We got home yesterday night from our second visit to Hossegor, France. Early Wednesday morning, and by early I mean 10am, we sleepily caught a train to our friendly neighboring country so Sean could catch some of the tastiest waves in Europe and I could do what I am best at, lay in the sun and wish I was French. The day was gorgeous, hot and sunny, and nothing but bright blue skies painted above our heads. When we arrived to Hossegor, I decided to do some shopping, which I wasn't able to do the first time around. After realizing I am only attracted to items 300 euro and over, I gave up and we headed to the beach - my only purchases being a beach umbrella and a hat to protect me from the blaring sun. I am not sure if I am getting old or what, but there was once a time when I sat in the sun for hours upon end without a worry in the world. Now, I am like an old lady, covered up, shaded from the sun and lubed up with sunscreen - quite a contrast to the half-naked French lounging around me in the sun. The day was fantastic, we spent the whole day on the beach, only breaking about 12 times for me to eat the fresh, delicious food that I love so much, just the usual - chocolate pastries, baguettes, cheeses, sandwiches, ice cream, etc...eh hem. As the sun set, we sat at an outdoor restaurant on the beach, where I indulged in a glass of some red wine. I've gotten in the habit of trying to speak French based on what I read on the menu - usually butchering the words completely, however I loved that the waiter just kindly smiled and corrected me, pleased at my effort. We decided to start looking for a place to sleep for the night.
Since we don't have such keen planning skills these days, we didn't book a hotel, and the last bus to the station had long gone. Of course, all 5 hotels in Hossogor were "complet", so we sat in the midst of the surprisingly very happening night life trying to think of plan B. As we sat there, 2 very inebriated French guys sat a little too close to me, trying desperately to have a conversation in French/English/Spanish/Italian with us. They were actually very hilarious, and we sat there for about an hour, listening to their interesting views of California where the girls are "easy" for French guys and political views of how much they love Obama. At one point one guy decided to name all of the U.S. presidents he knew and the other listed all the punk rock bands from California that he loved. They were even nice enough to offer us sips of beer from their tall cans, which we graciously declined. So, plan B for the night turned out to be going to the neighboring town of Cabreton. There are absolutely no night buses in this area, so we walked for about 10 miles in total, finally stopping at a hotel that was also complet. However, as I was about to ask if we could sleep in the lobby, the amazingly helpful concierge said he had one room reserved that the people hadn't checked in for yet. He made some phone calls, all of which I didn't understand, and miraculously the room became available to us, even at a decent rate. Gosh, I love the French.
The next morning, we explored Cabreton for a while, which is also a cute, very tiny little beach town with not much to it. We grabbed a cafe, which I have to say is one thing the French know nothing about. Italy is truly the only place to get a decent espresso or cafe, pretty much in the world. The cafe is exceptionally bad in France. However, the friendly lady serving us was just adorable. She spoke perfect English and actually guessed that we were from San Diego...we were shocked until she giggled and pointed out that Sean had a USD t-shirt on. She even taught me how to say five in French, which I quickly forgot. She was so happy and cheerful and welcoming, I almost wanted to just hang out with her. The people really make a difference when you travel.
We walked back to Hossegor, and Sean was on a mission to catch some tasty waves (my new favorite expression for some reason). To do that he insisted on walking well over a mile down the beach from the main town (the actual distance debatable depending on which one of us you ask) to the world famous surf spot, La Graviere, which was "barreling hard and heavy". We spent the whole day on the beach again, the only down side being that the waves were too big for me to go in the water! I am a wimp though, and remained safely under the shade of my umbrella and made faces at the cute little French baby that I had cracking up all afternoon. Her parents didn't seem to mind either. Then we walked the well-over-a-mile back to town to have some lunch and ice cream in the hot, hot sun, and then up to town to catch the last bus back to the station to take us home to San Sebastian. Good trip.
No comments:
Post a Comment