Vacation, Last Day

Our last day of vacation before we head out tomorrow!  We spent the day doing a bunch of our favorite things from the week.  We got crepes for breakfast, stopping to gaze into a pet store  window on our walk to the restaurant:

MADELEINE: I am OFFICIALLY charmed!

Still not getting a dog, Madeleine.

We tried a new-to-us crepe place, and Madeleine was mad at me because I ordered for her in French.  She wanted to do her OWN French order on our last day.

I blew it big time.

We wandered through Vieux Nice for a bit afterwards, and then for the afternoon, we hit the beach.  Both Julia and Madeleine had swimming in the sea on their list for last day activities:

Both girls loved riding the waves to shore, especially the big ones. I think Madeleine screamed with every wave that crashed forth, to the point that Julia was laughing about the scene her sister was making. 

MADELEINE: The sea is so relaxing, with BURSTS of excitement!

That is an apt description.

For dinner, we visited Ethan's favorite restaurant of the trip, and Madeleine was determined to order on her own.

WAITER: Pour vous mademoiselle? (Looking at Julia)
JULIA: La limonade, s'il vous plait.
WAITER: (looking at Madeleine)
MADELEINE: (face falling) La meme s'il vous plait.

Then on to ordering food.

WAITER: (looking at Julia)
JULIA: Le poulet, s'il vous plait.
MADELEINE: (making angry, outraged pantomime gestures at Julia)
WAITER: (looking at Madeleine)
MADELEINE: (utterly defeated) La meme, s'il vous plait.

Don't worry. Madeleine got to order her own gelato when we stopped for dessert on our stroll back to the hotel.  And what did Julia ask for?

JULIA: La meme, s'il vous plait.

Gelato and sorbet was a pretty great way to finish off our last day of vacation!

Vacation, Day 6

Today we took the bus to the mountain village of Eze, and saw some spectacular sights in the medieval city!  I asked Madeleine if she wanted to pretend she was a medieval villager roaming her city streets, but she didn't know how to talk like she was medieval, so she decided to pretend she was a Harry Potter character searching for Voldemort instead.

Here's a montage of what we saw and did:

Madeleine still says the place where she was licked by a doggie was her favorite spot we visited, but Julia, Ethan and I agree that Eze is a contender for our top location.  We can't believe that tomorrow is our last full day of vacation! 'Til then!

Vacation, Day 5

Another day out and about!  We spent hours walking around, first along the Promenade Des Anglais, then up the many, many, many steps to Castle Hill Park.  Madeleine was initially grumpy about so much time on her feet ("Mommy, I don't see anything AMAZING yet ") and then coming around once we were in the park ("It's so cool and ancient around here!". Julia, who is the perfect age for this trip, savored every moment and every view.  It truly was breath-taking:

We were so tired out after our adventure that we literally spent the rest of the afternoon at our apartment, resting, reading, and watching Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse.  And we still managed to walk over 20,000 steps!

Time to sleep now!