Bonjour...

(☝︎The view from our little chalet)

I'm back in Blighty again after our lovely little trip to the continent and as the astute among you will have picked up, we went to France again this year.

We were travelling down a little further this year, to La Palmyre, which is a couple of hours past La Rochelle, almost at Royan, for those that are familiar with the left-hand side of France.  To spread out the driving a little we had a stop-over in Paris on the way and we thought now Liss Millie is a smidge older she would be able to appreciate some of the sights without being bored.

It was a whistle stop tour for certain, we only had a half a day really, but we managed to see the Sacré Coeur, walk under the Arc de Triomphe, saunter down the Champs-Élysées, pause at the Place de la Concorde, dine in the Jardin des Tuileries (the gardens outside the Louvre) and capped it all off by shooting up the Tour Effiel in the evening.  In the morning we drank coffee (hot chocolate for Liss Miss) and ate the most delicious fresh croissants.  

It was like a capsule holiday to Paris but it was quite lovely for all that.

A mere 8 hours later we arrived at our main destination and the relaxing could begin in proper.  Well, as much relaxing as is possible with an eager 8 year old child at any rate.  Although, after the initial frantic swimming, water sliding, castle building and wave jumping that all had to happen virtually at once to stop her exploding, things did settle down to a more civilized pace.  There was even time to just have the pleasure of sitting back on the pool lounger in the last few days.  All three of us lazing with noses in books and taking periodic dips in the icy pool water to cool off - bliss.

We also happily fit our routine into what we now call 'holiday time', it works to a much later schedule than our home one, but it seems to fit to this type of holiday perfectly.  The day will start late, often not waking till past 9, breakfast is a casual affair at some time around 10 to 11 and then mooch along to the pool or beach, playing in the sand or sea, lounging, reading or swimming until we've had enough, lunching on packed french bread sandwiches or perhaps a café crêpe at some point along the way.  

Back home for a spruce up of our suncream smeared and often sandy selves and then off out again to peruse the selection of restaurants and decide if we are to be most tempted by the glacé or the crêpe section of the menu today - tough choices I'm sure you'll agree.  Then back home again for around 10 with most of us turning into bed at the same sort of time.  The child with a slight moan on her lips and the adults with the intention of a little reading, but it's surprisingly tiring doing very little all day.

Hummm, re-living it here makes me give a contented little sigh, remembering how lovely it all was.

Of course now it is back home, back to the old routine, back to jobs to do, back to an incredibly huge mountain of washing and back to reality...

...but I may just go and flick through the photos and re-live it one more time before I go and face all those things though!

S x

♥

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