Our trip to France continues with many more photos

Our trip continues and we've taken many more photos to share.  There were so many highlights - spending time with friends and family, the food, hearing the kids speak fluent French, the shopping, see so many new places....

The Fountain of the Elephants in Chambery

On a wet afternoon we discovered the Chambery museum and had a great
time - this was part of an exhibit about kids and school.

Here we are back at Aix le Bains pre lunch.  I think Alex has learned to scowl from G.

G calculated that we ate out with the boys about 15 times during the trip.  That's completely out of character with life back in Melbourne.  Their behaviour was mixed... Luke more mature than Alex and Alex prone to his difficult times which includes insisting on sitting on Mummy's lap.  We resorted to all the usual tricks to keep the peace which these days is playing games on our smart phones.

Luke loves Steak Tartare but this 250gr portion is proving too much even for him

Then we were all packed up and ready to start the drive across France to get to Uncle Nick's wedding.  The drive was about 7 hours in total but we decided to do it over two days and take the opportunity to see this part of France.  We had the worst weather whilst we were driving - heavy rains - but better that day than another.

We planned to spend the night in Clermont-Ferrand, not known for much and did not leave an impression, and took advantage of it being in the old volcano region to spend a few hours at the Vulcania the volcano theme park.  Both of our boys are very impressed by volcanoes and lava and they loved all the rides,
 

Luke, Alex and G being volcano scientists



Journey to the centre of the earth ride - all hydraulic based with some fun
elements achieved through big fans, heaters and water sprays!

Chunks of lava as we were leaving, Luke would have liked to take one for a souvenir.

We stopped in Perigueux for lunch.  Such a beautiful town and gorgeous area - so different from the mountains of Chambery.  Over lunch Luke discovered duck neck salad (gesiers) and loves it.  We took a train ride around town to see the major sites.  Alex fell asleep on my lap and slept most of the way.



The little train in Perigoux

One of our purchases was a new French monopoly set, it got a lot of use.

The wedding location and region were very beautiful, lots of farm lands, small towns and even smaller roads.  In the town of Aubeterre-sur-Dronne there was an underground church from the 6th century.  We enjoyed having a look around. 

J and A at the underground church

Out for lunch with Grandpere Gilbert, Oma and friends



Then we were off to the big wedding.  It was a gorgeous day - Nick was glowing, Pippa looked absolutely beautiful and the hospitality was amazing.



Here we are with Florence, Thierry, their kids Delphine, Alexandre and Estelle.  Don't our boys look smart!

During the speeches, attention span is waning...

Our Alex with his Cousin Alexandre - they really hit off.

A quick stop in St Emillion, a very well known wine region, on our way to Bordeaux

Just a small part of beautiful Bordeaux

We stayed with friends in Bordeaux that we last saw at our wedding 9 years ago.  They have four kids now!  And live close to the town centre so we had a great afternoon riding their bikes around and then an evening of catching up.


We walked up the 334 steps of this tower to get a view of Bordeaux.  Our kids love this kind of thing.

Alex chasing the pigeons.  The whole trip he was obsessed with catching one.  No luck.

Seasoned travellers on the flight from Bordeaux to Nice.

A King Neptune inspired fountain in Nice.

Nice turned out to be a brilliant stop for us.  The weather was great and really the only place where the mornings and evenings didn't cool down significantly.  The food was great and we had a day and a half to explore the town and even swim.


A dip in the Mediterranean, it was pretty cold