Leaving the camp we had been staying in we drove only a few hours to an area Brittany, still in France. We splurged a bit on this Airbnb and enjoyed the extra comforts that got us. After unpacking BK took the kids to explore the property, in bare feet and unfortunately C stood on a bee but he was very brave.

The first day we went to see the local area. We had seen a photo of a pretty canal lock so thought we’d get a French pastry and sit and watch to see if it got used and it did! It was fascinating for all of us to watch. Not much else happened that day due to C’s swollen foot.

The following day we drove out to Mont St Michel, which is an old town and church on a hill on an island. Back in the day you could only access it at low tide. Now there’s a bridge, and a bus, so we took that! BK and C sat in a cafe while R and I explored the church further up.

We were so glad we went early as by the time we left at 11.30 the island was choca, there was loooooooong queues of buses coming onto the island (luckily no queue for us either way on the bus!) and it was really hot!!

The next day we shifted another 2 hours drive away into the Normandy region, known for the D-Day landings. BK and I had been to this region of France before on our 2007 trip but had done a tour which follows paratroopers. So we missed the beaches and American cemetery. The day after we arrived it was perfect weather so we got it done! It was a great day. The beaches were amazing with D-Day well remembered. The American cemetery was beautiful but heart breaking as one realises there are 9000+ graves (we later found out there was another American cemetery in Brittany with 4000+ graves – very sobering).

The rest of that week we really did nothing much apart from clean the car. We knew the pace was about to pick up from now until the end of our trip so we took the opportunity to just lie low, rest and eat some great French pastries (yes I have managed to gain back that weight I lost in Asia but I’m not worried about it at all, it’ll come off before I’m home)

Then the bittersweet day came. Time to drive to Paris and say goodbye to Rouge. We had her for 121 days and drove 14,300km. I had arranged to dump our gear at our Airbnb thinking the less times we have to lug that gear around public transport the better, and when we arrived the apartment was ready so I stayed with the kids and BK dropped the car off (with no issues thank goodness – we are still waiting for our two Italian fines to show up). Bye little Rouge! You helped us make so many wonderful memories.

We drove you in all conditions from slow in the -2 degrees and snow on the Swiss Alps to 38 degrees and fast on the German autobahns.

It was time to explore Paris. We had been twice pre kids, and we didn’t love it as much as so many people do so we were hoping this time it would be ‘third time lucky’. We stayed in a lovely little area out of central Paris, we weren’t pushed to ‘do everything’ as we had already but were keen to show the kids the main sights. We checked out the Arc de Triomphe and the Eiffel Tower. One day and I took C to the Musée d’Orsay where he saw some Monet paintings he knew from his Montessori preschool days. A great art education for both of us. The following day BK took the kids to the science museum while I had a few hours of peace and quiet. So while no school work was done in Paris everyone certainly got educated! A really great Paris experience. Third time lucky ✔

Then it was time to down size our stuff as much as possible so we didn’t look like too much of a circus as we made our way to London. We Uber’d to the train station in Paris for €11 (it would have cost us €5 on the train so not that much more for the ease of being taken). Lugged our gear onto the Eurostar train then sped our way across France at 260 km per hour, under the English Channel and into England. A fantastic experience for all. We took the underground tube to our flat in London and was very glad when that travel day was over! United Kingdom here we come!

 

France Budget : a ridiculous 2410 under
There were a lot of days this month that were spent resting (and eating pastries). Disney was sponsored by a grandparent so that wasn’t put into the budget.

Till next time,

Claire