Parisian street-cart vendor will charm and inform. Suzette, the crêpe maker, sells her delicacies in one of the most beautiful cities in the world. As she goes from place to place, readers are treated to a variety of Parisian scenes and a series of customers inspired by figures in famous French paintings. Wellington’s mixed- media collages, combining photographs with her signature bright and simple shapes, are dazzling. A crêpe recipe is included.
Stone Angel
In this emotionally rich story, a little girl and her family live happily in Paris until Nazi soldiers arrive druing World War II. She and her family must flee or risk being sent to a concentration camp, so they run into the woods, where they meet resistance fighters. But they’re still not safe. They must cross tall mountains and sail in a rickety boat to England. Yet the whole time they’re struggling to survive, the little girl thinks of the stone angel near their apartment in Paris and imagines it watching over her family.
Different Like Coco
Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel was always different. And she vowed to prove that being different was an advantage! Poor, skinny, and orphaned, Coco stubbornly believed that she was as good as the wealthier girls of Paris. Tapping into her creativity and her sewing skills, she began making clothes that suited her (and her pocketbook) — and soon a new generation of independent working women craved her sleek, comfortable, and practical designs. Now an icon of fashion and culture, Coco Chanel continues to inspire young readers, showing just how far a person can come with spunk, determination, and flair.
Henri’s Walk to Paris
Henri’s Walk to Paris is the story of a young boy who lives in Reboul, France, who dreams of going to Paris. One day, after reading a book about Paris, he decides to pack a lunch and head for the city.
ZigZag City Guide to Paris
Meet Zig and Zag, two characters that will guide your child through Paris. Young travelers won’t miss a beat with a map of the city and thirty city cards filled with fun facts and activities. They’ll learn local history, reflect on what they experience, draw what they see, and take a quiz about Paris, just to keep them on their toes.
Leap & Hop Paris, Children Travel Book
These interactive books aim at getting children to discover a new country or a big city and learn about the local culture through interesting information as well as games and activities. For parents, the books provide an ideal way to stick to a grown-up itinerary with a focus on cultural sites, and to create an unforgettable travel experience for their children.
Paris Up, Up and Away
Soar over Paris and see the city as it’s never been seen before: from the Eiffel Tower in flight!]
Not For Parents Paris: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know
This is not a guidebook. And it is definitely ‘not-for-parents’. It is the real, inside story about one of the world’s most famous cities – Paris. In this book you’ll hear fascinating tales about creepy stone gargoyles, ghostly railway stations, huge castles and amazingly pampered pets.
The Family Under the Bridge
The heartwarming and memorable Newbery Honor-winning book about finding family in the unlikeliest places, featuring artwork by beloved illustrator Garth Williams. Armand, an old Parisian living on the streets of Paris, relished his solitary life. He begged and did odd jobs for money to keep himself warm and fed, and he liked his carefree life.
Who Was Joan of Arc?
Joan of Arc was born in a small French village during the worst period of the Hundred Years’ War. For generations, France had been besieged by the British. At age 11, Joan began to see religious visions telling her to join forces with the King of France. By the time she was a teenager, she was leading troops into battle in the name of her country. Though she was captured and executed for her beliefs, Joan of Arc became a Catholic saint and has since captured the world’s imagination
The Invention of Hugo Cabret
Orphan, clock keeper, and thief, Hugo lives in the walls of a busy Paris train station, where his survival depends on secrets and anonymity. But when his world suddenly interlocks with an eccentric, bookish girl and a bitter old man who runs a toy booth in the station, Hugo’s undercover life, and his most precious secret, are put in jeopardy. A cryptic drawing, a treasured notebook, a stolen key, a mechanical man, and a hidden message from Hugo’s dead father form the backbone of this intricate, tender, and spellbinding mystery.
Charlotte in Paris
It’s 1892. Charlotte and her family have lived abroad in the famous artist colony in Giverny, France, for a year, when an exciting invitation arrives. The celebrated impressionist Mary Cassatt is having an exhibition in Paris. While in Paris, Charlotte dines at a cafe on the Champs-Elysees, watches a marionette show in the Tuileries gardens and celebrates her birthday at the Eiffel Tower. Illustrated with stunning museum reproductions of works by artists such as Monet, Degas, Cassatt, Renoir and Rodin as well as lovely watercolor collages, this sequel to Charlotte in Giverny also includes biographical sketches of the featured painters. Charlotte’s charming scrapbook will leave fans of the first book, art lovers, Francophiles and readers of all ages shouting, “Vive Charlotte!”
Katie Meets The Impressionists
On a visit to the museum, Katie climbs into five Impressionist paintings and has wonderful adventures. Includes information about Impressionism, the paintings shown, and their artists.
13 Paintings Children Should Know
People of all ages are fascinated by Mona Lisa’s beguiling smile, Van Gogh’s hypnotic night sky, and Frida Kahlo’s depiction of herself with a monkey. These paintings and ten others are featured in the book in large reproductions with accompanying details. The readable text offers biographical information about each artist and important facts about the painting’s technical and historical aspects. Games, quizzes, and coloring exercises provide additional opportunities for young readers to interact with the artworks, while a timeline throughout the book allows for easy historical orientation. Readers will return again and again to these works, which provide continued opportunities for contemplation and discovery.
Who Stole Mona Lisa?
She has a legendary smile, and millions come to see her every day. Some say she is the most famous painting in the world. Who is she? Why, the Mona Lisa, of course! But did you know that she was once stolen from her wall at the Louvre? Who took her? Why? Where was she hidden? How was she found? Someone call the police!
Monet and the Impressionists for Kids: Their Lives and Ideas, 21 Activities
A lifelong love of art is one of the greatest gifts an adult can bestow on a child—and no period of art is better loved or more available to children than Impressionism. Monet and the Impressionists for Kids invite children to delight in Cassatt’s mothers and children, Renoir’s dancing couples, and Gaugin’s island scenes; 21 activities explore Monet’s quick shimmering brush strokes, Cezanne’s brilliant rectangles of color, Seurat’s pointillism, and Degas’ sculpture-like circles of dancers. Kids will learn how the artists’ friendships sustained them through repeated rejection by the Parisian art world, and how they lived, painted, and thrilled to the vibrant life of Paris at the approach of the 20th century. A resource section guides readers to important museums and Web sites around the world.
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Munchkin had a mid-term break ( I know, I fell like he just started the other day but hey, vacation is vacation) and hubby had some leftover vacation days so we finally got to take the Normandy road trip that I have been planning for months.
Also see; Winter travel: 13 Winter Road Trip Essentials and Tips
I originally planned to take this trip solo when he was away a few months ago. Munchkin had another mid-term break and I didn’t want to stay home for 10 days. A friend was going to join me while her older kids were away for a residency trip with school, but one got sick and the other cancelled so she couldn’t make it. It was too last minute for the family to fly up and join so it was postponed. Turns out, that was the week that parts of France and Germany flooded from intense rain so I am glad it didn’t work out. The last thing I need is travelling solo with two little ones and buckets full of rain in my shoes.
The following is a quick review of our 1-week road trip through Normandy. Please visit the attached links for more details on each city. Some are complete and some are still in the works; please bare with me, I want to get this right.
We took it slow Saturday morning. It was a 6-hour drive, and I knew I could get at least 2.5 hours of naps out of the baby at 11 am so we timed it just right. We drove 1.5 hours to a shopping centre with a playground. We bought a few cheap snacks (instead of emptying the house of snacks) and let them burn some energy. Half an hour later we were in the car and, surprise surprise, they were both sleeping within minutes.
Also see; Quick Guide to Normandy with kids
By the time we arrived at our hotel, it was nearly dinner. We emptied the car of essential items and headed out for dinner. The small town of Les Loges didn’t have much to offer in terms of restaurants, the one that our host suggested was on vacation for all of October, so we headed a little further down the road until we reached Fécamp.
If you haven’t dinned in France recently, this is a surprise for the whole family. Nothing is open until 7 pm. Sorry, I should say no one is serving dinner until 7 pm. You can sit and have a beer or a coffee anytime, but they will not feed you.
Since we were in a rush to get to dinner, we didn’t explore our accommodations as well as we should have. We didn’t want to drive up single-lane dirt roads on the edge of a cliff long after dark. Once back to our room, we let the kids break free and tour the area. Click the link to check out more images and booking details; Yourte and Tipis.
Poor monsters didn’t want to leave. Honestly, at the price we paid, I didn’t want to leave either. While I have never WANTED to sleep in a tipi, now that I have, it was pretty cool. For our family we should have booked the Yourte but someone was already renting it; they had one baby and probably a baby bed. You can see from the pics that those are the only two beds and there wasn’t enough room for another one. Basically, hubby slept with the munchkin on the big bed and I slept with the baby on the single bed. It was cosy, though she likes to kick. I hear I got the better deal though; munchkin likes to throw a few punches.
The kids were awake before the sun came up, just too excited from sleeping in a tipi to sleep anymore. We packed up, skipped the optional breakfast and made our merry way to Etretat. It was Sunday and still in France so I already knew we weren’t going to eat anytime soon. The cliffs were barely 10 minutes away so we had snacks in the car, got everyone properly dressed and made our way up the cliff.
Hiking up the cliffs took 2 hours, roughly, before they grew too hungry to cooperate. I have to say though, at this time of day, I was appreciative to have that much of their attention. We played in the water for a few minutes then made our way back to the car. It was starting to rain and the crowds were starting to come in so I am also grateful that we left when we did. I dislike crowds. Next stop, bakery breakfast and moving on to the next town on our list.
Find out more about that trip here.
During our Normandy Road trip, Honfleur was peaceful. After their bellies were full, the kids napped in the back seat the whole time. We managed to find our apartment, Apartement Moderne and park the car. Walking around the city was peaceful. We walked around the harbour, found some good food for lunch, and carried on walking through the town. We walked by St Catherine’s Church, the oldest timber-built church in France, with a separate bell tower. As we were walking by and attempted to make our way inside the church, we noticed a large number of dogs in the area. We soon discovered that the church was doing it’s annual Pet Blessing that day. It was neat to see, but this also meant we couldn’t go inside to look around properly.
Also see; Road tripping with kids
Further along the way, we walked through the old city and found ourselves at la Vieux Phare de Honfleur – Old Lighthouse. Naturospace was just down the street and it was kinda neat too. It was a butterfly enclosure, as well as housing new Amazonian birds. The kids seemed to really enjoy it and it was nice to get out of the cold.
Juno Beach left us all with many emotions. My family has been serving in the military for generations, as well as my hubby’s family. It was hard to explain to the oldest why these two sites were significant to us, but more importantly, explaining to him why he needs to behave himself so well while here and actually have him do it.
Also see; Toddler Travel Bag
The memorial was only an hour away and it was a very scenic one hour drive. We stopped at the memorial, took a little walk along the beach and tried to explain the significance of the site to our 4 year old. Canada, America and England were fighting the bad guys and this is where they started the big fight. Poor little guy, asked why Germany wasn’t helping Canada. I was not about to tell him the full truth considering he likes to take things out of context and shout them at inappropriate times, or at school (75% German population).
Just down the road was the Juno Beach centre. Another lovely conversation about behavioural expectations and we took a nice walk around the grounds. Once we were inside the Centre, we watched a short video and entered the Canadian war museum. This was much different than the War Museum in Ottawa. The artefacts were much more child-friendly, as in they were not as shocking for the younger ones to see or experience.
The kids speed through the exhibit like they usually do, so we toured the gift shop while we waited for the hubby to finish in the museum. Munchkin was ecstatic to see so many souvenirs with the flag or something Canadian on them. We did manage to find a children’s book about the history of the Royal Canadian Mounties; even I learned something from this book, it was cute.
A quick 1-hour drive while the children napped in the back seat, and we reached the beautiful Bayeux in time for lunch. Parking just behind the museum itself is free for a few hours so we waited patiently for a spot to clear up. From the parking spot, we had easy access to the handicap door that would have led us straight into the museum, but we didn’t see it. We ended up taking the scenic, non-stairs way around the museum and found our selves face to face with this amazing Cathedral, built in the 13th century. We took a few minutes to walk around the outside court yard, visit inside the cathedral and explore the down town streets before finding a nice place for lunch.
As was a common theme in our French road trip, many places were closed for the season or just not open for lunch. We did manage to find a nice little hotel restaurant with a glorious view of the cathedral, and even better menu; Hôtel Reine Mathilde.
Shortly afterwards we finally made our way to the Bayeux Museum. We had no idea what to expect but we reminded the munchkin of museum rules and proper behaviour, as well as made sure we had plenty of snacks and water for the baby in case she got antsy in the stroller. At 7,50 euro per person, including the audio guide, I was looking forward to a proper museum. It took us a solid 30 minutes to walk through the Tapestry. No flash photography allowed but I did manage to grab this one with my mobile phone. Upstairs was a museum with artefacts from the time period and events discussed throughout the tapestry. There was a field trip that day and some of the kids were less than well behaved so we didn’t stick around too long.
We drove another 117 km along quiet farmlands to reach our next hotel, Le Beauvoir, just before dark. Unloaded the car, took a quick walk down the street and spotted the beautiful Mont St Michel in the distance. It was a cool 4 km away, so we had a great view, even from our hotel room window. The hotel had a restaurant, didn’t open until 7 pm, so we stay out a little longer. The convenience store across the street had a great souvenir section. Keeping a close eye on the price, I decided I would buy my souvenirs here before we left town instead of on the Mont itself. Finding its equivalent was not hard and the price reaffirmed my choice; it’s always cheaper off-site.
In the morning, we drove to the parking fairly early. We already knew that crowds increase later on in the day so we wanted to avoid that as much as possible. Climbing to the abbey was slow at best, keeping an eye for the munchkin’s little legs, and having 30 plus pounds strapped to my back while climbing endless stairs is no walk in the park.
We spent 2 hours looking around, had lunch and left just as the skies were opening up for an afternoon of rain and wind. Read more about our time at Mont St Michel here.
It took roughly 2.5 hours to reach Nantes from Mont St Michel so we made sure to time it right with nap time. I did want to accomplish a lot that day but I also needed them awake for it. We arrived shortly after noon, parked the car and made our way to the Machines de L’Ile exhibit. The Island was 1 km away from our hotel, Best Western, and the hotel was 1 km away from the castle in the middle of town. I couldn’t have asked for a better location.
The Island took about 3 hours to explore, including lunch, then we made our way to the castle for a quick look before calling it a night. We were spent and we had a long drive ahead of us in the morning. Or hotel room needed to be rearranged anyways, so that was going to take about an hour or so to sort the kids out.
Read more about our day in Nantes, including more photos from the island and the castle.
Oh my goodness, nothing prepared us for this epic Normandy road trip. The kids were just done, they wanted to go home and just veg. We told them what we were doing next but I don’t think they actually understood what was going on, or they really didn’t want to go. Either way, they napped in the car for part of the journey, and they watched more TV than I care to admit – this happens a lot on Road trips, unfortunately – until their tablet decided to crash 2 hours away from our hotel, in the middle of Paris traffic, with all our pre-programmed content. We were forced to stream it from the hubby’s tablet – good thing we had lots of international data.
I say lots of TV, they played and slept, and we listened to music and they stared out the window quietly for most of it, there is only so much Mickey Mouse Club House and Diego one can watch in a single sitting before even the kids want to chuck it out of the car window.
We booked the Explorers Hotel, a pirate-themed off-site budget hotel. It offered free breakfast, access to the pool and free shuttle service so we were definitely winning on the budget side of things. I didn’t like that I needed to go through security just to enter Disney Village, and the line for the bus after dinner was crazy long. This was our first time staying off site so we weren’t sure what to expect.
Dinner at the hotel didn’t open until 7 pm, but the Village was always open, so we decided to go there for food. The Rainforest cafe queue wasn’t horrible, as the line moved fairly quickly and we were served promptly, but we still didn’t sit down until 7 pm anyway. At least we had a great atmosphere and weren’t limited to only pizza and nuggets like the hotel.
Check out my Tips on how to prepare for Disney post, based on comparing this adventure with our previous experience 2 years ago.
Without Early Magic Hours, we were not in a rush to make it to the park that morning. We had our free breakfast, nothing special, just toast and cereal, and jumped on the bus to Disney.
Our hotel was a great location, I have to say. We were the first ones on the bus from the terminal so we didn’t have to fight for space getting to the park. This also meant we were the first ones out of the bus come home time. If the bus was jam-packed, we didn’t have to suffer for long. We did, however, have to tell other guests to let us off the bus and remind them they can just get back on once we have left.
Anyways, we bought our tickets at the gate since hubby is military and they offer 50% off up to 6 tickets for 2 or more day tickets. Guests can only receive this discount when purchasing at the gate so our hotel wasn’t able to honour this price. There were 6 kiosks open and 2 had no lines so this was fairly quick. I am told that on-site guests purchase the same tickets but show their proof of hotel stay, like a room key or something, and they are allowed into the park during EMH. Since we were off-site, we waited patiently at the gate until 930 am.
Once allowed into the park, we took our pictures, walked around some of the Halloween decorations and found our way to the castle entrance. Without access to EMH, we were denied entrance into Fantasyland, today’s EMH location. We waited and waited and waited until 10 am when the staff removed the barrier and we all rushed the land.
It was cold and raining and a Friday morning so the park wasn’t as busy as we have previously experienced. We managed to finish Fantasyland (minus the Labyrinth, since it is under renovations) before breaking for lunch. Baby girl needed a nap and we found Mickey Mouse only had a 45 minute wait time. Munchkin really wanted to see Mickey Mouse since he has been watching Club House for a few months now and finally has his fears under control. I walked around the park, grabbed some Fast Pass tickets and met them in time to see him walk out of the tent with a giant smile. He was a big brave boy and said hello to Mickey without being scared.
After lunch was Adventure Land and Frontier Land. A fair number of things were under renovations so we mainly visited Skull Rock, Pirates of the Caribbean and Swiss Family Tree House. Aladdin was next before finding something for dinner.
Discovery Land was last. Hubby did Space Mountain through the single riders line and I took the kids to Captain Nemo’s submarine. We stopped at Autopia, and that line was LONG. Baby girl had a little nap before they walked out the other end. Buzz Lightyear only had a 15-minute wait line by this point so as soon as hubby and munchkin came out, we ran for Buzz. I parked the stroller and we were off. They both wanted another turn and we were going to do it again but the reason the line was so short was because everyone was waiting for the fireworks… needed to grab our popcorn and find a decent spot before it was too late.
Do you think after staying up until 10 pm to watch fireworks, after walking for 12 hours, and only getting into bed around 11:30 pm for a 4.5-year-old and an 18-month-old meant they would sleep in the next morning? Not even close. They were both up by 7:30 am, which I suppose is sleeping in since they usually wake around 6:45 am at home (with a strict 7 pm bedtime).
This time was Walt Disney Studios. We walked in at 930 am with everyone else and went straight for Ratatouille. The line was passed the queue barrier so the staff were unable to estimate the wait time passed 90 minutes, but the ride had yet to board anyone yet so it was tricky to gauge. I decided it would be best to wait 10 minutes in the Fast Pass queue and get tickets for later. Our time was 11;15 am, which was a little rough considering Baby Girl usually naps around 1030/11. We just needed to make sure we kept her busy and out of the stroller around that time.
Also see; Best Toddler Travel Gear
Aladdin, Slinky Dog, Cars and a few other short rides later, we returned to Ratatouille. The kids had a blast. Even Baby Girl didn’t mind sitting on the bench, usually, she demands to sit on my lap or tries to stand. They loved it so much, Munchkin insisted we eat lunch at the restaurant. Since I had forgotten to make reservations, I went to the desk and asked what they had left. 5:30 pm. Perfect, that’s when we like to eat anyways.
We managed to fit in Disney Junior before it was time for dinner. Several conversations were had regarding expected behaviour in the restaurant. Despite its location, I had a feeling this was going to be a fancy, slightly expensive restaurant, and I was not entirely wrong. While this is a family restaurant, this is not the kind of place you take children that are prone to acting out or yelling in public. I found there were more adults (child-less couples) than children during our meal.
A quick ride on the Disney Express, lots of shopping and another showing of the Fireworks before bedtime. Not a bad way to end a vacation.
With the tablet still kaput and no way of fixing it until I can sync it to my iTunes account, we streamed a little more after everyone was done sleeping, eating, singing and staring. This drive felt slightly less-long than the drive from Nantes to Disney, only because we stopped so often. Little man needed to pee so often, that we stopped 4 times at a public restroom, restaurant for lunch or corner store for snacks, plus two more times on the side of the road for a pee break… I didn’t realize I had given him that much to drink. Maybe he was stealing his sisters’ bottles; she has a tendency of throwing them across the backseat when she is done with them, empty or not.
Overall, this vacation only cost us 3000 euro, including gas, food, hotels and tickets. We packed lots of food and stopped at grocery stores to restock instead of buying snacks at the attractions themselves.
We arrived home just in time to make dinner, shower the kids and ship them off to bed, and they were not complaining. He had school the next day, picture day on top of that, and she needed to follow me around on my many errands; after all, the fridge was empty and needed filling. On the walk to school, Munchkin asked if he could have some pictures printed to show his friends. He has never asked us this before, so he must have had a great time.
An excellent resource for planning all of Germany can we found with the Lonely Planet Normandy Guide
Do you have any Tapped Out Tips?
Questions or Comments? Join the conversation below.
We decided our second to last stop, Nantes, was going to be all about the kids. Having done the hiking thing, and the castle thing, even the museum thing, their time was now here. Driving 2 hours from Mont St Michel to Nantes, we parked the car and walked to the Island. No one was sure what to expect; Nantes was recommended from a traveling friend of mine when she toured Normandy with her family last year. Her kids, similar ages and likes, had a great time, so I figured, why not, it looks cool enough.
Between the parking garage and the island, we stumbled upon a Memorial site. This was a “Memorial to the Abolition of Slavery”. All along the path, on both sides of the solar panels pictured below, were memorial plaques embedded into the pavement. They each had the name of a slave ship, originating from the Port of Nantes, the year it sailed, and which port in Africa is pillaged for persons to turn into slaves in America.
I wish I had more time to walk around the memorial and study the plaques, and see if I could find any other information pieces, but munchkin knew what we were going to visit and didn’t want to stop for anything.
Not many people know this, but I majored in History; African Studies in University. My minor was Anthropology, specializing in colonization. I choose this field because I enjoy studying anthropology, I enjoy learning about other cultures and there is something about studying slavery, colonization and abolition that stuck with me.
Clearly, I knew there were a lot of cities, countries and ships involved in the slave trade. It killed me to see all these memorial plaques, reading the informational statues and see the shear numbers thrown in my face this way. I really did want to stay longer, but you know kids…
Trying to explain “Steampunk” to a 4 year old is like pulling teeth. No, there are no punk kids causing trouble, there is no steam trying to burn your skin like hot tea. No, they aren’t alive. I finally just gave up and showed him a photo of what we were going to visit on our vacation next month.
Mommy! It’s a Robot Elephant! Why didn’t you just say that?”
“Steampunk is a subgenre of science fiction or science fantasy that incorporates technology and aesthetic designs inspired by 19th-century industrial steam-powered machinery.”
Once we crossed the bridge, attempted to explain what we had just walked through to no avail – one day buddy, we will have this conversation again, but for now, be 4 years old and let’s talk robots.
Directly off the bridge there is a hanger and a small carousel. If the elephant is missing or covered up, you wouldn’t think much of the hanger. He was missing, and we walked right passed it. Eventually, we saw some signs and doubled back. Next to the hanger is another hanger – this time the doors were wide open, still no Elephant, and a restaurant. We walked into the open hanger and headed for the reception desk.
Strollers are not allowed into the Gallery, but baby carriers are provided free of charge. They only ask for a piece of photo ID to hold “hostage” while using the carrier. I saw at least 10 hanging on the wall and the area didn’t look all that busy with little ones so I wouldn’t worry too much about them running out. We paid for our Gallery admission, also purchased our walk on the Elephant – reserving a time for 2 hours from now – and decided not to go on the larger carousel down the road (at the end of the Elephant ride). We didn’t feel 8 euro per person was worth it when 2,50 per person on the smaller carousel was available.
Passing the gates at the reception desk, we ran into this guy.
The kids weren’t too bothered by him… until he started to move. They say that the Gallery takes about 1 hour to tour, but the area is rather small. I saw 3 large creatures like the spider, pictured above, and the tour guide discusses and activates each one. This is why it takes an hour to complete. Munchkin decided he didn’t want to be near the spider once we all gathered around it, so hubby waited with him in the other side of the gallery. This, however, meant that hubby missed his opportunity to volunteer to ride on the back of the giant walking spider. Baby girl had no problem with it. There were painted lines on the ground that we could not cross during a demonstration; she wanted nothing to do with rules; get as close as possible and pitch a fit when we say “safety”.
Outside of the gallery was a staircase to a lookout where we could see into the closed hanger. They were in the process of building another giant mechanical animal and had videos of building the giant Elephant. Due to copyright laws, I was not allowed to photograph any of this. I took the elevator down with the baby, and the boys took the “Branches” down. Munchkin had a little issue with the heights when it was time to step out of the hanger to the branches themselves. Once he was out in the open and could see me, he shouted that he was being a “brave boy” and walked the length without issue. Pretty sure he just called me a woosy but I’ll let it pass.
We still had an hour before our elephant ride so we stopped for lunch. The dinner was really the only place to eat on the island within a reasonable distance so it wasn’t surprising that it was so busy. They only had 3 options on the menu and no real kids menu available, but they were able to put a little something together for the kids at a reduced price.
Potty break, rent a baby carrier, check on the stroller, then make our way back up the stairs to the Elephant Entrance. The signs are not marked very well if you don’t know what you are looking for and the receptionist instructions were a little odd. Across the hall from the reception desk is the stairs to get to the 3rd floor look out that I mentioned earlier. The 2nd floor is where you catch the elephant. Down the hall, and wait for the guy to open the gates, check your ticket and let you in. Even though Baby Girl was free, she needed a ticket. Only 50 bodies are allowed on the elephant so she needed to be counted.
There are only a few rules; don’t hang off the edges, don’t jump off the edges, don’t throw things off the elephant, and don’t take photos of the inside of the cabin. Every once in a while, they would trumpet the elephant and he would spray water on the bystanders in the streets. The noise can be fairly loud for those in the cabin, as opposed to those on the elephants back who can’t hear anything, so the driver signals before doing it, do give parents a chance to cover any little ears.
The ride ends at the large carousel, where we get out and another group gets on. We thought it was a full circle ride, so we told the munchkin he could walk the branches again. Felt bad for the little guy that we were wrong but he got to ride the carousel so he was fine.
The little carousel was still a little fast for Baby girls likings. We had bought two tickets, one for each kid, but she needed a change and I needed to return the carrier. Munchkin took his turn but hubby decided it was too jerky and rose too high for her. The kids all have seat belts, but she is still only 18 months, I think we forget that sometimes.
3 hours after parking the car, we were heading back to grab our gear and check into our hotel. The kids were just finished and had a great time. Munchkin was already asking if I could print a photo of him with the “Robot Elephant” to show his friends at school. I guess that means he had a great time.
We checked into the hotel, found the castle and took a nice walk around the grounds and moat, but it was getting dinner time. We decided not to pay to tour the castle and only took a look around the outside for free.
Everywhere we looked, it was either too expensive for what we were craving – something food like because we are way too tired to care about nutritional value at this moment – or it didn’t open until 7 pm. We forgot that we were in France. I did the unspeakable and suggested the McDonald’s that we had seen 30 minutes prior. Hubby finally caved and as we were heading in that direction, we ran into a Pita Pit. Oh, thank the heavens for a Pita Pit.
If you don’t know what a Pita Pit is, first you are seriously missing out, and second I don’t blame you, they are a Canadian company that is being overshadowed by its American competitor. They have a handful of locations outside of Canada – see my pregnant cravings in London. They have amazing Pita’s, created fresh in front of you, for a fairly inexpensive price.
Anyways, we headed back to our room and all passed out…. not before completely destroying the room. It’s a shame too because it was such a beautiful room. We stayed at a Best Western this time.
We had asked for a room with a double bed, a single bed and a baby bed. This is exactly what we received. The only problem is that munchkin rolls around so much that he falls off the bed if he doesn’t have a bed-rail. Remember, he is only 4 years old. We can do this one of two ways.
We decided option #2 was a good idea. But what to do with the bed frame. We moved the base to the wall with the window, along my side of the bed, on its side, and he slept on the mattress, on the floor.
Lights were out by 830 pm and we were all DONE. Tomorrow is a big day and neither knew what was going on……….. 4 hour drive to DISNEYLAND!!
An excellent resource for planning all of Germany can we found with the Lonely Planet Normandy Guide
Do you have any Tapped Out Tips?
Questions or Comments? Join the conversation below.
It’s no secret that the historic and famous island of Mont St Michel is all stairs. There were a handful of inclines but for the most part, just stairs, stairs and more stairs, until you reached the Abbey at the very top. So before we even arrived at the site, there were a few things I needed to do in order to be properly prepared.
The first thing I did was make sure I had a functioning system to carry the baby. She is 18 months, roughly 25 lbs (13 kg) and stubborn as her mother. The baby bijorn was mailed to my sister shortly after Munich in September, she is way too heavy to be on my chest for that long and refuses to sit so low on my back. A friend gave me her hiking toddler backpack. We used it with the munchkin on a long walk once and it was great. We threw that into the car, made sure to bring the canopy and packed a few snacks, juice pack and a diaper into the little compartment and forget they existed… they will come in handy one day.
Secondly, what were we going to wear on our feet? The weather network said it was only a 20% chance of rain but I wanted nothing to do with chances, not this far from home, not on this terrain. Everyone wore waterproof footwear with great ankle support. We also all had waterproof jackets with hoods, scarves, gloves, and hats in the diaper bag and wore pants we could actually move in – no skinny-jeans today. Today was not a fashion show, today was functionality over aesthetics.
Starting as a small church in the 11th century, Mont St Michel had been in the minds of church and state since 709 ad when they say the Archangel Michel requested its commission. During the French Revolution, the Abbey was temporarily turned into a prison; according to Walt Disney, this was the site where Mickey from “the Three musketeers” was imprisoned.
Back in 1879, the tidal causeway was converted into a dry causeway. This had the unpredictable effect of building up silt by the bay. Pasture land was also created at this time. In 2006 the French Prime Minister signed a 164 million euro project to create a hydraulic dam to remove the built up silt and make Mont St Michel an island again. Construction began in 2009; the dry causeway was removed and the parking lot was moved 2.2 km away from the island in April 2012.
We drove the whole 4 km from our hotel to the parking lot, made our way over to the bus stop and tried to find the horse and buggy line. The Horse and Buggy didn’t start until 1030 am… it was 930 am. Nope. We will try again on the way back.
The bus was packed. The parking lot is the first stop on the line, which was great, but everyone kept pushing and cramming into the bus. No one left their seats to allow my young children to sit so munchkin got to stand and I had to hold baby girl while trying not to take anyone’s eyes out with my carrier. Definitely not safe.
A few also felt the need to push my son around while they were exiting the bus on the second or third stop. There was no need for this. Eventually, the hubby found a seat and yelled at the guy trying to sit down while my son was headed for it. Not cool guys, not cool.
Because the bus was so full, it had to stop at the other stations along the way anyways. Many tried to get on, and many were pushed right back off the bus. Like I said, a few got out along the way, I guess there was something to see and do there, but we were not interested. Word of warning; if you are going to get out here, might be best to walk back to the parking lot or just finish the journey to the mount by foot, because it looked nearly impossible to catch the bus from these locations.
As the bus was pulling up to the island, I noticed another bus pulling away and it was full of passengers. I was thinking, ‘it is only 945 am. Why are you leaving already? Surely you all didn’t stay at the hotels on the island?’
Sure enough, they were leaving because the causeway was flooded. According to the website, the tide comes up twice a day, and lowers twice a day. OK, common knowledge. What I failed to read was the height of these tides. 3 days per year the tides overtake the causeway and makes it impassable for roughly 1 hour at a time. Crowds were forming on the bridge, and on the island side as hotel guests wanted to leave or just take in the view. One brave family took off their shoes, hiked up their pants and walked across. Poor guys still got their knees wet; the waves are stronger the closer you get to the island.
We waited 10 minutes, and made the walk ourselves. Hubby carried the munchkin, I’m already wearing the baby and we walked quickly and carefully to the other side. I took a pinch too long and got a good splash near the end but I quickly dried. A few others tried their luck but it was a long 15 minutes before the others were able to cross dryly.
I have to say though, some of the footwear I saw these people wearing made me cringe. I can’t imagine the pain and blisters they are going to care for when they get back home.
The climb up to the Abbey, the icon at the top of Mont St Michel, was definitely a hike. Pretty sure it was harder than climbing Etretat a few days before. I knew I was practicing for something. There were gift shops everywhere, which I refused to enter for a number of reasons; I am not carrying souvenirs up the hill, then back down, there was a cheaper option across from my hotel that I found the night before, and the baby carrier would be akin to bull in a china shop.
As you can see from my photos below, the streets are not super narrow but they do make for close quarters. Keeps the kiddos close and keep an eye out for hidden stair ways. We found a few, the boys went exploring and I took a rest. Those alleys are rarely wider than one person and most do not have hand railings. Hiking Boots! Always wear Hiking boots!
There were many restaurants and hotels along our walk, though several of the hotels entrances were along these smaller alleys. I spied a few of the price charts near the doors and they were definitely pricier than the one we stayed at; 250 euro per night. Maybe if it was just the two of us, but with the kids, I prefer the cheap and close-enough hotels.
The cost to get into the Abbey differs based on employment status and citizenship but for us, it was 9 euro each and the kids were free. We choose not to get the audio-guide since they cost extra and we probably wouldn’t hear half of what they were saying anyways. Thanks kids!
Again, there was a wicked climb to get to the main lobby, but also a few wrap around walk ways with a spectacular view of the town and causeway. At the end of the walk, there are stairs leading down. We quickly turned around and made our way back to the Abbey – no sense going in the wrong direction.
So we paid, munchkin had a little freak out over snacks and potty breaks. Which in turn got the little lady all worked up. Once we climbed even more stairs – God help us walk back down – we made it to the main Abbey area where we let the both walk around and have a snack. Pretty sure no food was allowed but we did it outside (where the birds can eat any crumbs) and made sure to discourage crumb-making. The whole tour took about an hour, there was a lot of stopping, looking and sitting. Munchkin was getting tired. Baby girl walked as much as she could. I carried her in the smaller stairways, and finally put her back into the carrier when it was time for the big stairs down to the lobby again.
It didn’t take long for baby girl to fall asleep. We made our way out of the abbey, walked around a little and started the giant climb down the hill. The stairs weren’t hard to climb, per say, but my centre of gravity was all off so I took my sweet time. Munchkin, on the other hand, wanted to fly down the stairs. Not sure where he wanted to go exactly but he was in a rush to get there. Another beauty of my hiking carrier; it has independent legs so I could just take her off and place her on the floor while we ate.
Parking; 11,70 euro
Not stroller friendly at all – found a few people try to bring their umbrella stroller. Fail. Others carried the kids free in their arms – too heavy for me. No thank you.
An excellent resource for planning all of Germany can we found with the Lonely Planet Normandy Guide
For more information on the gear, we wear during cold-weather vacations, check out a recent post on the Proper Gear to wear in a European Winter.
Do you have any Tapped Out Tips?
Questions or Comments? Join the conversation below.
With mid-term break around the corner, I needed to find something that the whole family could enjoy and not break the bank; we have been travelling a lot lately and we enjoy it, my bank account, however, has a different opinion. A one week tour of Normandy, including the cliffs of Étretat and Mont St Michel, was first on our long list of one-week road trips we NEEDED to do before moving back home in a few years.
Our first road trip in 6 months took quite a few tries before finalizing the final trip. Changing dates, narrowing down the cities we explored and how much time each location required to properly explore. All of this, while trekking along our 18-month-old and 4.5 year old kids.
After driving nearly 6 hours from home just to reach the cliffs, we offloaded at our hotel and went into town for dinner. Most everything didn’t serve dinner until 7 pm so we ended up eating fairly late, but we had a chance to walk around the town of Fécamp, which was nice after being in a car for so long.
The hotel was pretty awesome too. The property is a farm in the middle of no-where; we ended up driving up a dirt road for a while and narrowly missed the driveway. In the front yard, hidden from view by thick trees, we saw a Yurts and a Tipis. We rented the Tipis. The kids got a kick out of it; there was a shared bathroom so my son had a great time walking through the “woods” to get there, a wallaby was parked at the fence directly in front of our tipi and the peacocks helped keep the kids occupied while we packed the car. Review to come shortly.
Regardless of the time, these kids go to bed, their internal clock always wakes them between 6/7 am. Munchkin woke first, played on our phone for a little while but we had left the majority of our luggage in the car since there wasn’t much room in the tipi for non-essentials, this means toys were left behind as well.
We packed up the car when the kids were done sitting around, waiting for the sun to come up. We decided to visit the cliffs first and check out our breakfast options afterwards. This is why I always pack an assortment of snacks when we road trip; you never know when a meal is going to be postponed. In this case, it was Sunday morning and none of the cafes or restaurants served food beyond croissants until 11 am.
We arrived at the parking lot as the sun was starting to rise. There were a handful of keeners and their dogs but for a tourist site on a weekend, it was pretty empty. We changed into our waterproof hiking boots, threw some splash pants on the kids and went for a hike. The baby girl was strapped nice and tight into the hiking back-pack; I gave my baby carrier away after Munich – she is way too heavy to be strapped to my chest and refuses to sit that low when it carry it on my back. This backpack allowed her to rest higher on my shoulders and therefore had an unobstructed view of the area. P.S If your baby refuses mitts like mine, wash and tumble dry a pair of $1 gloves – instant infant gloves.
It didn’t take long to realize that Munchkin has a lot more courage than me when it comes to heights and he was walking much faster than me too. Hubby kept him in his sights and I just worried about not falling backwards – I probably should have practised walking up steps and hiking up a cliff with this pack before attempting it in the field. Oh well, practice now for Mont St Michel?
Once we were finally at the top, which really didn’t take that long, the view was amazing. The sun was rising onto the cliffs and even the kids were expressing their aww.
Way at the top of the cliff there was a fenced path; it looks like a bridge until you get to it and realize there is solid ground underneath, but nothing around it. After this bridge/path, there is another large ledge/lookout. Walk down a few steps around this ledge and you’ll come across yet another path/bridge that leads to this beautiful rock formation. If you look closely to the second image, you can see the hubby in the blue jacket, peering through a hole in the rocks, looking out over the beach. I didn’t make the journey; someone needed to photograph if from my end – sure, let’s go with that excuse.
We were all starting to get a little hungry and our two-hour parking window was going to run out soon so we started making our way back down the cliff. The hike was much easier, obviously, but the rocks were much more slippery on the way down. Because I had a baby strapped to my back, I walked along the rough shoulder of the path. Munchkin decided to be a dare-devil and walked along the slippery centre “I would never fall, mommy, I’m big and strong”. It wasn’t steep enough for him to roll down anywhere if he did slip, he would just have a bruised butt – and ego – so I let him be. Keeping him from running down the hill was a real test of parenting; since he had yet to slip, I must be wrong about the slippery-ness of the rocks, and therefore running was the acceptable speed to climb down a giant cliff.
Once at the bottom, we took a second set of stairs to the beach floor. The baby girl desperately wanted out of the backpack and munchkin wanted to explore the cave that was around the corner. While Hubby took him to the caves, I unloaded the baby and let her play in the rocks and sand.
There is a decent sized sign at the top of the stairs that warns visitors; access the beach at your own risk because the waves are higher than expected (I can vouch for that, my shoes got overrun with water in an area I thought was safe), no dogs allowed, and do not take even a single pebble. They are scattered throughout the beach and don’t look like much but the pebbles help keep the sand on the beach, as well as keep the town from flooding. It took a few conversations to get the kids to drop the pebbles and not grab another when I wasn’t looking.
Food wasn’t exactly easy to find. Every restaurant and cafe we walked into either didn’t serve food until 11/noon , or they only served croissants. 2 out of 4 of us refuse to eat croissants so that wasn’t going to work for us. We did manage to find a nice bakery that had a mix of sandwiches, treats and bread. I also grabbed an eclair for the road; I only have 1 week to eat as many of these guys as I can, I won’t let something as silly as ’10 am’ get in the way.
The cliffs of Étretat was an amazing experience for us all. My son loves to tell his friends that he could ‘see the world’ from the top of the cliffs. Baby girl loved racing away from the oncoming waves.
The day was still young so we made our merry way to Honfleur, roughly 45km away. Be sure to check back with us in a few days, or better yet – sign up for the email – to keep up with the road-trip updates.
For more information on the gear, we wear during cold-weather vacations, check out a recent post on the Proper Gear to wear in a European Winter.
An excellent resource for planning all of Germany can we found with the Lonely Planet Normandy Guide
Do you have any Tapped Out Tips?
Questions or Comments? Join the conversation below.
While the French Riviera might conjure up images of celebrities at the Cannes Film Festival and cars zooming around the streets during the Monaco Grand Prix, the South of France is still a great destination for families. But what do you do with kids when you visit France’s Southern coast?
After spending the day at Marineland in the next town over
We stayed at the Ibis Style Vieux Port; the location was awesome – close enough to everything that we could walk but far enough away that we didn’t hear the nightlife outside. There is also a few great pizza places around the corner since we were too tired to eat out the next night.
As an avid Hard Rock Cafe fan, we went straight to their location along the Promenade des Anglais. We took the 2 km scenic route instead of taking the bus, mostly because we wanted to look around but also because we had no idea where the bus stop was.
One of the nicest things to do in Nice with kids is a trip to the beach. If you’re lucky enough to visit during the warmer months, you could plan an entire day around the shore.
We walked across the street to check out the Promenade properly, as well as step in the water for a little bit. It was cooling down but still warm. Turns out, Nice only has rocky beaches. I never would have thought it, considering the amount of people in the water and others sunbathing, but not a speck of sand to be seen.
Tip – Bring water shoes, Crocs or Teva’s to protect yourkids’s sensitive feet on the pebbles.
During the warmer months, you’ll even see street performers in the evening. Take a minute to listen to the music, watch the roller bladers skate around cones or buy chocolate covered peanuts from a vendor.
This idea was to go home after this, but we got distracted by some more sites. There were Bouncy Castles beside the Carousel at the Monument du Centenaire, so I bought enough tickets for all. Turns out they are not related and needed two different tickets. I found a guy in line and sold him my unused ones, slight lose but better than nothing. He mentioned my accent sounded Canadian, I told him I was, so he tried to give me Canadian currency. No thanks buds, I need Euros, good try though. Baby girl did have a good time, but her smile disappeared every time the camera came out, of course.
Like any other day, these little monsters had trouble sleeping in the same room, especially after having napped on the way from Marineland to the hotel. They were also up nice and early. I don’t understand how they can run off so little sleep, and so little food. Click here for our hotel routine and our vain attempts to survive time change. I find they never have much appetite when the hotel offers free breakfast. We took a few pieces on the road and made our way to the Vieux Port. We were under the impression that a cruise was leaving for Monte Carlo at 930. Turns out, it was a few days ago. Oh well, we were already there. We found Le Phare de Nice to walk to, a few monuments along the way and the view was pleasant.
Walk or take the elevator (ascenseur), if you have a stroller, up to Parc du Château for spectacular views. It’s also a great spot to let the kids run free. You can go up on the Promenade side and down on the Port side to see more of Nice. The area is great place to enjoy a picnic lunch or dinner, in a relaxed, family environment.
The Petite Train also goes up to the Château and gives you 10 minutes at the top, just enough time to take pictures. If the little ones like trains and can’t make the walk up, take the train. The train also drives by the tourist spots, so it’s an easy way to cover a lot of ground in a short amount of time.
As we are walking towards the Promenade to find the splash pad from yesterday, we came across these beautiful stairs. We didn’t know what they were for, or where they lead, so we looked around for some information or plaques. A big sign said it was for a castle. Perfect. Hubby and munchkin went up the stairs.
I did see a small white sign that said “ascenseurs” and I know that means elevator but I was probably too tired to register, because it took me a good 5 minutes to realize I, too, could visit the castle. I don’t even know what I was planning on doing while the boys were climbing up and down, I just knew that the baby’s harness was in the car and I was not going to climb those stairs.
At the entrance of the tunnel to the elevator is a nice guard that waves at you when you enter. Follow the corridor to the elevator. Signs everywhere say not to touch anything. The guard can see you through their not-so-hidden cameras and they are in control of the two elevators. So I went in, and was released at the main viewing platform at the top of the hill. As a person that is terrified of heights, I was not prepared to the landing. The doors opened and Bam! there was the city. The only thing between it and me was a metal railing and just enough floor space to maneuver my beast of a stroller around the corner. At the back of the elevator, I needed to walk over a bridge to get to “main land”. As far as irrational fears go, I am much better at facing them when I am alone, or at least not faced with the possibility of judgement or ridicule. When I walked up the Arc du Triomphe in Paris, it was just the kids and I so I managed to hold it together since my freaking out would only make the kids do something stupid instead of behave – this is what I need them to do when climbing epic amounts of stairs. Today was the same’ it was just me and the baby. I kept my mouth shut and just did it. She didn’t say a word, no one was around so I could take as long as I wanted, and make as many strange faces, scared noises and turn red-faced as I needed to get the job done. When I say I am afraid of heights, I’m not kidding. Climbing a step stool makes me nervous. Looking at the city from the “best advantage point” made my heart jump out of my chest.
According to the signs around the castle, the elevator shaft is the remodeled well for the castle, once called the “Devil’s well”, around 85 yards deep and dug in the 16th century.
Anyways, once I was at the base of the castle, it was much better. I met up with the boys, we climbed the castle, played in the park and had some (overpriced) Ice Cream at the little cafe before climbing back down. The Petit Train de Nice drove by us while we were walking around. I would like to say that if I had known, we would have taken that instead but they are 15 euro per person, and only stop for 20 minutes at the castle – this isn’t a Hop on Hop off style either, miss your train and good luck finding a seat on the next one that rolls by.
We had been promising them the splash pad since our failed attempt at a cruise this morning so we made our way in that general direction. Again, we got distracted and found ourselves at the Flower Market. The actual flowers were at the end of the market, the rest was a healthy mix of produce, dried meats and lavender soaps. Munchkin insisted on a soap shaped like a macaroon, such a boy. Sadly, no photos were taken. Too much fun exploring and keeping his hands off the food.
Finally found the splash pad. The baby was asleep so hubby went to play with him. It was nice. I got to sit in the shade and read a little while they played.
While I was relaxing and reading, I found the directions to the Russian Orthodox Church. I don’t imagine myself ever visiting Russia, mainly because the Baltic Cruise is so expensive, so I really wanted to visit this. We stopped for food and made our way to the bus stop. Baby woke up during lunch, which is great, and munchkin started to get bossy and rude, which meant he was tired. I don’t blame him, I was exhausted just watching him play, I couldn’t imagine what he felt like. Grabbed a bus, walked a pinch and found the church. There were signs everywhere so we didn’t even need our map once we found the right stop. There wasn’t a visible handi-ramp so we took turns sitting with him and baby girl got to visit twice. She was such a good girl too, her big brother taught her well about behaviour in a church.
The parks throughout Nice are awesome, so you can’t go wrong with taking a break and letting the kids run around in one.
They also have a splash pad nearby and we let the kids cool off.
Anyways, moving on. We left the Place Massena for the 2nd time today and started to walk back to the hotel. We snacked on crepes and slushies and wanted to see if we could find anything to eat along the way. We didn’t find anything that the kids would like to eat, in a setting that they would be welcomed in, but we did manage to find the old city. I say find; we were walking along the sidewalk next to the highway and we see stairs leading down, under beautiful archways and wonder where does this lead… wonder no more, we have no where to be at the moment.
Amazing streets of filled with shops. People everywhere. The centre square had yet another church and munchkin loves to explore churches. I love to indulge him. Église Saint Augustin
Finally, we were back at the hotel. Found a pizza place across the street and ate in our air-conditioned room. It was late, and we had a plane to catch in the morning. Despite the extra naps from both kids, they happily went to sleep when we asked.
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