Trip to France (Valence, Grenoble, and St. Julien)

This past weekend, we decided to take a trip a little further south into France to spend a few days. We have been to Paris several times, but there is obviously much more to see and do in France. Cole had to head down that way for work this week, so we decided to tag alone for the weekend and explore. This trip was nice in that we didn't really have an agenda other than wanting to relax and take in what the French countryside and Alps have to offer. However, it doesn't seem like we can travel without having some crazy...and this trip was no exception!

Friday, we picked Cameron up from school, ate lunch, then hopped in the car to head to the train station in Lille, France. I am not exaggerating when I say that we could not have been one millisecond later without having missed our train! We ran into some traffic that caused us to arrive a little later than we anticipated and the door to the train literally shut right behind me as I jumped in. My heart was racing while I made sure everyone was on the train. Thankfully, we all made it on and got settled in for the four hour train ride to Valence.

The boys played together

They snacked

We even had our own French version of Penn Jillette for a train conductor. He did tricks for the boys and even made them balloon animals!

Also, the view from the train of the French countryside was beautiful!

Once we arrived, we took a taxi from the train station to our hotel. As a side note, I think it's been about seven years since I last took a taxi, but they are expensive!! Either I don't remember how much my last taxi ride was, or the prices have gone up. For a ten mile ride, it was about $75.00!! Anyway, after settling into our room, we went to the hotel restaurant to have dinner. We were having a pretty nice dinner until Harrison started to get fussy. We thought he was just tired and ready for bed since he had missed his nap. However, after picking him up and holding him, he threw up all over me! You might remember from this post, the last time we went to France, Cameron also threw up all over the place! Harrison seemed fine after throwing up, but we decided to call it a night pretty quickly after that! I had woken up with a sore throat Friday morning and Cameron was fighting a cold, so an early bedtime seemed like a good idea anyways. Unfortunately, Harrison woke up every half hour or so for the whole night, so none of us got a very good nights sleep. Needless to say, after the throwing up, sore throat, and lack of sleep, we were all wondering if we should just head home and try this trip another time. With Cameron, Harrison and I having pretty bad colds, I thought it would be a mess trying travel anymore. Thankfully, Cole convinced me that we could still have fun and we continued on our journey. 

After breakfast at the hotel Saturday morning, the boys and I waited in the room while Cole went to get the rental car. What should have been a half hour wait turned into a two hour wait because there was a long line to get the rental car, and then Cole accidentally got on a toll road and had to drive 30 minutes in the wrong direction before he could turn around and come back to the hotel...and we still had an hour drive from Valence to Grenoble!

Can you tell how tiny this car is? Cole's knees were on the dash board!

View from our drive into Grenoble

The first thing we decided to do was take a cable car up to La Bastille, a military fortress built in 1823. From the fortress, you can see the flattest town in France and the beautiful surrounding mountains. It was a gorgeous day and the views were amazing!  

The fortress is on the top of this mountain

Heading up!

Heading back down

After the cable cars, we stopped at a park to let the boys play for a while, walked around a bit, then got some lunch at an outdoor cafe.

The last thing we did in Grenoble was take a little train tour through the city. The boys, of course, loved this!

head gear to hear the commentary

Some views from the train tour

After the train tour, we headed back to Valence, stopped at a grocery store to get some food for dinner, then headed to bed early again. 

Sunday, we ate breakfast at the hotel, then took a drive through the mountains to St. Julien. We did not have any agenda, but instead, just stopped whenever we found a place that looked interesting. The first place we found was a nature park. We stopped to play, walk, and throw rocks in the river.  

Harrison looks so mischevious! 

Always climbing on things!

Check out that form!

Learning to throw a frisbee

After the park, we drove through the mountains and countryside from St. Julien to Privas.

Along the way, we ran into some kind of firetruck exhibit. Of course we had to stop...Cameron was in firetruck heaven!

Running/flying back to the car

After driving through Privas, we decided to head back to Valence to explore some more. The last stop we made was at the Le Rhone River. It was an absolutely beautiful view!

Once we were back in Valence, we decided to drive through town a little bit. We had to be at the train station at 3:00, so we didn't have a lot of time. It was beautiful, just like everything else we saw!

After a quick lunch, we packed up and headed to the train station. I was a little nervous about this trip because I was going to have the boys by myself for the four hour train ride. I was even more nervous when I discovered that the train was completely full and I would have to hold both boys in one tiny seat!! Normally, we just buy tickets for Cole and me and then spread out unless the train is full. Thankfully, after the first stop, lots of people got off the train and we could spread out a bit. The boys watched movies and even napped a bit.

 

Unfortunately, shortly after the boys fell asleep, the train filled back up and we had to move back to our seat. The boys were not happy to be awakened so abruptly and they let me (and everyone else on the train) know it! Thankfully we only had an hour until our stop at that point. Despite being exhausted, they did pretty well and we made it home last night around 9:30. 

Even though there were some bumps in the road, it was so nice to have a weekend with the family! It's not always easy to travel with little ones, especially when most of us are sick, but it was great to explore and create these memories with the four of us! It was also nice to go off the beaten path and just experience life in France. I'm looking forward to our next adventure!