Arcachon

Monday, August 23rd, Arcachon, France

Yesterday we took a high speed TGV train from Paris Montparnasse to Bordeaux St Jean station, waited an hour and then got a connecting TGV train for the 40 minute trip to Arcachon.

While we were in the Bordeaux station, Anita determined that we had to have a sip of the Bordeaux wine that she had a small bottle of in her backpack. Bordeaux in Bordeaux, along the lines of pizza in Pisa and mussels in Brussels. Anita finds this hysterical. Sad to say, I'm finding that I understand her perception of reality more and more all the time. Our sons will understand how frightening this is for me. Anita thinks that it's taken me so long to understand her world because I'm slow. She also finds this very amusing. Isn’t it nice how she entertains herself?

It was warm and sunny when we arrived in Arcachon. There were a lot of tourists downtown since it was Sunday afternoon. Arcachon has been a tourist destination for the French from Bordeaux and Paris for a long time. There are also a few Brits here but no other nationalities that we noticed. The Japanese tour guides must have missed this place.

Arcachon is a fairly small town stretched along a few kilometres of a huge beautiful beach that continues south for about 200 km to the border with Spain. We found our hotel, the Aquamarina, without much trouble. We’re on the Boulevard de la Plage, just across the road from the beach and at the edge of a big marina where lots of pleasure boats are moored. Arcachon also has a small fishing fleet so the seafood here is always as fresh as you can get it.

Our hotel is a 3 star, not fancy but certainly okay. We have a balcony facing the hill, not the beach, but that’s okay since it’s very quiet and peaceful. After we got settled yesterday we went for a walk along the beach promenade into the central area of town. There we saw a fairly odd sight. Two people, who might have been Roma (Gypsies, to the politically incorrect), were dressed in North American Native regalia playing South American Native wind instruments to a backing soundtrack that seemed like Kenny G elevator music. Strange. A lot of the beggars in Paris were obviously Roma. The French government is currently on a campaign to round up the Roma, identify them and then put them on planes back to Bulgaria and the other eastern European countries that they emigrated from. There is a lot of resentment toward the Roma but there’s also a lot of controversy about getting rid of them. It has been likened to the Nazis rounding up the Jews during WWII.

This morning we took a walk around the marina and part of the beach. We picked up some wine, beer, yogurt, tomatoes, olives, cheese and bread. The prices here are higher, probably just because it’s high season and they can get it.

We went for a late lunch at a restaurant just down the street. Often there are great luncheon menus that are less expensive than a late dinner. We each had a big bowl of fresh mussels, Anita had a main course of roast chicken and I had grilled fish (really good). With dessert, wine, beer and tip the total was only 33 euros. Well worth it.

After lunch it was a bit cloudy and about 3:30 in the afternoon but we decided to go to the beach anyway. The sun came out and we ended up staying until 6:30 or so. As usual, most people, even on a huge beach, cluster in one area. We like a little more space and there is lots to be had here. Unfortunately, because of the clouds in the beginning, we had neglected to sunscreen and got a bit burnt. Every once in a while you have to prove to yourself that you’re an idiot. Humility lessons.

Tomorrow if we have the ambition we’ll walk 5 km down south of town to the biggest sand dune in Europe. The weather forecast is pretty nice for the rest of the week so that’s good. We’ll also stop at the train station and pick up seat reservations for Friday back to Paris.