France
After years in the planning and anticipation, in June 2012 we finally managed to organise a trip to France to meet the French family and introduce Craig to the Robin side of life. Luckily it didn't take too much convincing to get Mom and Dad, Catherine and family to join us in France to meet new cousins, family and friends and spend some time enjoying all things French! Bonjour les vacances!!
(Note: some photos stolen and unaccredited from various family members. Merci...)
After years in the planning and anticipation, in June 2012 we finally managed to organise a trip to France to meet the French family and introduce Craig to the Robin side of life. Luckily it didn't take too much convincing to get Mom and Dad, Catherine and family to join us in France to meet new cousins, family and friends and spend some time enjoying all things French! Bonjour les vacances!!
(Note: some photos stolen and unaccredited from various family members. Merci...)
It was a long
flight!
But we made it, ah Paris.
Met up with Lis's parents for a tour of Paris, including play time in several parks. Maddy had a lot of fun with Mamie and Papi, spoilt of course!
Les ponts de Paris
Morning tea at the cute tea house and fancy bakery Laduree, brought back memories for Lis of her year in Paris many moons ago. Maddy was quite fond of her old-style high chair.
Le Louvre and the Jardins des Tuilleries
A commom sight around Paris with the flower boxes on the window sills.
Lunch with a view up the Eiffel Tower
Maddy was quite a fan of the baguette sandwich
Le Bistro d'a cote...
(sorry Dad, can't get accents in)
Family reunion
- a cousinade at Philippe and Claudine's a great chance to catch up with all the family
Netherlands
After getting over the flight and seeing some of the sights of Paris we then took the train up to the Netherlands. Here we caught up with Craig's cousin Amilia and family for a couple of days.
Stayed in Bed & Breakfast L'Anders right in the pretty market square of Haarlem, just outside of Amsterdam
Only in the Netherlands - a bike parking lot (containing thousands of bikes) and bike street lights.
Wandering the streets and canals of Amsterdam... a bit cold for "summer".
Enjoying brunch at a pancake house/farmyard with Amilia, Jan, Archie and little Matilda.
Maddy had lots of fun playing with Archie and his toys.
Fantastic catching up with some Beatties in Europe!
Back in Paris now, picked up our hire car and after a few wrong turns and a few extra gray hairs for Craig we headed towards the mountains around Annecy. Here we caught up with family and friends for a week. Fantastic times :-).
Our house for the week which we shared with Barbara & Pierre-Yves, Karen, Catherine and cousins Benjamin & Clara, and Alex, Cathy & Bump (now Zac).
The place was a great Gite rurale that I would highly recommend - brought back a few memories of our wedding lodge.
Checking out the amazing view...
Maddy happy to provide Cath and Alex with a preview of what they're to expect soon.
Plenty of backyard ball play and hill hikes.
Clara and Maddy enjoying bath time:.)
Testing out the paddle boards before hitting the local makets in Annecy.
...mmmmmm saucisson
....mmm olives and antipasti
...mmm nougat
...mmm yummy cheeses.
The food was just amazing, I may have gotten a bit carried away with the sausages but hey, we're on holidays.
La vieille ville d'Annecy is beautiful
Family picnic in the park
Mamie happy hanging out with her grandchildren
Checking out the Paragliders taking off from the mountain side looking over Lac D'Annecy.
And of course the required post event beer, cheese and baguette sandwich!
Maddy's cool new sunnies.
Chamonix and l'aiguille du midi
Mont Blanc - tallest summit in the Alpes at 4, 810 m
The ride up the mountain was too fast for little eardrums so Maddy and Clara stayed down to check out Chamonix
Hmm... what to get? Clearly Clara made the right choice!
More adventures around Annecy
For the return trip to Paris...
via le Morvan...
Having fun with the cousins in the little park of the village de Brassy
Le Chateau de Bazoches
All this history stuff is making me tired....
via old villages and la Basilique de Vezelay...
via the vineyards...
Wine tasting in Chablis
Interesting way of learning the different smells of wine
And finally back to Paris
Continuing the family tradition of Robins in the Parc Monceau
Very cute..
Cousins Benjamin and Jeremie
Family dinners chez Guy
Bubbles :-)
Fun for all the kids.
Finishing off the trip at Elancourt with a day out at France Miniature - planning the next trip...
http://www.franceminiature.fr/en
http://www.franceminiature.fr/en
