1st Beach Day of the trip! 7/29/08

No wallet today
Boardshorts and T-shirt…obviously

I couldn’t be more excited this morning. We are heading to a beach an hour away from Coco’s house. Early this morning Kim nearly missed her flight back to Dublin. Close call. The rest of us are looking forward to getting some much needed sleep while sunbathing.

On our ride to the beach we heard our Bordeaux theme song at least twice, Amy McDonald – This is the life. It just says summer to us. We jammed out and next thing we knew, where were at the beach. The summer heat smacked us the second we got out of the car. To say I am pumped to sit on the sand get into the ocean is an absolute understatement.

The second my bare feet touched the soft Southern France sand, I knew summer had arrived. The waves at the beach were nothing short of epic, they were massive. All I wanted to do was rent a surfboard and ride them. First things first, set up the towel and get into that water.

The ocean can never be described as truly warm but this water looked so blue and clear, it didn’t matter. Loyd recorded – on his waterproof camera – our dash into the water. Within a few minutes of absorbing these beasts of waves, I was exhausted. I body surfed one of the biggest ones onto the beach. What a rush.

The moment my head met the towel on the warm sand, I was out. A few hours later I awoke to the sound of French being spoken. Coco’s friend Camille had come and joined us at the beach. Once everyone was awake, we ate our lunch. I felt myself really starting to like the Goose Pâté, it’s a new thing for me to eat meat out of a jar. We sipped on the Rose we bought at the Château yesterday. Basically, life is good.

We sat for a few more hours before the clouds gathered and the temperature at the beach went down significantly. We took a few more pictures by the water, jumped in one last time and left. The plan was to rise off and head to the restaurant where Camille works for dinner.

One we were all cleaned up we drove down to A Boulan. Camille’s restaurant specializes in two things, Oysters and Pâté. I’ve never tired Oysters but this trip is all about trying new things so bring it on. We ordered 36 for Coco, Ryan, Loyd and me. It seemed like a ton to me. The plate came out and I tried my first Oyster. Slightly slimy and salty, I wasn’t sure what the rave was all about. After about 3 of them and mixing it with buttered bread ad lemon. Suddenly, I found myself starting to like these strange creatures. We took some funny pictures and a video of Lauren trying her first Oyster.

We chilled and watched the sunset from the table which sat at the edge of a marina and low tide. It was cool to see all the sailboats resting at their side due to the lack of water.

Once Camille finished up her shift and closed up the restaurant we headed to her co-workers. We sipped more wine and enjoyed some French pizza. We then walked down to a local bar in the fisherman’s village. We absolutely took over the place. The evening was full of jokes and stories. Eventually, we headed back to Coco’s and the only two people who managed to stay awake were Coco and Loyd. Once we got home everyone crashed, it was another exhausting day in wine country. We’re off to Lisbon tomorrow night on an 18 hour bus, somehow I’m not really looking forward to that…