Airport Court

The last leg of our trip was spent with Paris as a home base. This is M’s second time in Paris (though last time was only for a day) and our 4th. Paris is one of my favorite cities and I still haven’t done everything I want to do here! Every though we are here for 3 nights, our actual time in Paris is quite limited. We made our way from Chartres to Paris with a stop in Giverny, a beautiful village in Northern France. Giverny was home to Claude Monet from 1883 until he died in

We couldn’t help but sleep in this morning! The château accommodations were so comfortable! We had planned to have breakfast in the hotel restaurant but everyone was so full from our fancy dinner last night we opted for an early picnic lunch later in the day. Our first stop was straight from Beauty and Beast. When Belle sang about the provincial town she lived, Langeais had to be it! And Château de Langeais had to be the beast’s castle! The castle was built in the 15th centur

The last few days were spent exploring the French countryside of the Loire Valley. The views from the car have been incredible. Sprawling green fields dotted with sheep, steeples of centuries old churches peaking out on the horizon, little medieval towns straight from a fairytale. We’ve made quite a few stops along the way! The first stop was to explore the caves of the Ackerman Winery (established in 1811). The self-guided tour ended with an eight wine tasting (and a sweet l

We were off the ferry boat by 8 am and after the most tedious rental car acquisition we were on our way Josh’s most anticipated activity: The abbey at Mont Saint-Michèl! Located in the Normandy region of France, this is the famous floating cathedral. Built on an island surrounded by water and quicksand, it was once only accessible via a dangerous low tide trek. Now, visitors can access it via the safety of a bridge (even on a bus for pilgrims who would rather save their energ

Taking your curious and inquisitive 5-year-old to a Titanic museum hours before boarding an overnight ferry boat is a massive parenting fail. I’m barely able to write this post because of the sheer exhaustion I feel from answering every possible question and providing every possible assurance that our boat would not sink. I am writing from the safety of French shores, so we made it, much to M’s surprise. We started yesterday at my most anticipated event of the trip - the SeaC

Our last full day in London was spent (as is our tradition) somewhere else! We decided on a last minute change from the Cliffs of Dover (we’ll see you next time, for sure!) to a closer, more low key adventure. A 25-minute train ride brought us to the most adorable little town of St. Albans! Named for Britain’s first saint, the beautiful city has a rich history as a former Roman settlement, a stunning medieval cathedral (built in the 11th century) and a street market that date

I am convinced that the worst jet lag has to be from the evening east coast flight overnight to a morning arrival in the UK. Something about this travel arrangement always kicks the whole family in the booty, every time. The start of this trip was no different and the first two full days have felt like a bit of a blur. M (who is 5 now) starts kindergarten in the fall, so this England/France vacation is our first time being a “summer vacation” vacation family. With M being in

Just like the night before we arrived in Chefchaouen in the evening. No cars are able to drive in the narrow site streets, so Rida dropped us off for the night and one of the riad owners walked us through the winding blue streets and steep stairs to our accommodations. We had our best tagine meal of the trip at the riad cooked by the husband/wife owners. We sat on the rooftop terrace while we waited for our dinner which took a while to prepare but was well worth the wait! We

The remainder of our guided tour had us in the car quite a bit as we visited - essentially- the rest of the country. After leaving the desert, we drove through the Ziz Valley full of palm groves and greenery for the first time of our trip. We also stopped briefly to see Barbary Macaques living in the cedar forests outside Ifrane. Ifrane is also called the “Switzerland of Morocco.” Located in the Middle Atlas Mountains, it is famous for being one of the cleanest cities in the

The busiest day of our trip started bright and early with breakfast and goodbyes at the family-owned hotel where we spent an incredibly comfortable night, despite the modest accommodations. A quick stop to view the Todra Gorge was followed by a winding walk through dusty streets to a small carpet weaving store. The owner was so friendly and introduced us to the hand-made carpet weaving process from sheering the sheep, lambs and camel to processing the wool to collecting the m