Belated Birthday's at the Beach

The sun shown bright in the sky this morning, slowly burning off the haze of heat that hung over the inlet below the mountain. We had a delicious breakfast of fresh fruit and yogurt while sitting at our table outside. It was amazing. After breakfast we made our way to St. Tropez for a few, quick errands. Then it was time for the beach.

As always, L’Esquinade received the Michel family with open arms and big smiles. Manuel knew that today we were celebrating our birthdays; my mother’s is the 16th and mine is the 18th. So Yannick, the beach boy who helps me practice my French, led us to three mats with umbrellas and tables and we settled in for a nice relaxing day at the beach. It was probably around 11:30.

That’s about when the boozing began.

The waiter came to our mats and graciously presented us with a three flutes and a wine bucket. To my father he said, “This one is from your father.” My grandfather was kind enough to call over and send us a wonderful bottle of fine champagne and we sat, sprawled out on our mats, baking in the warm, French Rivera sun, sipping our birthday gift. The bottle disappeared too quickly. It was just that good. We then entertained ourselves by taking frequent dips in the refreshing Mediterranean Sea or by people watching or laughing at the dogs rolling around in the mounds of seaweed washed ashore by last week’s storm.

When lunchtime finally rolled around, we dragged our asses to the palm-tree covered tables for the always-delicious escalop du veau. Before we could even order, the same man who brought us the champagne came over with a bottle of wine – “This one is from your sister.” It was tasty. As was the food, and the chocolate cake we had for dessert. And the other bottle of wine. And the espresso. And the final glass of vin blanc we downed before passing out on the mats for an afternoon nap. Honestly, with that much booze and that much food and that much sun – you’d sleep too.



Our nap was interrupted by the urgency of errands. We went stopped off at Ramatuelle to check for packages, but the post office was closed. Our final destination was Géant Casino where we bought a few necessities – including a Wanadoo account – and shopped for shoes.

I am thrilled to have the Internet. It’s a lovely feeling to connect whenever I want, rather than having to make the trip to the café and pray that it’s open. I know, I know: I’m addicted. But so are you.

Other good news? I applied for a job – the kind of job I really want. Some British company wants to hire someone to write weekly articles about life in the Côte d’Azur. I think I could handle that… ; )
Hey – at least that way I’d be putting my BU degree to good use!