Day 2

Day 2 started a little earlier than planned. Alexander had actually slept really well beside me, mainly because I still couldn’t get the bloody travel cot up properly. Every time I thought I had cracked it, another side would collapse in on itself. Whoever designs those things clearly hates parents.

We decided to make the most of the morning and head out for a walk before the heat properly kicked in. The place we’re staying is perched up on a hill, which is lovely for the views but less lovely when you’re pushing a pram uphill first thing in the morning. Alexander thought it was the best fun ever while I was sweating like I was halfway through a marathon. Some of the ‘paths’ through the woodland weren’t really paths at all either. At one point it genuinely felt like I was doing the Duke of Edinburgh Award with a buggy. Roots, stones, random slopes, and hidden holes - we survived it though.

The little village itself is tiny, just clusters of houses overlooking the more industrial area below, but from up high it all looks lovely, especially with the clear blue sky overhead. On the way back we stopped at the bakery directly opposite our garden gate and picked up a croissant and pain au chocolat for breakfast. Alexander ate away and made it very clear that this was significantly better than the Lidl version yesterday. He has standards now apparently.

Despite the fact it was still fairly early, Alexander was absolutely determined to go to the pool. So we got changed and headed with full of optimism… and immediately realised the water was freezing. Proper cold. After about twenty minutes it actually became lovely, and eventually Alexander gathered enough courage to come in for a swim too.

Meanwhile back in Belfast, Anna was standing outside the passport office waiting for her emergency passport appointment. About ten minutes later she messaged to say success. Passport sorted. The plan now was simple enough: wait four hours, collect passport, check in and head straight to the airport. Easy. Or so we thought.

We spent most of the rest of the morning in and around the pool before deciding to head off for an adventure. We drove to a small medieval château village nearby that had been recommended to us (by chatGPT). Probably not exciting enough to have been a full family day trip with Anna, but definitely interesting enough to break up the day. The Donjon du Château Gaillard sits on top of a steep hill overlooking the Seine Valley, originally built in the late 12th century by Richard the Lionheart as a fortress to defend Normandy from the French king.

We wandered around the gardens for a while, mostly passing time and letting Alexander run about chasing bumblebees. The village itself was basically two streets and a church, but absolutely lovely. Weirdly though, it was packed with American tourists. Everywhere else we’ve been around here has felt very authentically French, then suddenly this tiny medieval village sounded like downtown Chicago.

On the way home we stopped into Intermarché to stock up on supplies. We needed dinner, milk, nappies, snacks, drinks and whatever else we’d inevitably forgotten. Alexander by this stage was absolutely ravenous and sat in the trolley happily chewing through an entire baguette like a tiny French local. The supermarket itself sold everything imaginable. From Kiwi fruit to washing machines and sausages to palm trees. French supermarkets really don’t believe in specialising.

Back in Belfast, things started getting stressful again. Anna had collected the passport and tried to check in for her EasyJet flight, except the app claimed check-in had closed. According to EasyJet it closes two hours before departure and by our maths she still had twenty minutes left. While Anna was speeding towards the airport, I was simultaneously trying to keep Alexander from wrecking the place whilst chatting to Akram on EasyJet customer support, who unfortunately appeared to know less about the situation than I did. Thankfully when Anna arrived at the airport they let her check in at the desk without any issue. Crisis avoided, but only just. It definitely felt touch and go there for a while.

Back at the house, Alexander had another bit to eat but was beginning to get cranky. Eventually he gave in, had some milk and went down for a nap. I promised him that if he slept now, he’d be in good form later. After a short nap I woke him up so we could head for the pool. Suncream on and his buoyancy swimsuit on, we got to the edge of the pool before he had a tantrum and wanted back to his bed, t-shirt back on away to sleep he went again!

Eventually it was time to go collect Anna, so we dragged Alexander reluctantly out of bed, bundled him into the car and headed off towards the airport. To be fair to him, he was actually doing brilliantly. He sat happily in the back reading his books, drawing away and generally keeping himself entertained while daddy tried to keep the car between the hedges.

We stopped off for a little picnic using some of the snacks we’d picked up earlier and then continued on our way. We ended up arriving too early though, and considering the airport drop off charges are one euro per minute, I decided we were not sitting there waiting, giving our current luck! Instead I headed for the car park. Naturally this resulted in us parking about 20 miles away from the terminal.

Not to worry though. Off we went on our airport expedition, travelling up lifts, down escalators and through endless corridors. Alexander got his nappy changed in what was genuinely one of the fanciest airport bathrooms I’ve ever seen. France even manages to make public toilets feel classy. Then we waited patiently for mummy.

A few minutes later, out she came through arrivals and Alexander immediately sprinted towards her absolutely delighted. Passport crisis officially over. Family reunited. Stress levels lowering slightly.

We walked back to the car and started the journey home. Except apparently all of Paris had decided to leave work at the exact same moment. Between rush hour traffic and a crash on the motorway, we spent about forty minutes barely moving despite not actually being very far from the airport at all.

Eventually we escaped the chaos and got back onto clear roads, but by this stage Alexander had fully reached his limit. We had completely run out of juice, water and emergency snacks. So we pulled into the nearest petrol station which thankfully had a McDonald’s attached to it. Fine dining at its finest. We ordered chips and a burger for who gave them a good go. While Anna waited on the food, the two of us headed off to the play area where Alexander tackled the slide approximately four hundred times. The food order took forever though. Honestly no urgency whatsoever.

Eventually we got back on the road, arrived home and finally met our Airbnb hosts properly for the first time. They were lovely and immediately told us we could still use the pool if we wanted. Sure why not? It was absolutely freezing again. Alexander couldn’t quite decide whether he was loving it or hating it. One second he was laughing hysterically, the next he looked ready to burst into tears. To be fair, the poor man was exhausted. Eventually we admitted defeat, got out, dried everyone off and accepted that bedtime needed to happen immediately.

While Anna tackled the bedtime routine, I started on dinner. Nothing fancy, just homemade bruschetta and pasta. Easy, filling and exactly what we needed after today. All was well until Anna decided to attempt the travel cot herself. Even she struggled with it and gave up which made me feel considerably better about my earlier attempts. Alexander on the floor tonight then!