Traveling with kids is
always an adventure. There are only so many museums, churches or other historic
sites you can see before mental meltdown begins. Add the eight-year age range
of our kids and it adds a whole new level of complexity. Luckily, there are
some activities that win everyone over.
One day in particular we
headed for fun with the animal kingdom at the Krakow Zoo. E was in HEAVEN!! The
very first thing we saw was the elephants (her favorite). They were so close,
you could probably touch one if they had a mind to reach out a trunk. One of
the fun things about European zoos (at least in my experience) is the close
proximity of the enclosures to the spectators.
Another favorite was the
flamingos. That was particularly fun because we’ve seen flamingos in the
Camargue Nature Reserve in France. It was hilarious to watch them scratch their
backs using their heads, march in place trying to get one another’s attention
and stand on one leg. They are bit hypnotic.
But the best part of the adventure
(for E anyway) was the petting zoo. We arrived at lunch time, so there was a
worker handing out slices of carrots to the children to feed to the animals.
There were ponies, donkeys, llamas, sheep, tortoises, chickens, guinea pigs and
bunnies… all available to pet and feed. E bravely went to the worker, procured
a handful of carrots and went to feed the ponies. It’s funny how motivated she
is by animals. There are not many things that could propel that timid little
lady to talk to interact with someone she doesn’t already know.
After returning from the
zoo we had a little down time and then headed off to a totally new experience:
Challenge Accepted—a real-life escape game. Players are “locked” in a room where
they must decode the clues to find the combination to a safe where the key to
the door is. There is a 50-minute time limit. You can ask for clues if you get
stuck. We played the classroom version. It was a blast.
After the game, most of us
headed back to our apartment while Mike went to get a haircut. His baldish head
was looking pretty scruffy ;). When he came home, not only was his head cleanly
shorn, but he was sporting a new blazer. Apparently he had gone wondering and
discovered a second-hand clothing store that sold goods priced by the kilo.
Wish we had a store like that in Gréoux.
Mike
is quite the shopper. He read a review on TripAdvisor about the fabulous Renata
Hat Shop, so off we went. The reviews were accurate. The shopkeeper was very
sweet and we had a lot of fun trying on hats. She found a hat for everyone to
try. In the end we left with three hats—a fedora for Mike, an aviator hat for J
and pink, woven sun hat for E.
1 comment:
So cool!
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