Le Pals

We had a wonderful day visiting Le Pals, which is a combined theme park and zoo only about 30 minutes down the road.

The car park looked busy when we arrived (where everyone came from in what must be one of the most sparsely populated regions of France I don't know).

Good value, we stayed there for around eight hours mixing up all sorts of rides with the animal enclosures. We haven't a word of complaint. It was friendly, clean and tidy throughout. Queueing times were reasonable, as was the food. There was plenty of shade and a great balance of things to do.

They more or less had to kick us out of the park at closing time. By this time, however, we were starving.

We'd spotted a restaurant on the journey to Le Pals that we thought we might try on the way home. It's a small family concern called La Grenouille only about 10 minutes from the site.

The food was magnificent, the service typically French, i.e. Exhausted children gnawing their own arms off still won't convince them to let you look at a menu.

[brief pause in composition here whilst French fighter pilots strafe the campsite - had to zip up the bomb shelter]

Anyway, when the food came it was a feast. The children shared a lovely pizza with the first home made chips we've ever experienced in France. Lisa and I enjoyed mussels, prawns and local fromage. Desserts included a lovely pear tart, isle flotante and chocolate ice cream.

Arthur and I finished with espressos, much to the bemusement of the staff.

Tired, we left and returned to the site, the children falling straight into bed.

I opted for a new duty of sleeping on the hard floor whilst lisa roiled and sprawled around the bedroom filling bowl after bowl with our magnificent dinner for me to dispose of.

The attraction of carrying someone else's sick two hundred yards begins to pale around 2:30am when you've done it four times wearing only your grundies and a head-torch.

Still, Lisa seems a bit better this morning and I'll get another vertebrate at the marché.