Weekend in Toulon.

 

On Saturday we left bright and early to spend a relaxing weekend in a town in the South of France called Toulon...

 

 

...it's a little beach town on the Cote d'Azur, also known as the Gold Coast, also known as the French Riviera...

 

 

Doc, who happens to be really good at the internet, found us an amazing gîte to share with some of Doc's family who are in town, and let me just say that I think he outdid himself this time. Not only was the house huge, not only was it gated, not only were the grounds beautiful and lush and filled with fruit trees, palm trees and flowers, but...

 

 {"Did you hear something?"}

 

{Jinkies}

 

...it also felt a little like being in a Scooby Doo cartoon.

 

(And it kind of felt a little like staying in a real life Cluedo house.)

 

 

From the slightly creepy paintings that we were all certain the eyes would move at some point, to the antiques, to the fact that there was a drawing room with a slightly off key piano and heavy candlestick holders, this over 200 year old 4 bedroom house had us feeling as if there were a mystery to be solved.

 

There was also a ping pong table.

 

Awesomely spooky characteristics aside, the villa was really quite a find, and was only about a 15-20 minute walk to the beach.

 

 {In my happy place.}

 

 

And have I mentioned how gorgeous Toulon is? Blue as can be water, sun bleached stones, yellow and white umbrellas...I could go on and on.

 

 

Or how delicious and well-priced the food is? Only 11 euro for moules frites?! Oui SVP!

 

{Barefoot and pregnant}

 

We found a wonderful little restaurant on the beach called La Petite Sirène that not only had great food, but also had chaise lounges and umbrellas to rent on the beach. As a lifelong beach go-er that felt a bit extravagant, until my body started to hurt from sitting on the rock beach on just a blanket for twenty minutes.

 

So the chaise lounges are pretty much the greatest thing ever, in my opinion.

 

The service was fantastic and after renting the chairs the server continually brought us a fresh bottle of flat water and left a menu for us, which meant there were several rounds of food, ice cream and coffee to be had on our little corner of the beach.

 

 

The water was still pretty cold, but for those of you who know me and have read this blog for awhile, there isn't much that will stop me from submerging myself in salt water, especially when that salt water is the Mediterranean.

 

{21 weeks along}

 

 

   We relaxed, ate fresh seafood, collected sea glass (Doc even found me a little dried up starfish!), spent quality time with family that we don't get to see as often as we'd like, took baby bump pictures (how could we honestly resist with those ocean views!), pretended we were in a Scooby Doo cartoon - all in all I'd say it was a pretty successful weekend.

 

I just hope Homekid forgives mama for all that swimming in the cold water...

 

A la prochaine friends...

 

Honey