Today we decided to get out of Colette's hair and go to the beach. She, being the best hostess in the world...or at least in all of France...helped us get to the correct bus stop and bought us a bus pass for the day.
On a side note: I am seriously dreading having to fight with her to pay her for our visit. This woman is kind enough to open her home to us, to feed us, to drive us around, to help us get bus passes for our trip to the beach today, to help us get our Covid tests to come back home...she's just done so much for all of us. And Marie and Emmeline, her nieces, have been angels too: both coming the first night we arrived, Marie last night, and Emmeline tonight to help translate and to visit with Mom and me.
So, back to our day:
We went to the small village of Ouistrreham and its beach today, taking with us some sandwiches from Colette. It is a nice little town. Mom and I just went to the beach and sat on the benches, read a little, then walked down the boardwalk, and repeat.
When we first sat down on a bench, many seagulls introduced themselves by being noisy. One in particular stayed near us, most likely to wait for a handout or something. People say that birds are stupid, but seagulls certainly aren't when it comes to tourists and food. Mom named that seagull Gertrude. Gertie was with us for several hours, interrupting our reading every once and a while when she hopped up from lying in the sand to yell at us or other seagulls, but then we decided to get up and stretch our legs.
After stretching our legs a bit, we sat down again and had another seagull companion, this one noisier than Gertie. Mom dubbed this one Betty Lou. Betty Lou has a big mouth. I got so annoyed with her that I told her to "Keep your feathers on!" This amused Mom so much that she just kept laughing for quite a while. Well, it's not like I could tell her to "Keep your hair on," like Fred and George Weasley...she has feathers, not hair.
After a while, I took a little cat nap my leaning my head on Mom's shoulder. I really have the best mom ever. But then we got a bit cold. It is so weird: we were cold because of the wind off the English Channel, but we were hot because of the sun. And, by the way, I did have to put on sunblock, but I didn't put any on the back of my neck. Stupid Allyson. Yep: I got burnt.
Since we were cold, we decided to walk a little more and then head back to the bus to take to Caen.
By the way...want to talk public restrooms a little? If not, skip a paragraph. If yes: these were the first that didn't have any toilet paper in them. Talk about horrible! Good thing I had tissues in my purse!
After getting off the bus in Caen, I had to tell a Frenchman who was lost that I couldn't help him because I am American. So, just so you know: I have officially tricked three French people into believing that I am French: the first on the train to Caen, the second was in the boutique in the Caen museum, and the third was today at the bus station.
Then Colette took us to the pharmacy to get our Covid tests to come home. We're both negative! So, we'll be home at 10pm ish on Friday.
After another wonderful, but very large dinner with Colette and Emmeline, we are getting ready for bed. So, I really need to get going. Have to sleep so we can catch a train to Lisieux tomorrow.
A plus tard, mes amis!
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