Another Great Day in France

What a great day we had at the beach. Six kids arrived, and six kids left. For me, this makes for a successful day, but then I have pretty low standards. Encouraged by our new friendship with the French/Austalian family visiting Grandmere in the house behind us, we ventured beyond the local beach and headed to Hyeres. There is some concern by the Aussie mom that not only will her children return home not speaking French, they will have picked up American English, but, they keep inviting us to join them on outings. This has worked out well for everyone although her son, being the only boy is pretty over all the girls. He was heard to utter several times today, "that is it. I am not playing with girls anymore."

The beach....L'Almanarre is beautiful. It is long, very long and wide. There is free lot parking at the beginning and end as well as pull in parking all along the beach. Also at the beginning of the beach, there are several restaurants and a small market. This end of the beach holds one of the few lifeguard stations and regular toilets. After that it is pretty much the ocean or the port-a-potty. The French are not known for their public toilet facitities, and frankly, I am not sure the French ever do go to the bathroom. The family we were with did not drink anything all day, so that might explain it. Of course, my children had a juice box or a water with lunch, and then, were port-a-potty bound. They all refused to go in the ocean.....making them possibly the only children ever to make this choice.

The beach is made up of small, smooth stones close to the water and regular coarse grain sand further from the water. When the wind is down, like it was today, there are no waves. However, by the looks of some of the folks on the beach, it has possibilities as a windsurfing and kite-surfing beach. There was a lot of gear laying around. The highlight for me, was that across the road from the beach there are flocks of wild flamingoes living in the marshes. I have been dying to see them for some time, so this was a bonus to the day. There are viewing platforms spaced along the roadway, but you can see just as well from the rise of the beach albeit from 30 feet further away. The flamingoes also bring out the birders, so on one side of the road you have the topless sunbathers, and the other the usually older, binocular clad bird folks. I am sure I will be joining the bird group someday.

It is always interesting to go to the beach in France. There is a nice mix of families and groups of younger people, locals and tourists. I love how comfortable French women are with their bodies. It doesn't matter to them if they are the thinest or the prettiest, they wear what they want. Usually that is a bikini. Often, it is a bikini with no top. Often it is grandma with no top....not a pretty sight...think two dried prunes hanging from your chest. Often it is Mom, playing catch with her kids with no top. Unfathomable to most Americans. You won't see me without a top, but I have started wearing a bikini. I figure I look just as good as most of the people out there, better then some, and I should be happy with my body. Americans have a hard time with the concept of being comfortable with themselves. Americans judge each other much more harshly then the French judge one another. To them a body is a body and from a very young age they learn to accept this. Girls generally wear just bikini bottoms until age 10 or so...of course, not my girls who are covered in UV protective clothing as much as possible. We stick out as Americans, but I will not sacrifice my childrens future skin for the French. Thankfully, my girls don't seem to mind....so far.

So here is to another day......may tomorrow be just as much fun.