We
planned our stay in France this year to allow us to stay for
a few days with Susanne, Catherine and Christopher in Menton
for a few days before going to the campsite. As usual, they
made us very welcome.
Catherine
at 8 enjoys reading her own bed-time stories, but Christopher
(6) enjoyed joining in with James' and Matthew's pre-bed
routine. On the last night, he missed one of James' stories
as he was in the shower, so we shared an extra story on
his own.
The
first full day in France we went to Eze [link]. On the second
day, we decided to stay closer to base, and went to 'Koaland'
in Menton. Clearly, only toddlers were expected at 10.15 on
a school day, as none of the large rides were open. Initially,
we were in some doubt as to whether any of the rides were
open, but once the boys clambered into their first ride, the
same woman who sold us our Koala bearing jetons came over
to switch the ride on.
After
each ride, the boys chose their next treat, and the same woman
followed us over to press the on-button. The caterpillar,
dragon and elephant rides were particularly popular with the
boys.
There
was no sign of the huge fluffy Koala shown in the flyer,
but towards the back of the site we found some beautiful
fallow deer, with one young stag so tame that he came over
to the bars, close enough to touch his antlers. The boys
were entranced, and James especially was happy to spend
ages watching the deer.
The
'adventure jungle' was unsupervised but operational, so
the lack of other rides was compensated for by the fact
that James and Matthew could play on the bouncy castle,
and in the ball pit without sacrificing any further tokens.
