Biarritz with Kara

When I travelled to France ten years ago with Dave's family for Christmas, I fell in love with the Atlantic coastal town of Biarritz.  It is known for its surfing and language school, even combining lessons, and I had hoped we'd be able to spend time there this summer. But since the school doesn't accommodate small children, and we came earlier than their classes started, it slipped from the list. Luckily, Kara and I were able to escape for a day trip there (it's 1.5 hr drive from Pau), thanks to the Awesome Day Camp run by my brother-in-law Eric.

just as beautiful as I remember it

My sister Kara

The main beach

After the baking heat, it was nice to have it barely break 80 deg. This is another beach.

Lots of surfing students!

Another beach. Any idea why I like it so much?!

We bought paintings from an artist... on the beach.

Other than to smile for pictures, we didn't stop talking for eight hours. A great day!

Coes in Pau

We were so lucky that my sister's family, the Coes, came from their adopted home

in Russia to visit us in France.

Their first night was the day after we'd picked 21 kilos of blueberries with Leen's family. I only took home a third, but even with the ten people in our house, it took a dedicated effort to eat them all. This dessert consists of nothing but blueberries and cream.

Our 7 kilos of blueberries...

We toured the city center and chateau-- I think I finally know my way around.

The kids loved seeing each other, even DJ (14) and Tim (12). Thanks to their youngest, Ella, being barely older than Adi and Mae, the families merge together well. Although Adi and Mae appreciate their male cousins too, Vivian is very much at the age when she's obsessed with older girls. She'd wake in the morning and ask immediately where Ella was. And we had many tantrums concerning the seating arrange mtns at meals.

There was a heat wave (40 deg C= 104 deg F) while they were here so we spent most of our days in the river , along with many other residents of Pau.

Or in the nearby stream where they built this dam. DJ and I jogged one day, stopping every 10 mins to soak our tee shirts in the river, and ending up lying in  the deep pool they created. It was the only way to survive running in that temperature.

The boys were enthusiastic about practicing karate, which was inspirational for Adi and Mae.

In the heat of the day, we practiced in the house.

Castles, castles everywhere

I took a day off of sightseeing in the Loire valley yesterday but came across a castle while I was running, anyway.

And another (behind a pretty church). 

We're staying near Amboise. Yep, another castle.

The people standing in the street are watching the European Cup (soccer) finals between France and Portugal. The bar, like many, have flat screen TVs mounted outside. Unfortunately France lost. 

Today we visited Leonardo de Vinci's house (well, castle, actually) with his actual work room, large and small models and simulations of many of his inventions. 

"Science is the captain and the practice is the soldiers." (Feel free to correct my translation in the comments).

Around the Bay

Past the point of the bay, there are some nice beaches. We finally got a day warm enough to explore.

We saw a replica of Lafayette's ship (L'Hermione) in the port city of St Malo.

The kids spent hours flying kites on the beach outside our house.

Collecting shells from a several-meter wide strip of them

And admiring the local wildlife

We enjoyed the view of Mont St Michel

From our beach

Ran in the mud ( I figured out too late to take *off* my shoes).

And we had some lovely walks in the 11pm dusk.

La Baie

The Bay of Mont St Michel is a pretty unique place, with the second highest vertical tide in the world (mean 14m/45ft) over a relatively flat bay. This means that, although the water comes right up to the grassy duke behind our rental house, it is over 4km away at low tide. Yes, 4km. The first day here, I tried to run to it but got bogged down in the mud about 1km in. However, tractors routinely drive boats  (or tourist trains) out and there are even boats equipped with wheels for the purpose.

The view from our second floor:

Six hours later: the mud flat. The dark line is the 

Mytiliculture (mussel aquaculture) or fish trapping structures. The edge of the bay ((low tide mark) is all the way to the point at the edge of the bay, which you can see here.

It's given me a new perspective on just how much water moves with the tides and how fast. And, more than any other coast I've visited, this world changes drastically twice a day: from a peaceful sea to a relatively ugly but productive mud patch.

On a tour of the mussel production, we saw the ropes of baby mussels.

And the fish traps

The birds lined up to wait for our departure. And Dave ate a fresh, live, whole shrimp (but I didn't get a picture).

Cousins with Clay

Mont Saint Michel

The tide was out when we arrived. 

The architecture was really cool. Started building before the 10th century!

This whole room of pillars is supporting the room above.

The whole family fit in this fireplace. There was another right next to it.

Vivian loved this door.

Mae taking a selfy from the terrace.

We walked around a corner and saw a wave coming in. It was the famous tide that used to make the pilgrimage fraught with danger. That night, tho, we could take the new bridge.

The video:

https://youtu.be/53LJnPDSZW8