Merlin the Magian and the Roman Legion

Today we visited the historic town of Carnac. It's 30 minutes North West of Baden. It is the oldest continually occupied settlement in Europe. 

Carnac is famous as the site of more than 10,000 standing stones, also known as menhirs. The stones were cut from local rock and erected by the pre-Celtic people of Brittany. Local tradition claims that the reason they stand in such perfectly straight lines is that they are a Roman Legion turned to stone by Merlin the Magician.

The Roman Legion. (Carnac menhirs)

Map

Brittany

From Paris we have traveled a long way west to Baden in Brittany. I needed to see the Ocean before the end of our trip. The last time we saw the sea was in Naples in early June. Brittany does not disappoint. We are staying on the beautiful Gulf of Morbihan. This has many tidal inlets and at low tide you can collect cockles. We did this and cooked them in garlic and olive oil. The kids are loving the 5 star campsite with 7 waterslides, 5 bouncy castles and a rope park! Life is tough!

Miss C with a cockle

Baden

5 of the 7 water slides at Le Mané Guernehué

Cockle (or a peppie in Australia)

Mussels, fairy floss and love locks!

If you thought romance was passé in Paris, all you have to do is look at Paris bridges to see it is being displayed in full force.

The Paris “love locks” are back.

The love padlocks have been a phenomenon in cities around the world.

For those of you who haven’t heard of them, here's the story. A couple writes their names on a padlock and locks it onto one of the bridges. They then throw the key into the Seine River as a symbol of their undying love.

Some say the only way to break the seal of love brought on by this love lock act is to find the key and unlock the padlock. Of course, that is nearly impossible, since the keys lie at the bottom of the river. This reality induces many brokenhearted individuals to return with bolt cutters to try to chop off the padlocks in the dead of the night. 

Alex and Charlie decided they wanted to put their padlock on the bridge too. They wrote 'Alex, Charlie and Sam, Paris 2013' on their lock and tossed the key in the Seine (and kept a spare for their journals).

The car park we deposited the car at did free bike hire so Rog hired a bike and did some touring by the Seine giving 'croggies' to the kids. We went to the Jardin des Tuileries near the Louvre and went on the fair ground. The views from the air chairs was fantastic. (Cheaper than DLP and no queues or mice in sight!) 

Ended the day with steaming pots of moules frites (again!!).

We love Paris!!

A & C with their padlock

Charlie attaches it to bridge

The Louvre from the Jardin du Carousel

Louvre again 

Going up on the air chairs

The Louvre from the air chairs

Log flume- be warned you may get wet!

Fairy floss of course 

Musee d'Orsay and some tower

Moules frites (again!!!!!)

Paris Street Art

Street art is everywhere in Paris. It reminds me of Melbourne's lane ways.
I have posted a few examples below.

Paris with kids

We've found Paris a very 'kid friendly' city. You know what they say, 'Happy kids, happy life!
There are many parks with good quality, imaginative play equipment, clean and in good condition. Many of these are close to major attractions which makes 'letting off steam' easy. All of these were free except for the park in Jardin du Luxembourg which costs about 10 euro for a family of 4 for an 'all day' ticket.

Many of the attractions are free for kids, including the major museums. We visited Paris in August which is peak season so there were a lot of tourists around. We basically avoided some places/ activities that were renown for being very busy with long queues, eg: the Louvre, Versailles, going up the Eiffel Tower. Despite the hoards of people with a little imagination and research it was very easy to escape the hoards. We used 'Trip advisor', 'DK Family Guide to France' and a Guardian travel guide 'Paris with kids.'

We camped at Beau Village Camping, Paris which is about 20km south east of the centre. We drove into the city each day and parked in underground parking close to our destination. This was relatively straight forward with a GPS and quicker (on average taking 45min) and cheaper (average 20 euro) than public transport. The train takes 45 min into the centre of Pari then we would have had to take the metro, public transport for us all would have been in excess of 30 euros per day. Driving had the advantage of conserving the kids' energy as they can sit and chill in the back of the car meaning we could see more of the city, the younger two often fell asleep on the way home. The other great thing is the car parks have complimentary bikes which we took advantage of and had lovely time cycling through Paris.

We went to Paris Disneyland as it had been high on Alex and Charlie's list of 'must do's'. VERY expensive 260 euros for us, and VERY VERY busy. Queues for rides were 30-60 mins. It was Roger's and my idea of hell but the kids loved it. Charlie particularly loved all the Disney characters and the parade at the end of the day.

City Centre Parking (saves time, energy and money)

Spot the tower!

Complimentary bike from the parking

Montmartre

Having seen many famous paintings yesterday, today we decided to go and see where some of these artists lived and worked. Van Gogh, Renoir, Picasso and Toulose-Latrec among many others lived and painted in Montmartre.

We used a review from the Guardian (a UK newspaper) to guide us to some hidden gems off the main tourist trail. First we went to the tiny Square Jehan Rictus which is known for its "mur des je t'aime" (wall of love). 'I love you' is written 311 times in 280 languages but we couldn't find English! We had steaming bowls of coffee and hot chocolate in a lovely cafe to fortify ourselves for the day.
We headed up the hill through a maze of cobbled streets with lots of quirky shops to Place du Tertre. This was once the site of the gallows but in the 19th century artists began to sell their work here. We bought a lovely painting of the Eiffel tower by a painter from Iran who had lived in Paris for 20 years.

We then went to the Sacre-Coeur, which is perched on the highest point in Paris and reaches almost as high in the sky as the Eiffel tower. It was concecrated in 1919. Roger and Alex climbed up the dome and were rewarded with incredible views of Paris. The mosaic of Christ dominating the chancel vault is one of the largest in the world.

Rog with his coiffeur!

Je t'aime

Painter in the Place du Tertre

The Sacre-Coeur

View from the dome of the Sacre-Coeur

Musee d'Orsay

The Musee d'Orsay used to be a steam train station but it had to close when it's platforms became too short for modern trains. The giant station clocks are still here and it is home to some of the most famous Impressionist paintings in the world including Renoir, Cezanne, Manet, Monet and Degas. There were also galleries devoted to Van Gogh and another to Henri Toulouse-Lautrec. The collection is truly breathtaking, in a forgotten corner on the 'Art Nouveau' level (which was empty as the hoards were in the Impressionist gallery) was a fabulous Edvard Munch painting.

When official art dealers saw the paintings of Cezanne and Monet they burst out laughing . 'R' for refuse - rejected - was stamped on the back and the canvases were returned. So, the artists decided to exhibit their paintings in their own show, the Salon des Refuses or ' Room of the Rejected.'

The kids loved the gallery, Alex was delighted to see Van Gogh's 'Starry Night' which he'd learned about at school and Charlie loved Degas' paintings and sculptures of dancers.

Paris is very 'kid friendly'; there are lots of playgrounds with many close to the main tourist attractions which makes 'letting off steam' easy.

View of the Louvre from the roof top terrace

The Sacre-Coeur through the station clock

The main gallery with station clock reminiscent of the movie 'Hugo' at the end

MO

Alex and Charlie are in Melbourne at the playground outside

Paris by Night

Paris is a beautiful city and becomes even better after dark!

We took a picnic and picniced in the Jardin des Tuileriers, next to the Louvre. It was a perfect evening, mid 20's and a full moon. There was a great playground which was free (unlike the playground in Luxembourg gardens which you had to pay for: 2.50 euros for kids, including Sam and 1.50 euros for adults)

The Louvre is an amazing building, it's enormous. As well as it's stunning selection of art from the middle ages to 1848 it also houses one of the biggest collections of Egyptian treasures in the world. The modern glass pyramid in the main entrance is exactly ten times smaller than the Pyramid of Cheops in Egypt.

We watched the sun set over the Seine then walked back along the river watching the lights on the river and in the city.

Musee de Louvre

Paris by night

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