2002.12.07 Paris: Day Seven
I woke up around 10:30 am or 11 and took a nice long hot bath (since there was no stall or curtain on the shower/bathtub.) [view from the hotel window]
About 12:30, I set out to walk around Deauville, and got lunch at a little restaurant (the Catelain, I think). I ordered a ham & mozarella sandwich on baguette. The waitress brought it out to me and it looked delicious.
About three minutes after I'd dug in, the waitress walked by again with another plate. As she walked by, she glanced at my plate, then the one she was carrying, and realized with a start that she'd given me the wrong thing. She took my half-eaten plate and replaced it with the new plate. So, i ended up with 1.5 lunches for the price of one… not a bad deal, especially when they were both so damned tasty.
As i was finishing my coffee after the meal, Andrew's siblings strolled up, saw me, and stopped to chat. They explained that they were on their way to the beach, and invited me to come with them. Since that was going to by my next destination anyway, I consented.
Once at the beach, we found a nice place to sit on the boundary wall, and they stopped to have their lunch. We sat and talked for a while as they ate, and we admired the beautiful view.
After they ate, we took off our shoes (most of us, anyway) and went to walk along the shoreline. I waded out into the surf a very small distance, and found that the water was extremely cold. Nevertheless, i "toughed it out" and continued to walk along in the edge of the surf. After a few minutes, my feet were cold enough that i didn't notice it anymore.
We continued to walk down the beach, me in the shallow surf, while they stayed away from the water's edge. The beach, especially at the edge of the water, was composed more of pulverized shells than of sand.
I collected a few whole shells I found along the way, and took several photos of the view from the beach, the shoreline, and I think i got several nice shots of my sister's in-laws-to-be.
We stayed on the beach for a few hours, finally leaving around 4:00pm. When I left the beach, I realized we were not actually in Deauville anymore, but in (what i thought was) Trouville. Turns out, it was actually Tourganville, not Trouville. Nevertheless, I actually got in a good long walk through a small French town.
Thinking the night's big pre-wedding dinner (a full French-style dinner) was rapidly approaching, I stopped off at the hotel room to see if the folks had made it back from their visit to Omaha beach and the American (WWII) cemetary.
Finding no sign of their presence, I left a note letting them know I'd be at the American house. I got there and just sat and chilled out for a while until dinner.
The dinner itself was splendid, with an apéritif (kir), appetizer (fish mousse), entree (baked fish–a local variety and speciality), and a huge cake of sorbét. The dinner was hosted by a friend of Sara's , who owns the hotel/restaurant next door to the American house. (l'Esperance) All the dishes were the owner/head chef's signature creations. A glorious meal, to be sure.
Lots of fun, lots of photo ops, &… more wine for my brother (this time under the direct watchful gaze of my ultra-conservative southern-baptist parents), and even comments from my own mother regarding how "dissapointed" Javan would have been had he known there were topless sunbathers on the beach.
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| family: | [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] |
| family-in-law: | [1] [2] |
| friends: | [1] [2] [3] [4] |
The ending weekend of my France trip was the single most mind-blowing weekend in my life. My parents said, did, and allowed things that would never have flown when I was Javan's age. I'll bet they've even let him buy the bad-guy action figures.
After dinner, I went out with the Deauville girls, Jason, Steven, Paulo, Marcella, Rhonda, and Kendall (minus Margaret, who was on her date). Jason was kind enough to buy my drink, since I hadn't managed to get a traveler's cheque exchanged earlier in the day.
After drinks, Laura, Jason, and Steven went to a dance club, but the rest of us bailed to prepare for the long wedding day.
—-
ever closer to the final entries of the paris journal, which has, at this point, stretched out much much longer than i'd ever anticipated. i would like to say that i'm trying to raise the level of suspense, but that would be a load of malarkey and we all know it.
Javan said:
You are going to have to tell me exactly what I did that wouldn't have flown if they were like they had been to you. Y'know, I wasn't around back then. Remember, it doesn't count if they didn't see me doing it, ex. extra glasses of wine or champagne or the night of the dance.
When I was a little kid, they did let me buy the bad-guy action figures!
Javan said:
oh, and what's with the whole thing about mom saying I would be "dissapointed" about topless bathers?
odd.
m@ said:
*that's* what i'm saying! odd. all 'round. the fact that mom & dad let you have *any* wine, Kir, and/or champagne at all.
Even that would have never flown with them when i was growing up.
Javan said:
this is true. I must be a little more assertive then you were, and/or better at explaining to them that the wine would heighten my experiances while not at all hurting me, which it did.
I still don't understand the "dissapointed" thing. Did I miss out on topless bathers?
m@ said:
well, unfortunately, i can't remember precisely if they were saying that there *were* topless bathers there, or if mom was just saying that if there *had been* and you had been told that you missed them, that you would have been dissapointed.
Javan said:
all of this oddness makes me glad that I was around them as little as I was that week. However, I can say that I did enjoy the minute amount of time I did spend with them.