We're just back from a super amazing vacation in France - one week at this gorgeous little beach house in the town of Montalivet on the Atlantic coast, where Jude and his friend Hugo spent the week playing in the sand and sun and generally getting up to tons of hilarious 3 year old shenanigans. There is nothing more relaxing on a family vacation than kids that are happily occupied!
At Plage du Pin Sec - endless miles of beach, shells to poke, surfers to watch...
Much time was spent doing absolutely nothing...
Or doing really important stuff like coaxing snails out of their shells...
We took the ferry to Royan to visit the Zoo de la Palmyre (completely amazing - the animals are close enough to touch in many cases - quite a different experience from the average American zoo), reading books before long afternoon naps, our bedroom window at the beach house (above which were roosting a family of doves - there's nothing quite like a late afternoon nap with the breeze in the curtains and the sounds cooing doves in the background)...
A brief pause in Bordeaux on our way to catch the train the Paris...the fountain at Place des Quinconces...
Oh how I LOVE Paris - every time we go, it just blows me away all over again.
The night before we got on the train to France, I told Jude (grooming him to be on my side for future campaigns for more French vacations) that we were going to spend a whole week eating gateaux, glace, fromage and croissants - he couldn't sleep he was so excited - and we did. Macarons galore, chocolate every day! Vacation rules dictate that is is perfectly okay to have éclairs for lunch - who can resist a display like this after all?
Visited the Dynamo exhibit at Le Grand Palais - a pretty fabulous exhibit of notions of space, vision and light run through the abstract art of the 20th century which involved a lot fun of kinetic, op and light-based art which was a big hit with the toddler set. Here Jude enjoys a pretty remarkable installation piece that blurs the line between two and three dimensions.
Other highlights included the Galerie d'evolution in le Jardin des Plantes - literally like stepping into a cabinet of curiosities, hitting le Marais for the annual sales (held twice a year in January and July), le Musée de la chasse et de la nature (one of my all time favorite museums in the world), the carousel at Jardin du Luxembourg, and taking the Batobus down the Seine to get home one afternoon (touristy stigma aside, it was turned out to be a great way to get home after slogging all over Paris in the sun and Jude loved the boat ride.)
This adorable map from Herb Lester - Paris en Famille - a little guide to kid friendly places to check out in Paris, came in handy and had some great suggestions.