|
France, Italy and Switzerland, August 2002
Day
7 After
our big day, we slept in until 11:00 am on Thursday. We had a good
lunch, consisting of a pizza and a salad, at the place were we normally
get ice cream. As usual we ordered separate dishes but shared.
I like this arrangement and tell your mother she should as well because
she gets twice the variety. She agrees but notes that she only
gets a quarter of the food! After lunch we went to the beach
downtown, laid out and read. It was overcast and breezy so we
didn't feel like swimming. Coming back from the beach we were
shocked to see a whole gaggle of Asians. Actually, they all were
Japanese, teenagers, boys and soccer players. After purchasing
flip-flops for 4 euros we made more pasta salad for the trip we had
planned for tomorrow and discovered 'Banania'. It is a powdered
chocolate cereal mix with bananas that you add to milk, or put on
yogurt, or toast, or anywhere! That night we dined at El Sol and
had: small fried fish with baked mussels, rouget avec crème de cresson
(red mullet with water cress cream), st. pierre with tomate
pistou (John Dory with tomato pesto), le craquant de noisette (something
crispy hazelnut) and nougat glacé. During dinner a lute and
accordion player did opera and as we walked home we encountered the cat
show, but in a different place. Day
8 After
our lazy day we rented a kayak for 65 euros for the whole day and were
in the water by 9:45. Although we didn't plan on it, we paddled
until noon and stopped at an area halfway to Marseille. It was a
good thing we had Banania and thick yogurt for breakfast. Where we
pulled the kayak ashore, the rocks out of the surf were razor sharp, but
soft and padded under the water. About ten feet from the water,
the rocks became smooth. Exploring
the area, we encountered a tan, naked Frenchman of 44 years named
Michel. He showed us the best place to go in the water. From
the sharp rock you climb down to a six foot square ledge that is either
about three or nine inches underwater, depending on the waves.
Being constantly underwater, it is softer than a 1970's shag carpet.
He only spoke French and was trying to show me that it was OK to jump
off the end of the ledge. I understood but was unable to make that
clear to him, so instead walked towards him and in one motion wrapped my
arm around his torso and fell in the water with him. From that
point on he wouldn't leave us alone.
Of
all of the areas we visited on the trip, this spot was one of best, but
unfortunately we don't have any pictorial documentation. Imagine
the tide pools beyond Natural Bridges in Santa Cruz with 1000-foot
cliffs, super clear blue/green water, abundant fish and no signs of
civilization. It was all of that and more. I especially like
watching your mother swim à la Kate Winslet in the movie
"Iris".
Later
in the day Michel asked to borrow the kayak, offering his backpack and
literally everything off his back as collateral. We let him use it
and he set off, stark naked. After about 45 minutes we started to
get a little bit worried but since when renting the kayak we didn't give
a deposit or ID or sign a waiver the only difficulty would have been
getting home. Then lo and behold, Michel shows up with a topless
woman, Valerie. For some reason I ended up paddling Valerie back
to Calenque Sugiton were Michel had picked her up. I was pleased
to do this, as I wanted to see this new calenque. While paddling
back with her, I found out that they had capsized twice on the way over
and she had somehow hit her head. When she got out of the kayak at
Calenque Sugiton, Valerie was shaking like a leaf but I held the vessel
steady and she had no more head trauma. We
finally decided that it was time to bid Michel goodbye and start the
long paddle back which we were both dreading. The seas were much
more choppy, mainly due to boats, but we eventually made it back, only
to capsize at the dock. The last km was such a pain since my
right arm was tired and when it was my turn to paddle, I could only go
in circles. That night, at La Voute, a snack turned into a full meal, I drank too much and got loopy and we met Jamie and Hanna, two other English speakers, quite rare in this area. He is from, oh drat, don't remember (I think it was Australia), but she is from Sweden. Although he doesn't anymore, Jamie used to be in the restaurant business and gave us two email addresses so your mom could contact him (Jamie.webb@imagination.com and jamiedotwebb@hotmail.com). I almost pooed in my pants when he started telling the tricks they used to play in the kitchen on the new guys. My favorite was having them wash the salt but mayonnaise on the earpiece of the phone and not letting the lobsters turn red were also pretty good.
|
