To Rennes and Back - Weekend Adventures with RachelinWales

When I first moved to the UK I thought I would take weekend trips to Europe all the time.  There use to be flights for £20 from Ryanair and I was so excited to go everywhere! Then I realized I had to get a job to go to Europe, and also they don't have £20 flights from Cardiff.  The £20 are from London, which is far away and costs far more than £20 in travel to the airport.  I don't think I have taken many weekend trips to Europe at all.

So, finally, a weekend trip to Europe!

My brother is currently living in Rennes, which is in Brittany, France:

I had never heard of it before but I am so glad we visited! We flew out on Friday at 2:15, but unfortunately they only direct flights were from Gatwick.  The train to Gatwick cost 1/2 the price of the flights, but it also took 3 times as long as the flights (3.5 hours!) so I guess value for transport time is OK?  

I was worried about timings but we got to Gatwick at 11:30 and had a leisurely wander through security and a picnic lunch at Starbucks before boarding the flight.  I cannot stand being stressed for time when kids are around (I don't like being stressed for time without kids, but with kids is 100% worse) so getting to the airport super early was the right call.

We stayed with my brother and spent most of the time wandering the city. 

Unfortunately after two weeks of great weather we visited during a lot of rain, but the kids were pretty resilient about it and my nearly-trash umbrella survived:

The old buildings in Rennes were SO COOL

Cardiff is not a olde-world-y European city.  It's fun to visit old and interesting cities with wonky 16th century buildings.

We also went to a Boulangerie every day. Ezra likes pain au raisin and Lily likes pain au chocolat 

And we visited a lot of play parks.  I am aware that British play parks enable more risky play than US ones, but this French play park had this structure which basically looked like a concussion maker.  It swung at all kinds of crazy angles and the kids loved it.

Another highlight of the trip was Le Grand Huit a really odd hipster/family indoor/outdoor carousel and fairground themed event space in an old train station depot.  There was an indoor carousel:

Wacky mirrors

And a ROBOT that made drinks for kids

We stayed 3 nights, and everyone was super exhausted for the return trip.  I have eaten my bodyweight in cheese and patisserie, I drank delicious 6 euro wine, and I had a great time catching up with my Brother and exploring Rennes with the kids

They are turning into excellent little international travellers!