after a 4 month much needed break, we're back and in business. but we've got much to report, so let's get down to business (mulan style)!
first of all, everyone here needs to follow 'pomelo travel.' they have amazing travel deals, so when we found one that would land us in geneva (i saw it as "on the border of france..." lol), we made an impulse decision and found ourselves there 3 weeks later. and have no regrets!
so we started in geneva and it really was like a smaller paris! it was so cute and definitely the cleanest city we've visited yet. very impressive, but not surprising considering who the swiss are.
my youngest brother makes many appearances in these pictures because he was kind enough to be our much needed 5th and 6th arm... and what 17 year old can resist a good old fashioned road trip??
our first recommendation:
**renting a mini boat and driving around lake geneva. it cost about 40 euros and was totally worth it. the boat is painfully cute and doesn't go fast, so it's a super relaxing cruise around the unbelievably blue lake.
** we recommend: 1 hour from geneva is the "pearl of the french alps" annecy. it is truly a DARLING city, very small but lots to do. we went to the farmers market, played on the playground, walked around the lake and just swooned over all the small medieval buildings.
>>> OBSESSED.
** we recommend: grignan, france.
from annecy we drove down to grignan, france. and it is truly worth going out of your way for. again we found a little fair with mini pony rides (like come on! is this heaven??!?), petting farms, homemade crepes and just wonderful, old time, french locals! we LOVE finding places like this. but it's a bummer because pictures never do it justice. but i believe there will be a neighborhood like this in heaven, it was just too good not to make celestial.
after that we headed to the crocodile farm. lol. not even joking. no one knows why it's here, but theres a crocodile farm just outside of mirmande with 400 species of reptiles and crocodiles. it's crazy, but very entertaining for kids. they could've spent hours more there.
** we recommend: St. Thome, France. (nothing to do there other than drive and enjoy vineyards.)
>> we were here on easter, so we hid easter eggs around the yard and it was seriously idyllic.
now if you want something touristy, but worth seeing, the pont du gard aqueduct is truly a majestic (and i don't use that word lightly) piece of engineering. you can swim in the river below (too cold when we were there) and walk on the lower parts of the bridge. because it's touristy, there are food options and there are many areas for picnics. lots of locals were there also enjoying the sights which are truly magnificent! mind blowing something so old can still be standing today.
continuing south, a great pit-stop would be the medieval town of avignon, which was once the seat of the papacy. it's darling, with a super cute carousel in the city center. the Palais des Papes is super cool and the little train that goes around the city is perfect for kids.
our southernmost destination was marseilles, which i wouldn't recommend for more than a day. imo it's the armpit of france, and i wouldn't go back, but glad we saw it. we took the petite train tour of the city and it was great for kids and we got to see all the important parts.
** but i would DEFINITELY recommend a visit to cassis. SUPER small, but SUPER darling. this is a little taste of st. tropez, which is a little far from marseilles. they have lots of cute toy stores, clothing stores and great hiking trails. we ventured up to the les calanques, which is their equivalent of the fjords of norway. best to view by boat, but we had bad weather, so just walked trails from above. but still very impressive.
special shout out: to secret for getting us reservations at le petit nice passedat for my birthday. that was seriously such a memorable experience and one i'll have to tell you about in person sometime. basically i don't like seafood (at all) and this is a white fish ceviche with caviar... haha you can only imagine....
so because marseilles was a bust (in my opinion! i'm sure other people love it!) we went on many day trips to surrounding towns. my favorite cheese was this red tomato herb we discovered in arles, which is a legitimate roman town that has hardly been touched. they have a coliseum similar to the one in rome and that is still used today for bull fights.
** then after you finish your tomato cheese in arles, we recommend going to the camargue delta, which is crawling with wildlife in the spring. this picture is from our "flamingo hunt 2018" that we went on. apparently flamingos flock here from africa in the spring to mate and they come in tens of thousands! i got close-ish to one but it flew away when it discovered me sneaking up on it. we saw lots, but they were too far away to get a great photo, which is bummer because no one believes we saw wild flamingos in france. believe in flamingos!!!
** we recommend: my favorite place we stopped: mirmande. officially listed as one of the most beautiful villages in france, it really is. we saw 2 other tourists and only 5 locals in the village. it's on the top of this small beautiful hill with beautiful doors and lavender fields surrounding. it was truly one of the highlights of my life.
>> PSA: the strawberry mint and basil mint were out of this world.
we flew out of geneva, so spent the last 4 days in the wanna-be-paris city. but no complaints, because we rode bikes (highly recommend the bucket bike for kids) and ate chocolate by the water and just acted like locals.
FYI: EVERYTHING is closed on sundays, so if you plan to be there on a sunday, make other plans. we left sunday morning and were so glad to be leaving, otherwise we would've been stranded with nothing to do and nowhere to eat.
** recommend: a day trip to yvoire, which is on the french side of lake geneva (I KNOW GUYS. I'M OBSESSED. LEAVE ME ALONE;) and is also a classified "most beautiful village." and boy was it. the cheese and crepes there were out of this world. the village is still has a medieval feel and was so fun to just wander and let the kids wander. very out of the way, so takes a minute to get to, but worth it.
no joke, was excited to go home just to have an excuse to lay off the cheese. we couldn't say no cause, ya know "cheese region," duh. but seriously. no bueno after 10 days.
after we got back a mom from school said in disbelief "i can't believe you travel with your kids!" and honestly, i don't think we'll ever stop. it's hard, super hard. like this trip especially was exhausting. BUT we are making family memories that we'll always talk about and that is worth it to us. so call us crazy, but we're okay with it.
and until the next trip you'll find us here, in the usa.... maybe not new york (big changes are coming), but we'll be around.
thanks for being our friends and part of our village! we sure feel blessed to have such a corner of supportive people! love you all, xo!
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