This time we decided to go South instead of East and we took on Disneyland too. Our itinerary was as follows:
Chabanais to Angouleme
Angouleme to Paris (Marne la vallee - Disneyland Paris)
two days at Disneyland
Paris to Montpellier
Montpellier to Barcelona (Mediterranean coastal train - amazing!)
Barcelona to Rome (plane) To meet their Dad for a few days
Rome to Naples
Naples to Milan
Milan to Lake Garda (I messed up on the planning here)
Lake Garda to Milan to Nice through Ventimiglia and Monaco
Nice to Marseille
Marseille to Paris
Paris to Angouleme
We covered two additional countries to our home country, France. I tried to learn from the previous year where I had felt that we had crammed in a little too much (18 days - 8 countries) and thought we could try to do more of each country this way. There were pros and cons to both ways. I think overall it's better to factor in more down time to travelling - sleeper trains with kids is a bad idea - they sleep, you don't! It's a lot of fun though to do a country a day, that was exciting too!
So the kids had been excited about the prospect of waking up in the dark all week. I woke them and we set off to the train station. The train had a replacement bus, so we got that to Angouleme.. the fact that it was so dark added this sense of excitement.... We took the bus from our local town of Chabanais to Angouleme where the TGV station is - Train Grande Vitesse - High speed train, the fastest in Europe I believe.
There was time to kill before the TGV left the station so we got the bus up to Angouleme museum. We love it there. It's brilliant, 5 euros for adults and kids are free.
Then we got the TGV to Marne la vallee, Disneyland. The boys were so excited to see Disney images all over the place and finally we got to our first hotel... yaaay!
I knew we would get there with time to spare so I got a deal to a local sea life centre and we visited it. Actually, after this one we decided we won't visit them again. Everything was poorly maintained and it was quite sad to see. We didn't feel that the animals were being looked after well enough by the state of the tanks and the overall feeling there. Just our impression.
This is us waiting for the bus - the boys are very excited of course.
Larks on the bus!
and then Disneyland (next day!) Hurrahhh!
There was a system to enter which I didn't fully understand to begin with, you have to use your tickets, to get other tickets and then you are allowed in. It didn't take too long though and the staff were really helpful.
It was October so lots of Halloween references...
We went on all the rides that didn't have 1.5 hours to wait. If I go again, I will buy the fast pass tickets.
Caden's backpack! The boys carried their own backpacks this time. I took the bare minimum with us. The idea was to wash our clothes on the journey and carry as little as possible. This was one thing I had learned from our first interrailing trip. It was much more practical for us all this time around and we had more freedom. Plus... make the kids carry their own ;) Little backpackers.
This was us the next day at Walt Disney Studios. The boys had found Disneyland a bit tacky and naff to be honest, it just wasn't really for us. They liked some of the rides. Miles enjoyed it more than Caden. We all agreed that Walt Disney Studios was much better. There was an exciting stunt race/car and special effects show that was spectacular, a great special effects ride where a lorry gets pushed down a hill by a fake burst dam (or something like that) it was great anyway. Once again we were scuppered a little by not having a fast track pass but we got around enough to enjoy our day. Caden definitely does not like the Tower of Terror, whereas Miles discovered that he is in fact a bit of a thrill seeker - he loved the ride and squealed with joy! He would have done it twice. (It was horrific - I was shaking with fear when we got off).
Miles the thrill-seeker! Getting his kicks from the man sized power fan!
Nutter!
This was the truck special effects ride that we were pleasantly surprised with (and had to queue for about 1.5 hours for - yes they whinged!)
Lots of postcard writing and scrapbooking ensued on the trains... This was the train from Paris to Montpellier. We saw some incredible architecture in Montpellier. We loved this one which was mid-construction. Desgined a little like a tree... So I took a photo of them with it to remind us.
Montpellier is a really beautiful city. We headed straight for the park in the centre. Played with the leaves, had a walk. Took it all in.
We decided to work out the tram system, Caden really got the hang of this well. He was helping me out in fact! We took it as close to the sea as possible and after risking a medium walk, we found a little rocky beach area and had a lovely walk
Setting off early in the morning to walk to the tram to the amazing free Montpellier zoo, before we catch the train to Barcelona later that day.
The train down the Mediterranean coast is great! The sea is on one side and the Pyrenees Orientales on the other side. There are lovely towns and things to look at, it's worth taking this route just for the fun of the train ride.
We swapped at a station to another train.. when we got across the Spanish border then carried on to Barcelona.
When we arrived, tired and hungry. We headed straight for the local kebab shop and it was awesome!
We love Barcelona!
I took them up to Park Guell and to see the Sagrada Familia - all Gaudi!
Caden did say when we arrived, 'so this was made by Mahatma Gaudi?' I explained his error... Good he is paying attention though ;)
The stunning harbour where I had a coffee one morning en route to the beach.
I love that the city has a proper beach.
They noticed these cars.
Old Spanish streets.... there were a lot of Catalonia flags and Si (yes) flags flying all over this region, obviously as it was Catalonia and we were just days before the vote where it won independance which was revoked by Spain.
They loved the beach..
Sagrada Familia - a work of art on so many levels... I have to go back. The kids were fairly underwhelmed with this...
Park Guell - we all climbed right to the top... it's the best view of the city! Total panorama!
Then I agreed to dye their hair blue and green! They were both delighted!
Green hair on the flight to Rome to meet Daddy!
Roma!
Coliseum and museums...
We all had ice creams from the Frigidarium, the best ice creamery in Roma apparently! They were really, really good and I don't usually like ice cream!
