After visiting Skye last summer I decided to take the kids on a 2 week road trip around France, Germany and Belgium at the start of their summer holidays. Unfortunately Stu couldn’t take the time off work so he planned to visit us for a long weekend when we were in the Black Forest, Germany.

We headed off straight after Speech Day, stayed in the Premier Inn next to the Channel Tunnel so that we could have breakfast (kids eat free at Premier Inn) and take an early morning Chunnel the next day.

Day 1 – Travel to Paris

We were headed for Paris but needed somewhere to stop on route as 3.5 hours was a bit too far to travel without a break. I had done my research and found Chateau de Chantilly – which was about an hour outside of Paris. We didn’t want to go inside of the Chateau but explored the gardens for a couple of hours and Tom & Izzy had ice-creams. It was ridiculously hot as Europe were in the midst of a heat wave!

^{Exploring Chateau de Chantilly}

We were staying in an AirBnb in Val d’Europe which was within walking distance of the train station (for Paris) and Disneyland. We were a little early for check in so I stopped off at a massive Carrefours and bought loads of supplies such as pizzas. When we arrived at our apartment – which was lovely – I found out there was no oven – it was obviously not aimed at people who wanted to self cater!

We walked into the local town for dinner where Tom & Izzy had pizza & ice cream whilst I had salmon pasta. They then played in the water fountains as it was so hot.

^{Exploring Val D’Europe on our first evening}

Day 2 – Paris

Sainte-Chapelle

We walked to the train station and took a morning train into Paris. Our first stop was Sainte-Chapelle – somewhere I had never visited before. We queued for ages to enter but once inside the stained glass windows were stunning!

^{Inside Sainte-Chapelle – even Tom was impressed with the windows!}

Notre-Dame

We then walked 5 minutes up the road to see the Notre-Dame. We didn’t want to go inside so took some photos on one of the bridges nearby and then found a lovely little cafe for some lunch. Tom being his normal unadventurous self had ‘Jambon et Frites’ whilst I had quiche.

^{Notre-Dame and lunch}

We were starting to get a bit tired so opted to take a boat trip for the afternoon – this way we could see the sites with minimal walking! We found a boat tour company at Pont Neuf and took the first tour. It was really quiet and we basically had the top level of the boat to ourselves. We sailed up the River Seine to the Eiffel Tower and back again.

^{Boat trip along the Seine}

It was then time to head home and we stopped off at the shopping Centre at Val D’Europe where Tom & Izzy had frozen yoghurt.

Day 3 – Disneyland

We had not visited Disney since Tom & Izzy were 5 & 4 years old so they were really excited. We arrived as it opened and spent the first part of the morning going on the little rides. We also found the Toy Story Laser Quest which used to be their favourite ride – and they still loved it!

^{Disneyland, Paris}

We were starting to get hungry but there were huge lines at all the food stands. In the end we went to the buffet restaurant as it was quiet and we could walk straight in. We went on Space Mountain, watched the parade and had a few more turns of Laser Quest.

We had planned on staying to watch the fireworks but it was such a long day and we were really tired so gave up and headed home. However, before the fireworks started the heatwave broke and there was an almighty thunder storm which lasted hours – so I was glad we left!

Day 4 – Palace of Versailles

One of the kids in Tom’s year at school lived in Versailles so I had arranged for us to visit and spend the day with them. I drove to Versailles in the morning and we met them at the front of the palace. As they lived in the town they received free entree for them and their guests – it also meant we could skip the queues.

We wandered round the gardens where we hired rowing boats and went on the Grand Canal.

^{Boating with Tom!}

We then explored the Palace and finished in the Hall of Mirrors. We then had a lovely meal at their house before returning home. We had an early start the next day as were headed to Zurich Airport to pick up Stu for the weekend.