Adrian and Heather's Travels: Farewell France

Happy Fathers Day!

Our last stop on our 6-week trip was the town of Thones, not far from Lake Annecy. We stayed here 2 years ago and really enjoyed it so decided we would come back again for 5 nights to finish off our trip. Coincidentally, it was the same time as 2 years ago which has a fantastic food festival over the first weekend of September. We stayed at a hotel that also had a few apartments, staying in a 2-bedroom one which had recently been renovated.

On our first full day (Saturday) we visited the local markets which are very big and have a huge variety of food stalls. So we bought cheese, fish, meat, bread, roast chicken, saucisson and even sauerkraut (a favourite of Matthew's) to last us for our days here. Being a quite warm day I went to the local pool with Matthew that afternoon while Heather and Jordan slept. There were 3 pools to swim in so we went for the mid-size pool that wasn't too deep for Matthew and even had a short water slide that he could use. Matthew had a great time and I had a bit of trouble convincing him when it was time to leave!

On the Sunday we headed to the food fair late morning so that we could sample something nice for lunch. We decided on a seafood lunch - oysters and mussels with bread and wine (latter 2 for Adrian only!). What a great lunch to have on Fathers Day. Matthew was intrigued by the bagpipe players (who were also staying at our hotel) and both boys even managed to have a feel of the bagpipes while they were having a break. That afternoon it was back to the pool for another swim (all four of us), being the last day before it shut down for the summer season (with a hot Monday forecast!).

With the pool now closed we spent our last couple of days at the local playground, cafes and boulangeries taking it quite easy before our long trip home. We flew Geneva-Heathrow-Hong Kong before taking an over night stop to break up the trip (plus flights didn't connect well!) at the airport hotel. It was a great idea and Matthew had a super time in the kids playroom which had all sorts of soft steps and slides to burn up some energy. Our last flight of the trip was on Cathay Pacific where the service and meals were impeccable. The cabin crew loved Jordan and all had their photo taken with him! We arrived in Perth late on Friday night with Heather's Mum meeting us at the airport and taking us home. She had done a fantastic job looking after the house and Muppet, including all our mail and bills. And to top it off she had cleaned the house from top to bottom - it's probably not been that clean since we bought it! Thanks Petra, your help has been invaluable on so many levels.

So our fantastic 6-week trip has come to end. Time to start thinking about the next trip........maybe when the boys are a little older though, and the added excitement of nappies and day sleeps are a thing of the past!