Outing to the Atlantic Coast

Friday, June 20, 2014
Bordeaux, Aquitaine, France
We started off our day again with breakfast in the neighbouring shopping mall. Those chocolate croissants are getting addictive.

At 10am, we assembled in the lobby and then all went down three levels to the van in the parking lot . We all loaded in except Greg who walked alongside as we drove up the ramp, to make sure that I cleared the beams again. There were two automatic gates on the ramp that opened up to let us out but by the time Greg had climbed back into the van, the second one had closed again, necessitating me reversing down the circular ramp until we could activate the motion sensor again!

Google Maps turn-by-turn navigation successfully led us out of the city on our way to our first stop at the Dune de Pyla. The 75-minute drive took us through flat pine covered countryside with various farms along the way. As we got closer to the coast, we started to encounter campsites and rental homes since this is a popular beach vacation area. The Dune de Pyla is the largest sand dune in Europe on the edge of the Bay of Arcachon. There is a flight of stairs leading up almost to the top of the dune. There are 160 steps. From there, it is a gentle walk rising along the ridge of the dune to reach the highest point . There is a wonderful panoramic view from the top over the bay and over the Atlantic. There were several school parties at the Dune and they had lots of fun running down the dune.

It was a short ride to the restaurant where I had made a reservation for lunch at Cap Pereire. We had a wonderful 2-hour lunch overlooking the beach with gourmet food and two bottles of wine. It's been about 30 degrees in the afternoon so it was wonderful to relax in such a pleasant environment.

A 15-minute drive took us to the town of Arcachon. This is a stately seaside town with a long promenade of bars and restaurants and two piers. We noticed how tasteful all the architecture was. We walked to the end of one of the piers and enjoyed the cooling breezes off the water and the views of the town.

We had planned to stop at a bird sanctuary on the way back to Bordeaux but we all decided we would prefer to get back to Bordeaux in time for a refreshing drink and a light meal . It was just as well because we ended up in a traffic jam for about 40 minutes on the way back.

We enjoyed our final evening in Bordeaux sitting in an outside bar and then moving to the outside restaurant next door for light salads.

When I got back to the hotel, I checked my email and Air France say they will deliver my suitcase to the hotel before midnight tonight! Well - I will believe it when I see it!

My apologies for the lack of photos so far. Due to the loss of my suitcase, I have ended up with photos spread across my iPhone, iPad and camera. When I get all my cables back, I will be able to consolidate them all and post some of them to this blog. Thanks for your patience!

I believe! My suitcase arrived at the hotel at 11pm! Yeah!
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