La Paillotte Aquitaine

... Pinxos restaurant she, Ev, and Jullie had loved 3 weeks earlier. It was truly amazing and we enjoyed talking with a lovely british couple who now run a B&B in Provence. Judy and the kids had a wet but fun time, as the weather had finally turned south.

                       

I don't really need to tell you what we did do I? Take one part playground, one part beach, and one part sunset and you have a Kramer day in Biarritz.

           

... Dispite the language barriers they had a lovely time exploring the basque country side. What did we do? Why go to the beach, of course!!

                     

... the kids slept. Tom did a little surfing and another nice sunset was enjoyed during dinner.

                   

... cathedral and adorable cobble stone streets. Since it was sunday, the only place open was a small creperie, but we had a nice time nonetheless which Judy watched the kids.

             

Farmor took an 11am train back to Paris and we were down to just one Grandma! The weather continued to be ideal and we enjoyed another great beach day and a wonderful sunset meal on our patio. Yeah Biarritz!!

   

... meal institution - Farmor opened her presents which included a beautifully decorated by Evie photo album with pictures from our 11 weeks together. Sue was the inspiration behind the whole idea and Eva was clearly moved (it is hard to make a Swede cry!).

                       

Sue and Judy took the bikes and toured "downtown" Biarritz, which is a lovely 30 minute bike ride away. Later that afternoon, we joined most of town at the beach for another idillac beach session. Evie wore her mini-wetsuit for the first time since we bought it 6 months ago. It is too small already!!!

After Evie gave it a go ...

... and found our way to Mont de Marsan which is the 'capital' of the Landes departement.

It was a nice town - not particularly historic but with some interesting old buildings dating back as far as the 12th century.




The streets were very colourful with flowers and dotted with bronze sculptures, and large ...

... the ground floor. Restaurants are traditional French, Basque, and sometimes Italian, with a heavy emphasis on seafood, and shopping varies depending on the neighborhood or quarter. The cathedral, which I think dates to the 14th or 15th century, is a grand gothic work close to the center of town, and sometimes hosts local art exhibits. A large portion of the city's former ramparts exists preserved on the edge of downtown, containing a beautiful garden and some amazingly placed ...