Holidays during Ramadan Part 2: A French Sojourn: Hardelot (part 2)

It was such a different and special holiday. Yes, Margaux and I had been on holiday with Marie and Scholastie before (see our holiday in Corsica with them in 2014 starting with this post) but now Margaux was that much more independent and a toddler rather than a baby.

We went on two lovely excursions while we were in Hardelot: one to the Aquarium and one to a sort of history village.

The history village covered all aspects of life in the 'olden days' (whenever that was) including shops, vehicles, entertainment, home life, farm machinery. It was very cute. The kids loved playing the games (hopscotch and such) and riding the tractors especially!

The aquarium was a slightly more modern affair! It had some fabulous displays, but by far the highlight was the seal show. Everyone - adults and kids alike - was captivated by these impressive beasts! There was a strange juxtaposition of the seals performing their tricks in a swimming pool with glass walls behind them that gave a view onto the vast, free ocean... still, these ones seemed happy enough and you can watch the excellent though shocking documentary Dolphin Cove if you want to be turned off watching performing dolphins etc.

Anyway, we all had a thoroughly lovely time, though Margaux wasn't too keen on the touch pool!

As usual, the holiday passed far too quickly. After spending a day with Scholastie's parents and relatives (her parents were taking over the parental role for the three kids over the next week) Margaux and I joined Marie on the trip back to Jean-Paul and Rita's.

We spent a couple of delightful - though always cold! - days there and then made our long trip back to Daddy without a hitch. Margaux was so happy to see him - and of course the feeling was mutual for him.

It was on the way home that he dropped me with the bombshell...