Besançon, France

Over the four day Easter weekend we made a day trip to Besançon in France. The city was rather dreary and sterile, but the citadel above the city was amazing. 

Besançon was the least colorful of any of the French cities we have visited

City center where we caught the tail end of the market

The Doubs river flows right next to the city

Picnic lunch on the Doubs

Looking through the gate to the fountain in the city center

After lunch we headed up the hill to visit the Citadel and passed by several Roman ruins on our way up.

Remains of an amphitheater

Roman gate

Hiking up to the Citadel with the city in the background

Entrance to the Citadel

From inside, looking out at the city

The Citadel is like a huge, well protected and well preserved city. It occupies 11 hectares and houses several buildings. These buildings have been turned into several museums and part of the Citidel grounds have been turned into a zoo.

Monkeys live in the moats around the city

View from inside the city walls

One of the buildings has been transformed into an aquarium

Jack next to a fish

Another portion of the building has been turned into an insectarium

Our favorite part of the Citadel was the zoo. It was really neat to see the animals living in these ancient ruins.

Jack named this lion Simba

Looking out over the zoo

Entrance to the zoo

Looking down at the river from the Citadel

View of the Citadel walls

We walked back down to the city for dinner and stopped so Jack could have a ride on this classic carousal

Some recent videos

Lily has started eating solids and she is turning out to be a great little eater! Her first food was avocado and she loved it:

Lily loves to talk

Trying to sit

Best part of laundry day:

Annecy, France

This past weekend we drove 2 hours and spent a beautiful day in Annecy, France. It was an amazingly beautiful village with plenty of nice scootering paths for Jack and plenty of amazing scenery for me and Luke. 

Scootering along Lake Annecy

Lake Annecy

We enjoyed a lovely picnic lunch

Lily love picnics

Just like Jack, she loves to be outside

My two cutie pies

Annecy is said to be "the Venice of France" because of the canals that run through the city

There was a big art exhibit in the center of town

This is the Palais de L'Isle which has served many purposes from a house, to a courthouse, to a mint and a jail. 

Jack enjoying some ice cream

View of the canals through the old part of town

Love this face!

I love the feel of French villages. I'm not sure if we will find anything like this in England.

Another canal

My favorite parts of these old cities are the entrances/exits through the walls.

Canals, city and mountains

After walking for several miles we found another park to sit back and relax for a while

Luke and Jack talking to the swans

Lily looking for her dad and brother

Scootering back into town

Jack and Lily both fell asleep on our walk back, so we took the opportunity to find a nice restaurant

We chose this one right next to the bridge

Getting ready to enjoy a (rare) quiet meal

Our view from dinner

Annecy was one of the most beautiful places we have visited in a while. It had such a casual feel about it as well (unlike most of the Swiss cities).

On another note, now that Easter is approaching the bakeries are filling with all sorts of delightful chocolate treats. Just about every bakery around is filled with all sorts of chocolate eggs and animals: