Enjoying Saint Pair sur Mer and Granville....

Wednesday, September 14^th

High tide (Plein Mers) was at 9:06, so about 8:45, I took the key marked “Mer” and walked across the street, where I unlocked the white gate and went down the path to see what high tide looked like. Low tide (Basses Mers) is VERY far out! www.weather.com on my Blackberry said it was 59° with winds at 10-15 mph. It certainly did not feel that cold, as I only needed a fleece. But you really never need to comb your hair here, because the wind always takes over!

Mimi had told me a story the other day about her friend’s five year old daughter who had a wonderful playing on the beach and in the water one day. The next day when she went down to the beach, she burst into tears. “What is wrong?” asked her mother. “Someone has taken the sea!”, the little girl wailed.

As I mentioned in my last post, there are many English books here. Some of my choices are/were: Stars and Bars by William Boyd, The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper (talked about  in David McCullough's The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris), A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian by Marina Lewycka, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, and Burning Bright by Tracy Chevalier, who wrote Girl with a Pearl Earring. The Kindle has Phil Cousineau’s non-fiction Art of Pilgrimage, which I like alot; it is very interesting, but a bit intense. So, which book would you have chosen?

“Tractors” was my choice because the reviews said “mad and hilarious”, “extremely funny”, “an extraordinary read…nothing short of amazing.”, etc., etc. ….Two sisters try to help their 84 year old father from marrying a 36 year old Ukrainian "bombshell" divorcee, but he married her anyway!  Perhaps the Daily Telegraph was most accurate “yields a golden harvest of family truths”.  Interestingly enough towards the end I read that one of the daughters had lived with the mother in Zindelfingen, while the mother had worked at Mercedes Benz. That, of course, is where Babs lives (now Sindelfingen), and was my first Couch surfing stop!  Well, I finished it, and it was somewhat entertaining, but I would not recommend it. The reviewers' exaggeration is clear!

So I read and went into Granville with Mimi at 3; she only has a half day on Wednesday. We toured the charming Old Town and met Chantal and Lydie, another of Mimi’s friends who has done home exchanges in Canada and California. And speaking of Mimi’s friends, last night her 39 year old neighbor Sebastian and his nearly 6 year old son joined us for dinner; it was fun to meet them and to watch the father-son dynamics, even in a language I could not fully understand! The Old Town was charming…spectacular views of the sea and the town interspersed with WWII memorabilia, as the Germans were here from 1940-1944.

Thursday, September 15th

Mimi picked me up at 7:30 to go to Institution Sevigné to meet three of her English classes. Two of them had had English last year. Most of them have had it since they were little, but only maybe once a week. Now they have it 4 or 5 times a week. Two classes had it last year; the third is having it “full time” for the first time this year. Some of the questions were quite predictable. Do I have children, brothers and sisters, etc. Have I been to Las Vegas? New York? Colorado? San Francisco? (One of the boys was wearing a shirt about San Francisco, and didn’t realize it.) Did I like Barack Obama? Had I met Barack Obama? One boy asked about the recent hurricane, so I told him about the tree I lost! Someone asked if I was in my car. Stan asked about 9/11, and commented after my answer, “Too bad.”  It was very interesting and fun to be in the classroom again. One boy asked me to come back!

Low tide in Granville harbor....

Christian Dior lived in Granville as a boy, and his childhood home is now a charming museum with lovely gardens. It is just several blocks from the school, so I walked over “after school” for a visit. Every year the theme changes; this year it shows how different artistic periods of the 20^th century influenced Dior’s designs. It was interesting, but pictures were not allowed. The grounds including a pergola and small pool with fountain overlooking the ocean are very well maintained. Around the grounds they had displays filled with different perfumes.

After tasty lunch of cheese and egg crepe, I visited the interesting and small Old Granvile Museum, with much about its fishing history. (I do need to look up where the Granville fishermen fished in Newfoundland.  It is “ringing a bell” after last summer’s visit….) Jacques’ great grandfather Gauthier had fished in Newfoundland! They had some clothing displays, especially many showing the varied headgear or toques the women wore. I asked Nicole why she thought they wore them; tradition was her answer. I guessed it was because it is so windy here, and she said they all had very long hair.

I walked back to the school where I waited for Mimi to give me a ride home. Nicole and Jacques were coming from Caen, and we were going to have dinner. We had delicious dinner in the St. Pair sur Mer square. Jacques had pork, and Nicole and I had chicken terrine; very tasty crème brulee followed.

 Friday, September 16th

Jacques took Nicole and me to the Marine Terminal so she could buy her ticket to go to Jersey with me. Ah ha! Sylvain told us that the boat wasn’t running, as it needed to be repaired. He said he had tried to reach me five times, but it never rang, so I must have given him the wrong number. I think NOW I have it after this; calling numbers in Europe still confuses me! It will be (at least) three days for the electronic problem to be fixed. Of course, Nicole and I decided that it would be better NOT to go than have you see an article in the paper about the boat to Jersey capsizing!

So Plan B took us to Avranches, which is another charming French town. Along the way we stopped and got some good views of famed Mont St. Michel. (If I had not been there twice, we would have gone back. However, to get there you always need to consider the tides, as it is an island.) We walked around, got a good view from the rampart (under repair), and had lunch. She had huge tuna, egg, and palm salad; I had three cheese fondue with cold cuts, salad and bread. Both were delicious, of course. We had coffee back home, and Nicole and Jacques returned to Caen. They (VERY KINDLY) will return on Wednesday to take me to the 5:50AM train to Paris on Thursday.  (They will also close up the house afterwards.) I headed off for a two walk on the beach and into Saint Pair for a few items at the grocery store.  I had a light supper, and Mimi came over before 8 to enjoy a wonderful sunset!

Saturday September 17th

This morning I took the 9AM bus (for the first time) into Granville to go to the Saturday market. I picked up a few things, but none of the delicious food they were selling. Tomorrow will be the monthly Brocante (flea market), where Nicole and Jacques thought I might find some Quimper pottery (!)  I will walk to Granville, as there is no bus on Sunday. The weather will determine whether I walk back! Mimi picked me up in Granville, as she had an errand there. I'm back at her house where she is having eleven friends and children for tea at 4....She just ran over to Chantal's to get more apples for the Apple Crumble she is making. There is a Gospel concert tonight at 8:30 which a group of us is going to...I will let you know how it is!~:))