54 - A joyous anniversaire - Bordeaux, Guéthary, & Bidart

Monday, April 1 2021

April Fools (April's Fish)!  

The plan for today revolved around a coworker inviting me to join him and his family for a meal to celebrate his birthday.  I was touched by the invitation and was happy to accept.  I'd envisioned spending a morning in Bordeaux and then meeting elsewhere for a celebratory dinner; however, a message yesterday afternoon indicated it was actually a lunch located about 2.5 hours from Bordeaux.  

So with that in mind, we couldn't slept in but still managed a good night's sleep.  The heavy drapes over the windows in my room did a decent job of blacking-out the room, but the gap at the ceiling betrayed sunrise and helped me follow through on my alarm.  I had a big breakfast at the restaurant from the previous night; I got distracted by all the buffet options and eventually had a small mountain on my plate.  After breakfast, I finished packing up and checkout went smoothly.  

If the birthday meal had been in the evening, my friend and I probably would have walked our way over to another museum; instead we said our good byes and I dropped her off at Bordeaux's submarine base to see the lightshow there.  I was surprised to see a bunch of other people were attending, including at least a bus of people from a cruise boat; but I guess it shouldn't be surprising that a tourist attraction attracted tourists...  I'll add that I found that particular section of Bordeaux (between the Cité du Vin and the submarine base) did a nice job of revitalizing a previously industrial part of the city. 

I booked it from Bordeaux to Guéthary, a 2.5 hour drive.  Unfortunately, I was late and confusion about where to park put me almost 30 minutes behind 😅.  Fortunately, the birthday boy was extremely gracious.  The restaurant was at the base of the town, just on the beach; there were a lot of signs saying only authorized vehicles were permitted down below and there was even a traffic light controlling traffic up/down a steep blind corner but my coworker had called me and said it was possible to do so.  He was out front of the restaurant to direct me to the parking and met me in the beach parking lot with his son. 

Lunch was with his partner (my understanding is marriage as a legal process is au passé in France), his two children, and his mother.  It was an excellent meal even if I was still mostly full from breakfast.  I was on top of my French game today, I feel I managed to handle most of the conversation adequately and might be just a smidge behind the 9 year old son's grade in French 😆

The son asked me a couple questions in English (I was informed they'd prepped over the weekend): what is my favorite color and what is my favorite sport?  Easy and easy, blue and swimming.  His were red and also swimming.  I ended up finishing his brownie as he'd declared he didn't like after a single bite and the family insisted they didn't have anymore room.  Even after I remarked "this might be the best brownie of my life, are you sure you don't like it?", he retorted "certainement" 😂.  I said I'd never heard of an American boy saying he didn't like a brownie, I guess that's one of the differences between the French and Americans. 

When I mentioned I was returning to the US to catch a solar eclipse, we briefly discussed the daughter's science project last year using a small hole in a shoebox to be able to view eclipses.  I place her at around 13/14, she seemed exceedingly calm and patient with her younger brother.  

Afterwards we walked on the beach.  About 5 minutes in, the son got soaked in a tidepool when he slipped on the rocks his mom had said would be slippery.  Physically, he was ok and more concerned about stopping his sister from laughing than exiting the pool 😆

A nice sandy alcove for surfers to launch from; I spotted several planches à voile doing windsurfing 

I found it funny to see the sign prohibiting dogs being followed so well.

A little bit of wind made this dog quite photogenic

I found the rocks here (flysch calcaires à silex ≈ calcite laced flysch with flint) made an interesting aesthetic

The tidepool somebody took an unexpected dip in.  Looking south, I could see the silhouette of Jaizkibel but not too much else of the Spanish coast at any given moment.

Looking north, we could see the cliffs of Bidart and Rocher de la Vierge in Biarritz.

A quick clothes change later, and we had a nice walk on the beach.  The weather fluctuated as clouds were blown in piecemeal: a minute of fat drops and then 5 minutes of enough sun to dry everything.  The view of Jaizkibel also fluctuated from clearly visible to a dark distant mass.  

The turning point for our little walk on the beach; this section of shore had more pebbles (les cailloux) than sand.

Here's a better view of Jaizkibel

A few boats in the tiny port of Guéthary

The clouds were constantly on the move and didn't keep us covered with precipitation for any prolonged period. 

We parted ways and I transferred my gift of a bottle of champagne and some peanut butter M&Ms from my to his car.  I walked the opposite beach and relaxed on some flysch for a bit.  I eventually made my way back to the car and since I wasn't ready to head home, I stopped by Bidart.  

Working my way south along the beach of Guéthary past that tragic tidepool; there were lots of interesting rocks to be found.  This one almost looks like coral.

The bowls / tafonis in this slab caught my attention, it also shows layers to this stone.

There was a major effort here to avoid erosion of the cliffs that I hadn't seen on Pays Basque beaches before, not that all Pays Basque beaches weren't concerned about erosion.

A few fat rain droplets to accentuate stone that could have been part of a topographical diorama

I was struck by cracks that give this area a paved stone walkway aesthetic

I thought this one looked a bit like a gray whale

A bit of (I assume) calcite crystal

I nestled into a recliner chair of flysch sheets here and soaked up the view for a while; it was quite comfortable despite being stone.

The movement of clouds in the sky was visually striking; if not for periodic shade, it would have been a hot day

The rock shelf here created a shallow protected area of calm water.

While the flysch here shares similarities with those I'd seen just an hour further south in Spain, it still looks completely different.

The waves kept breaking at the shelf so the water on the beach was fairly calm and the sound of waves on pebbles reminded me of the beaches on Whidbey Island. 

I returned to the area I'd visited for New Year's but found the view point was closed off for reconstruction.  So I worked a bit further up and my attention was drawn by a de marked color change in the water to the north.  As I approached the fence to get a better look, a couple of young guys jumped the fence to stand on the cliff.  To my surprise and probably theirs, a guy passing on a bike stopped and asked them to return back to the proper side of the fence.  When they waved him off, he actually dismounted from the bike and walked over.  He announced he was the mayor and kept haranguing them about ignoring the sign clearly marking the area beyond dangerous.  They eventually were cowed and worked their way further along.  And I was just quietly standing 10 ft away taking pictures of the water 😅

I'm not sure what plant it is but the blossoms dangling in the sidewalk were pretty.

Managed to capture La Rhune and les 3 Couronnes from a belvedere in Bidart

What a weird shift in water color out there; what could cause such a phenomenon?

Maybe a type of garlic per Google Lens?

And I thought I'd had bad acne...

Seeing a lot of dark clouds approaching, I started my trip back to Dax.  It was a nice 3-day weekend in France, given how I often deal with 3-day weekends in the US, it shouldn't be surprising that it just felt like a weekend adventure and not a big holiday.  There were no Easter markets to peruse or fanciful decorations but I enjoyed Easter here all the same.  

Grabbing dinner in Dax, I found the centreville to be quiet but still very much lived in.  There was a warmth in the air this evening.

The Adour was looking pretty full