menton & monaco

of all the towns and villages we visited on our road trip, menton - a colourful seaside city near the france-italy border - was my favourite! we spent a morning at the beach and then a nap time exploring the outrageously charming streets. it really felt like there was a perfect picture around every corner. having two small children in tow has definitely changed traveling for me in several ways, and one of the biggest is that i take less photos, especially with my "big camera." i did get to capture a bit of menton's colour and charm through a lens, but there was so so much more wonder that i captured only in my memory. take my word for it even beyond the photos shared here - menton is spectacular!

 
 
^^ gabriel really loved his first few dips in the ocean on our trip. ^^
 

^^ i mean!... that beach backdrop made my jaw drop. ^^

 
^^ so this (on the right) is what nap time often looks like for our family when we are traveling - one boy snoozing in the buggy and the other dozing in the carrier. i'm grateful and glad that our sons are pretty dang good at sleeping anywhere! ^^

^^ this colourful canyon in menton knocked our socks off. with the exception of the beach front shops/restaurants, the city was so uncrowded! ^^

 
 
^^ view from the church at the top of the city, and a ride on the carousel when little mo woke up. ^^

we stopped by monaco on our way back to our little holiday home in villefranche. what a fascinating place. the most densely populated and second-smallest country in the world! and wow, there are some really filthy rich people that live in monaco...! (the yachts and cars we saw around were pretty mind-blowing.) we wandered around for an hour or so as evening approached.


 
 
^^ (right) there's this mirror positioned in front of the monte carlo casino and it provides a unique perspective! ^^


exploring menton & monaco made for a fantastic day on the cote d'azur.
to be continued...!