Feeling beachy

Oh, there, it was!  Two sunny days in a row, with temps in the low 70's.  Oh, quick, make a plan.  Beach!  Yup, of course.  And the Arcachon area had been recommended to us from several different people, including the family we are exchanging with.  It is only about a 45 minute drive from here and it was time to check it out.

I got a quick same day booking of a hotel for one night, we quickly threw our gear together (much easier to choose what to pack when you only have 5 outfits to choose from anyway) and hit the road.  We got into Arcachon at about 11:30 and found a beach right to play on.

Yippeeeeeeeeee!

Baguette on the beach

Casey's fav...Mango gelato

We headed back to the hotel for a rest and then hit the town again at about 6:30.  We were hungry and looking for some dinner.  So we wandered.  And checked.  And looked.  Yup, we were definitely in the touristy area.  Jacked up prices, menus translated into several differenct languages.  hungry kids.  Grrrr.   This is where travel get interesting.  How do you appease everyone?  How do you sit down, knowing you are getting ripped off?  When do you call it and just type in McDonald's into the old GPS and waive the white flag?  We decided to plop down into an italiany looking place.  We got seated by the hostess.  Perused the menu.  Found a few things that looked doable.  The hostess came up to the table, with a rather unfriendly looking gent.  She said a few things in French (oh yeah, cuz we are in France) and then indicated that they weren't serving dinner until 7:30.  Huh?  It was 6:45.  Why did you seat me?  Ugh.  Gather kids.  Answer 7 questions from curious, worldy 6 year old.  Walk off, still hungry.  

Well, all was forgiven once we saw a merry-go-round.  All of a sudden their stomachs weren't caving in and their fainting spells from lack of protein magically disappeared.  Hmmmm....interesting.  All I saw were the chairs for viewing.  Cool.  4 tickets=10 euros.  Ouch.  Oh well.

We played around til the strike of 7:30 and then found a place to eat along the waterfront.  Touristy, yes, but it ended up being delicious and not too bad on the old euro.  It was mainly seafood, but we found some pasta for the ladies.  

Cheers!

First she took the picture of da Mama

Then she drew the picture.  This is educational, right?

Feeling crabby?

The pirate ship of pleasure

Fisherman's Wharf?  Nope.  Arcachon, France.

We walked along the promenade for a while, enjoying the weather and the scenery.  I yelled at the kids until they sat still for a perfect "We are having some much fun with our Mom in France shot."  I'm guessing there was a time out for someone after that.  It's a safe bet.

The next day we wandered around the nearby area of Le Moulleau.  It is less touristy (but still hawking wares to the weekenders) and quieter.  We played on the beach again, for the day, and then headed back to our Bordeaux digs.  Nice to have a home to come back to and veg out!

View from the church, down to the water, in Le Moulleau

School of the World is in session!