Dreaming of France -- Traveling With Kids

Please join this weekly meme. Grab a copy of the photo above and link back to An Accidental Blog. Share with the rest of us your passion for France. Did you read a good book set in France? See a movie? Take a photo in France? Have an adventure? Eat a fabulous meal or even just a pastry? Or if you're in France now, go ahead and lord it over the rest of us. We can take it.

Traveling with kids is always a hit or miss experience, and most of the time both hit and miss. We had some brilliant moments and some excruciating ones last time we took all the kids to Europe. We always looked for things to entertain them.
One day, while staying in Bandol along the Mediterranean, Earl took the kids to a nearby zoo. In the US, we take our zoos seriously. They're a little more laid back in France. You can buy popcorn or caramel corn to feed the animals.

 So the animals were anxious to greet visitors.

But my favorite pictures from the zoo were of my children goofing around. 

I love that Tucker, my youngest, was such a joker here. He had just turned 10 and could be his true self. 

Today, he turns 19, and he has become a serious guy without much room for making a fool of himself.

But we'll always have these memories and hope the true Tucker reappears in a few years.

Thanks for playing along and please visit each other's blogs and leave comments.

Dreaming of France -- French Zoos

Please join this weekly meme. Grab a copy of the photo above and link back to An Accidental Blog. Share with the rest of us your passion for France. Did you read a good book set in France? See a movie? Take a photo in France? Have an adventure? Eat a fabulous meal or even just a pastry? Or if you're in France now, go ahead and lord it over the rest of us. We can take it.
Maybe we can all satisfy our yearnings for France, until we get there again.
French zoos are not like American zoos.
Well, they have animals, like ours do.
Let me preface this by saying that I haven't been to a French zoo in seven years. But I visited a few zoos in 1998 and in 2006. At a little zoo outside Bandol, we were allowed to feed the animals caramel popcorn. The meerkats were chubby from all the caramel popcorn they ate. I wonder if they could still get down in their holes.

Another difference was the fact that we saw animals mating in their cages -- not something we would see in the U.S. where parents don't want to explain that whole "piggyback" ride to their kids. Plus, zoos are careful about which animals they breed and seem to want them to do it in private.

Plus, animals still lived in cages rather than habitats. I think American zoos are trying to give the animals natural habitats these days, and maybe French zoos have changed too. 

One thing that isn't different about French zoos is that kids love them. 

Here are my three, ages 14, 12 and 10 during our 2006 trip. 

Have you ever visited a French zoo?
Can't wait to see what you are all sharing about France today. Thanks for playing along.