A Beach in Southern France

The sun and beach were calling us, it was time to go to the coast of southern France. It had been non-stop for us the last few weeks. We were nearing the start of our Camino (our hike in Spain) and it was time to rest up. Parker and I only booked our travels through Paris, and now we are getting into long-term travel mode, which basically means "winging it".

From Paris, we took a 5 hour train to St. Jean de Luz. This was our first destination that we randomly choose on a map, simply because it was a beach town and close to our next stop. We choose correctly. St. Jean de Luz is a quaint little beach town. The school year just ended in the area so the beach was busy, but with just French families. It was a nice change from the mob of tourists in three most visited places in the world (NYC, London, Paris).

We were all ready to unpack for a bit. I booked a cute little condo with a kitchenette for five days. It was a few minutes walk from the beach. We had no schedule, no one to meet, no landmarks to visit, it was chill time.

At some point each day, we made our way to the beach. We had a quick chat with the kids about seeing boobies and booties on the beach, "hey kiddos, we're in France, being topless is normal here, don't stare, don't be a weirdo, ok? "K". Ha! They handled it well. 

The temps that week were in the low 80s and partly sunny to overcast. It reminded me of early spring at Barton Springs. Warm enough to lay out but not warm enough to get in the water (for me anyway). The rest of my family dove right in. Parker took the kids out to a swim platform that was about 150 yards out, depending on the tide, sometimes it was further. They would stay out for a bit, diving and goofing around on the platform. All those years of them being on swim team was paying off. When they weren't swimming, the kids built sand sculptures. We also enjoyed the amazing seafood.

Happy Cruz! His favorite, Mussels!

I am glad we left Paris before the Olympics, but watching the opening ceremony in France was pretty awesome. We found the only place with large TVs (cafes and restaurants here do not have TVs). There were a lot of people at Buzipas (a food court-type place) doing the same, and the energy was fun. We enjoyed our time in France. But it was time to head towards Spain. It was time to go for a walk.

Paris!

Paris was Kaia's destination of choice. She is teaching herself French and wished to visit. During our planning, the first part of our trip was rushed because we were timing it around the 2024 Paris Olympics.  We wanted to be out of Paris before it started. We arrived the weekend before the opening ceremony (cutting it close, I know). There was a lot of excitement in the air. As expected, Paris was an absolute mad house but we were ready for it. It is the Olympics, after all. 

When we got off our EuroStar train from London, Gare du Nord Station was packed to the max. We could barely fit into our train. The intercom announcement kept warning passengers about pick-pockets. We had a hard time with our train tickets that we pre-purchased, half of our tickets didn't work. Parker and I kept our cool around the kids but it was tense.

           

Our hotel was on the Seine River a couple of blocks from the Eiffel Tower. The river was already completely barricaded off, as well as blocks around the Eiffel Tower. Police presence was heavy around the city. We rolled with the craziness and enjoyed our four days in the city. Kaia was trying out her French and so was Cruz. Parker's high school French kicked in and it helped get us around.

To get close to the Eiffel Tower, you had to scan a QR Code and register for tickets (they were free) to get in.  This actually worked out well, it was much less crowded than usual. Underneath the tower is usually open to the public, you only had to pay to go up the lift.  The kids loved going straight up the tower. What a great view of the city, you can see beyond Paris from the tower as well as all the major historical sights. You could see the main stage of the Olympics and many areas for different competitions. The middle of the Eiffel tower had restaurants and shops. We all decided to use the stairs to go down, racing the elevator was our favorite part.

It was great seeing the Olympic rings on the tower and seeing the set up for the big event. We caught up on some much needed rest so we didn’t pack too much sightseeing. The rest of our time in Paris was spent wandering around, trying different bakeries, café hopping, and people watching. We showed the kids where we stayed with Kris and John, on Rue de Renne. We walked through Luxembourg Gardens, which was only blocks away from the flat.  Parker and I have great memories of Paris, we had spent almost two months in the city of love. It was where we decided to end our trip because it was time to go home and start our family. It was special to go back with our kids.