À la plage et à La Grande Motte - une bonne journée (At the beach and the seaside port of La Grande Motte - a good day)

This has been a terrific weekend! It began Friday with a trip to Sete, yesterday a visit to the market and today an afternoon at the beach with my host, Patricia. We went by car to the beach Le GrandTravers on the Mediterranean. It was about a 20 - 30 minute ride by car. If I understood her correctly, the beach goes on for miles, but the names change. Younger people tend to go to Palavas, a beach further east, where there are more bars, restaurants and shops. Le Grand Travers is a beautiful beach, but fewer amenities. The water was too cold for me, but there were a few brave souls along with many dogs in the water. Here are a few pictures:

La Plage Le Grand Travers

The sand dunes at the beach - they remind me a bit of the dunes at Grand Beach outside of Winnipeg

I spent quite a while watching this lab run in and out of the water to fetch his ball - lots of fun

A rear view of some of les belles femmes

Our next stop was the beautiful seaside port La Grande Motte. Obviously, this is a place where people who have resources live. Yachts and sailboats line the marinas and the cost of purchasing or renting a place here is very expensive. The gardens are beautiful and the streets are spotless. I guess what struck me most was the unusual, but beautiful architecture throughout the village. Apparently, they hired one architect who came up with the designs for all the buildings. Even though they are all different and very beautiful, there is a continuity or a flow to the place. Once again, here are a few pictures to how you what I mean.

We had worked up quite an appetite by mid afternoon, so stopped for le déjeuner at a lovely outdoor restaurant.  Lunch included a glass of wine and we spent a good hour or so enjoying our excellent food and wine, while conversing in French (albeit badly on my part). The decision to live with a host family was sound. You are forced to talk in and listen to French most of the time. I even think I am speaking a little better than I did when I arrived a week ago.

After lunch, we walked around the port a little more. While doing so, we managed to find a shop that sold good quality cotton clothes made in France and I bought a new summer dress on sale. To end this wonderful day, we came across another little outdoor cafe to have coffee. The French often have coffee or tea and a snack like a piece of cake or a cookie between 4-6 p.m. In Canada, we have happy hour at that time, which I described to Patricia. Although it is after 8 p.m. now, I'm still not hungry. I can see why Europeans don't eat until late evening. I am back to school tomorrow, but I will definitely return to this beautiful place before I leave France. I'll leave you with a couple of pictures of the beautiful trees along the roadway.