As most of you undoubtedly know I love Italy. We have passed most of our vacations there - and any part of the country you go there is something beautiful to see. I have never been disappointed by a trip there.Lately though we have changed destinations a bit. the last couple of years we went to Barcelona and Madrid and this time around we decided to travel a bit around France. And My Goodness - it's beautiful! Not that I had any doubts overalll but I was impressed that there was so much to see in so many different places. It was a fantastic trip.
We just returned from a 12-day trip. Started off by landing in Marseille and staying in Aix-en Provence for three nights. Then we drove to Carcassone and stayed three nights. Next we drove to Lourdes and stayed two nights and finally we flew to Paris where we stayed in Disneyland Hotel for four nights.
The first day we went to the Chateau D'If off Marseille on the Ile D'If and visited the famous prison where the Count of MonteChristo was imprisoned for around 14 years. Five minutes after we landed it started raining real hard but we managed to enjoy the visit. The rain hindered our visit to Marseille quite a bit though so we didn't see much of it. We rented a car and the next days went to Avignon and Provence. Next we drove to the medieval city of Carcassone and let me tell you if you love medievals and visit France you cannot not go there. It is beautiful. We all enjoyed it - husband kids and all. It is mostly reconstructed but the atmosphere is fantastically medieval. While we where there we attended a joust reenactment that was real fun too. My five year old got carried away with the camera and we have endless photos to second-to-second jousting and medieval fighting.
Next we drove through a number of cute villages on to Lourdes. My husband had made a vow to go after he nearly died post op a couple of years ago. It was my first time there and I was amazed by the number of devotees there. 5 million people visit each year.
The final leg of our trip was Paris. We had a couple of days planned at Disneyland so the girls could have some fun there. It was our fourth time there but the girls were previously too young to remember anything. they both really loved it. Perfect age to enjoy it.
The other two days we went around Paris and to Versailles. Versailles is impressively large. Must have spent loads of people's money on its upkeep because the Palace and even the grounds are very very impressive. We went around Paris in the hop-on hop-off but if there weren't the girls with us we could have gone around a few museums or art galleries. There is loads to see in Paris. It was my third thime there but I confess I hadn't realised how rich in culture it was before.
Next trip I would like to make is a Palace/Castle trip in the Loire Valley and surroundings as there are a few other impressive ones I would love to see.
All in all fantastic trip! Returned this afternoon so I just unpacked and started some laundry.
The weather was good overall - actually most places are cooler than Malta this time of year as long as we don't go to North Africa. n Malta it's suffocatingly hot at the moment. We did however, go at high tourist season and that is a problem for us as my husband hates crowds. And while i love going to places with lots of people the amounts in Versailles did detract a bit from being able to enjoy it to the full. I am predicting that next time we will revert to our usual September trip.
Luci
Malta
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