le Gai Paris

We had a whirlwind tour of Paris, one day only but we packed a lot in.  We plan to spend much more time there in the future ...

The day started very early, with a 2 hour drive to a town called Antony where we parked the car and trained into Paris.  I had signed us up to a 3 hour walking tour with a fabulous, very animated guide who was French but had an American accent when speaking English!  He had lots of interesting facts and figures and the kids really enjoyed it.

Bella in Jardin des Tuileries - notice the bird in the animation!!

Charli's royal pet corgi Prince George enjoyed the sights of Paris with us!

Huelgoat

Huelgoat is within the Parc d’Armorique in central Finistère, Brittany.  I was very excited about visiting this moss covered oasis - so were the kids but not for the same reasons!!  Upon pulling into this lovely sleepy village it occurred to us that the fair had come to town! Dodgem cars and all.  We didn't fight it, fairy floss all round!!

Roscoff & Ile de Batz

On Sunday we drove to Roscoff, about an hour or so from Morlaix.  Roscoff is famous for onions & Onion Johnnies, Frenchmen who would peddle their onions door to door around Britain in berets, stripped breton t shirts and red scarfs.  We caught a boat from the port of Roscoff to Ile de Batz, Charli and Ed were drenched on the way over.  On the drive home we came across a London Bus from our local bus route!

Mac & Charli, Ile de Batz shoreline

the pretty town of Dinan

After a night in Dinard, a stunning seaside town about 20 mins from St Malo we set off early for the medieval town of Dinan.  We arrived nice and early and got to see the town come to life.  

Le Mont Saint Michel

We are on our first adventure to the continent.  We sailed on Tuesday night from Portsmouth to St Malo on board the Bretagne with Brittany Ferries.  It was a 12 hour trip (though in reality it could be sailed in less than half that time).  We were well and truely in steerage, disconcertingly below the water line. The kids all felt very seasick and I got about 3 hours sleep so we were happy to put our feet on French soil. 

The first stop was Mont Saint Michel - the kids felt they were in a medieval movie set. We did a tour of the abbey with a very cranky French woman who clapped every time someone raised their voice.  She was scary!