Switzerland

These were taken on the drive through Switzerland. If anyone is interested in viewing the Landy build, click here. I will blog about it in more detail at some point.

The Alps and Jura

We broke the drive south with a couple of nights in Lac de Chalaine. It was a beautiful tranquil spot and the following day the kids and their cousins had a great time out on the lake with canoes and pedalos. Keycamp have their own canoe that the kids could use FOC. It was such a beautiful spot with the tent on the lakefront, we could have spent a week there.

The drive through the Alps and Switzerland was pretty but as the blue beast was going at 50mph tops, we weren't able to make the customary stops. After a long, long drive, we arrived at Lake Garda, northern Italy.

CJ at Mont Blanc

Around Paris city center

Added ~ photo album

First view of the Eiffel Tower

After a sleep we bravely hit the underground (all these stairs) and hopped on and off umpteen trains complete with 7 kids and 2 buggies.
Scotland must have been half empty that day as Paris was full of men in kilts over for a football match that evening.

Hubby and the others did the Eiffle Tower up to the top which took a good couple of hours but was worth it for the views. My vertigo dictated that my feet stay firmly on terra firma. I burned at least a million calories down below, keeping an eye on TG and junior and slept amazingly well in the tent that night, considering the bed was on a slope where the ground was subsiding!

Check out the Official Eiffle Tower website and the kids section!

Notre Dame

We also paid Notre Dame a visit which was interesting for the kids after having constructed a cardboard model of the building. The gothic architecture and sheer scale of the place was interesting. Inside was a bit conflicting as on one hand you have a priest doing mass ... why is that dude singing Mum ... and to the left of the congregation you have a souvenier racket going on, complete with squashed penny machine.

I've always wanted to see the Eiffel Tower in person and it was a fantastic experience for the kids, however after all that city stuff, we were really looking forward to breaking our journey south in forests of the Alps and Jura.

Travel tip ... avoid the school holidays and book early! Three nights in a supertent in Paris cost £40 all up!

Around Paris - Versailles

After a night in a F1 hotel midway (budget chain in Europe) we made it to Charles de Gaulle airport in time for my husband's sister's flight touching down. Rather than sleep off the jet lag, it was unanimously decided that we make the most of the time and visit the palace of Versailles - pro versaj in french.

The palace is located southwest of Paris and was created by French King Louis XIII. The massive residence which contains the famous Hall of Mirrors was the last palace to be inhabited by a French King. Louis XVI and his wife Marie Antoinette resided here before the uprising during the French Revolution.
Although now a wealthy Parisian suburb,
'Versailles was the unofficial capital city of the kingdom of France from May 1682 (when King Louis XIV moved the court and government permanently to Versailles) until September 1715 (death of Louis XIV and regency, with the regent Philippe d'Orléans returning to Paris), and then again from June 1722 (when Louis XV returned to Versailles permanently) to October 1789 (when Louis XVI was forced to move back to Paris by the people of Paris). During the entire period, Paris remained the official capital city of France, and the official royal palace was the Palace of the Louvre, but in practice government affairs were conducted from Versailles, and Versailles was regarded as the real capital city'.

Taken from the web

More can be read here (official website) or here for palace information (Wilkopaedia).

Mont St Michel - France

I've always wanted to see the Mont de St Michel in Normandy. Even though I've viewed it in many books, like the rock of Gibralter, nothing really prepares you for the moment you happen upon it. It really is a spectacular sight - one large cone of rock jutting out of the sea topped by a great Gothic church. Most of the present building dates from the Gothic period being built between the 13th and 16th centuries. As this was a time of great conflict, much of the site is fortified. It was well worth the long detour to see.

As we didn't have much time to spare, we walked up through The Grande Rue which is the main thoroughfare and took a look at the little shops and buildings on the way up the hill. We didn't visit the great church and abbey at the top as it wasn't buggy-wheelchair-big pregnant lady friendly, but did see the parish church which dates back to the 11th century before letting the kids fly a kite and let off steam on the beach. The sand was grey and of mudlike consistency and EJ had a great time in the water covering himself in the stuff. It was a total strip job before we took off again and headed toward Paris ...

Read more here or view our album

Vive la France

In January of last year when we found out that we'd be meeting relatives in France that September, we set about learning as much as we could with great gusto! We went looking for some French recipes and AJ and I flew round Tesco with a list. The objective was to create a three course authentic French meal which we found at Cecile's place. While the boys were out swinging from the trees and banging caps, B and I slaved over a hot stove. B made the starter by herself, prepared the potatoes for the main and helped make the batter for the crepes.

The Menu

Tomatoe Mozzarella - entree which is very popular in France but Italian in origin.
Volaille et Roquefort - Chicken cooked in a Roquefort/sour cream sauce (very easy and extremely yummy) with sauteed potatoes.
Crepes

Voila!

This was such good fun and educational too! We plan to work our way around the world in the kitchen. Recently I was in Lidl's (cheap European grocery store) with CJ and they had some Greek food in. He bought some tinned Octopus! Watch this space lol.

We also did some fun crafts before and after the visit.

Cork and toothpick Eiffel Tower and cardboard Notre Dame courtesy of the Opitec company.

Now we just need to plod on with the language!