Lacanau - Bordeaux - Royan

For our three day weekend, we headed south to the beach. After only 8 hours in the car, we finally arrived in what I thought was Bordeaux, but it was actually a smaller town outside of the city called Lacanau. We stayed with one of Alex's friends family. We arrived around 1130pm and the family had dinner waiting for us - lasagna - not quite French food, but delicious nonetheless. The family only spoke French so it was very different than what I had been used to. They also had an orange cat! It was by far the fluffiest cat I have ever pet.

Lacanau Beach

On Saturday, we got up and headed to the beach, which 

was only about 10 minutes from the house. Within seconds, Mike was waist deep in the water. The water was a tad chilly, but once you got in, it was lovely. The waves were awesome at high tide although you couldn't really bodysurf because they broke too far out and then broke again too close to shore. 

We happened to go to the beach the same weekend there was a surf competition, so we got to see a whole bunch of surfers surfing right in front of us. It is like they knew we were coming and decided to put the show on just for us. After the competition we headed up to the boardwalk and went through all the little touristy shops and got ice cream. I bought a few little knick-knacks and had Toblerone ice cream that was to die for.

Sunday we headed to Bordeaux. The city was really pretty, but not much there. There was  a church and fountain, but other than that, nothing special. I am not sure what I was expecting Bordeaux to be, but it definitely didn't live up to it. The streets were filled with stores and restaurants, but most of them were closed because it was a Sunday. Probably for the best, I could have done some damage in that city. And what would a trip to a city be without getting a little lost. We were trying to find a fountain, and after a few wrong turns and a lot of walking later, we finally arrived at the fountain. Between the fountain and the Garonne River, which is one of the major rivers in France, there was le miroir d'eau. There were tons of people walking through it and every once in a while, it would spray. There was one little girl that was so cute, so I kind of creeped on her and took some awesome pictures. 

Le Miroir d'Eau

Lost in Bordeaux

Finally the Fountain

Royan

We left Lacanau and the family on Monday and started to head North. We took a ferry to Royan where Mike, Kayla, and I went to the beach while the Alex and Alex met up with a friend for lunch. Royan was wealthier than Lacanau and there were many more shops and activities. The water on the other hand, had no waves at all - none. It was kind of a bummer. You could also walk about about 100 feet and still be only up to your waist, if that. Not the best beach, but it was still a beach. We walked around the town a little bit before Alex and Alex picked us up and headed home. About 7 hours later we finally made it back to Compiègne.

Weekend experience: first time I had been in a family setting with a family that did not speak English so to communicate, I had to speak French. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience.