From the Atlantic shore over yonder...

Randi and I were again able to take advantage of the glorious French holiday schedule and drove to the Atlantic coast on Thursday (5/21) for a 4-day weekend.

On our way to the coast we drove parallel to the foothills of the Pyrenees mountains. With the heavy fog and densely green hills next to us, I couldn't help but think about the mystery of the Basque people...remembering what I had read in one of our travel books about their unknown origins. It is widely believed that they are descendants of some of the earliest human inhabitants of Europe. It is also believed that they have lived in or near their present location for at least four thousand years, a relatively small group of people surviving when many others were overwhelmed by invaders. This is because they had the dense forests of the Pyrenees to hide in. The fog kept getting worse and I started thinking while I was driving..."they're probably in there right now, watchin us"...scary bast*rds! That's a joke of course. I love the Basque people...right. :)

It took us 3h15m to get to Biarritz. After quickly checking in at the lovely Tulip Inn we immediately jumped back in the car to drive down the coast to see St. Jean de Luz. We had heard from a few different people to make sure we the charming little town. The street life and shopping there was very interesting. We really hope to get back there someday and see the inside of the church of St John the Baptist, where in 1660, Louis XIV married some chick from Spain. :) The church has tiered wooden balconies running along on each side that are referred to as 'Romeo and Juliet' style.

From there we made our first exit out of France and into Spain, with a quick stop into San Sebastian. As we crossed the border we had to pay two tolls...one to the French and a welcoming toll to the Spanish. As we approached the toll in Spain Randi and I were very happy to remember "buenos dias" and "muchas gracias"...feeling as though we had then mastered another language! The city of San Sebastian reminded me of Marseille, in it's age and condition. After walking the boardwalk there we found a small liquor with the thought of buying a bottle of Spanish wine. When I asked the old guy workin there if he had any rum, his eyes lit up and he said "rumma!"...and he lead us into the backroom. There he started to point to about 20 different types of rum..."rumma", "rumma", "rumma", "rumma". I tried to stop him at about the 4th bottle in...wanted to tell him "you had me at The Captain" but he was not to be denied. He recommended a bottle of Spanish rouge and also taught us our only Basque
translation ...that being to say "thank you" you say "escottikosko" (have no idea on that spelling). He was a very nice man and a great representative for that city.

We returned to Biarritz
that night and discovered
how really beautiful it is,
with all the lights along
the shoreline. We really
enjoyed our stay at the
Tulip Inn there.


The next morning, after a walk around the glitzy Biarritz shopping scene, we headed out for a long ride north along the Atlantic coast. Along the way we stopped in the surfing town of Hossegor for lunch and what appeared to be a bike riding mecca of Messanger for a little wine tasting. The bike trails in this area appeared to be extensive and well-kept, as we noticed them winding in and out of the forest along the way.

We pulled into Arcachon after about 4 hours of driving and checked into the Park Inn, right on the beach. The weather was sunny and warm, so we grabbed the beach chairs we brought along and unwound there with a bottle of wine. We found this to be the essence of Archachon...laid back and peaceful. There were a couple highlights of our stay there. One was walking upon a small bar with a live jazz band playing ("Caravan"). We met a woman there who told us how Toulouse was the headquarters of some secret underground music scene...we still haven't found it. She was very nice though and even provided me a couple of French band names to check out. Since then I did find "Arthur H" at the library here and he sounded like a French Frank Zappa...not good really. The real highlight of the trip was meeting up with my co-worker and new friend, Benoit Chauvin and his girlfriend Nadine at the impressive "la Dune du Pilat".
It is a giant dune...the largest in Europe. It measures over 350 feet high and like 2 miles long. Benoit has been a huge help to me, since my first day at the Sun office, in getting acclimated, learning the language and customs of the French and helping us plan and implement our travels around France so far.