The weather today said it's supposed to be sunny with a chance of thunderstorms out by Arcachon, where the huge sand dune is close to. We decided to risk it and took a train about 40 minutes away to Arcachon.
Luckily, it was pure sunshine and blue skies with some light fluffy clouds!! Arcachon is an adorable French beach town. We found our way to the water (Bassin d'Arcachon) which feeds into the Atlantic Ocean. The white sandy beaches looked specacular and walking along them was so peaceful and relaxing. We found croque monsieurs for lunch which were amazing. They usually are, but sometime they're pre-cooked, and the cheese is already melted. This time though, the cheese looked freshly grated on top and he toasted them after we ordered them. Amaaaazing. We ate our delicious sandwiches sitting on a bench in the sunlight looking out at the boats and water. Yes, my life is like a postcard (sometimes). It was incredibly picturesque. I flagged down a man and asked him to take a picture of us. He ended up taking a series of 4 pictures all of which came out really cute. He was adorable and kept trying to position us and taking different shots. I love it when you ask people to take your picture and they're actually comepetent at photography and know how to frame it well so that it looks good. So we have some super cute pictures of us at the beach!
Then we mosied back to the bus stop by the train station and took a 20 minute bus ride out to the Dune du Pyla. This sand dune is GORGEOUS. Google it. It is the largest sand dune in Europe. I forget its dimensions but it's huge. I don't think I've ever been to a real sand dune before. If I have, it wasn't like this. This sand dune was sandwiched in between a huge, lush green pine forest and the vast, blue Atlantic ocean. The sand was of course bright yellow and went on for miles, so the series of colors was just spectacular. I think it's one of the prettiest natural sights I've ever seen. It's really special too because I don't think anybody back home will have heard of it, and I don't even think most people in Europe or France will have heard about it. So it feels kind of like a secret. And it's so, so, so pretty.
As soon as we got up to the dunes, we took off our socks and shoes and started the fun trek up the warm sand mountain. Every few steps the view kept getting better and better. We were so excited to be going up that we didn't look down til we were about half way up the hill. By that time, you could see a lot of the green forest and it was just so pretty. Getting to peer over the top of the hill was so incredible I had to redo it with my video camera in hand. Standing on top of the dune so high above the forest and looking out over the ocean on a clear sunny day was just stunning, absolutely breathtaking. Many pictures were taken which will probably make you jealous.
We found a little spot to sit in the sun and played in the sand and watched the people and kites and ocean. The sand is so pure here. There is virtually no litter, glass, shells, rocks - it's just sand. So you can walk or run and play in it barefoot exercising very little caution. It's very liberating.
Later we walked all the way down the dune to the ocean where once again I rolled up my pants and played in the water. A dog came to say hi to us and took a liking to me, and me to it. We goofed off and I ran up and down the beach with it, splashing in the shallow surf. It was fantastic to run in the fresh, cool air and feel the sand and water on my bare feet.
After playing on the sand dune and beach for a couple of hours, we started the trek back to the bus. It took a solid half an hour to walk all the way back to the top of the dune. Lots of people slide down the dune on sleds to get to the bottom where the walking path to the cars and shops are. I tried using my jacket but it didn't work :( We did run down though which was also fun. I saw a kid run too fast, do a face plant, and somersault down a good chunk of the hill. That was awesome.
It was a perfect afternoon spent at the beach. So relaxing, refreshing, just having time and space to think and to enjoy the moment and our lives and nature and our trip and everything. Simply wonderful.
Down at the shops, I made some mostly spontaneous purchases. It's the last country so I don't have to carry everything for very much longer. I am really not sure how it's all going to make it home but I'm sure I'll find a way. I really like what I bought and it will all remind me of a fantastic day in some remote place in France that was a side trip from our Bordeaux side trip. Crazy how much ground we've covered in these three months. It was weird too because after being gone for so long on SAS the Atlantic Ocean is what I saw at our last country (Spain). Now I've been gone another long period of time and once again I'm at the last country touching the Atlantic Ocean. But I feel so different this time.
So we took a bus back to Arcachon, the train back to Bordeaux, and two trams back to Ming's and finally walked in the door around 8. Ming asked if we had eaten, and we hadn't, so he whipped up some rice and ginger chicken for us, which was so nice of him! After dinner, I really wanted to go to this wine bar in town, but tomorrow we want to go to St. Emilion. We looked up train times and the website says the trains leave either at 7:06 or 13:33. That cannot be right, but there's no way to say, "sorry website, I think you're wrong." The whole point of coming to Bordeaux was to learn about and taste the delicious wines, so we figured we had to take the disgustingly early 7:06 train to spend a quality day there. Our train back to Paris leaves Bordeaux at 19:47 so leaving at 13:33 would hardly have been worth it. That decided, after dinner we apologized and rejected Ming's offer to show us the night view of the city (again), and I stayed up researching what to do at St. Emilion.
Quotes:
"Aw, our bellies only look kinda big." - Laura, about our beach photo shoot
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