DEAUVILLE

While we haven't done any major traveling since living in Paris, we have been able to visit some of the smaller, countryside towns which has been wonderful.  It gives a whole new perspective to French living.

Last week we had the opportunity to visit Deauville, France, a city in the Normandy region of northern France.  We have friends from ACP who own a home there and they invited us to come up and let them show us around.

How quaint is this??

We stayed at a darling B&B owned by Carol, a friend of theirs, who also owns a small boutique in town which, of course, we checked out later in our visit!!

Villa Eugenie-our B&B

We'd already spent one night hence the rumpled bed!

Great bathroom and I loved the tub-I need a pillow like that!!

Most of our first day was spent getting settled into our room, strolling Deauville with Francoise and Kveta and their grandson, Martin, who was staying with them.  We ended our day at their home for dinner which was fabulous.

When Francoise needed to go into this shop for new pants, David went in and walked out with a new navy sport coat!  But it was on sale!!

These are the memories we will take back with us when we leave...

I'm bundled up and David is without coat!

Most of the time we were there it was cold (David says cool!!) and rainy.  But we're Parisians (!!!) and know how to be out in rain!!!!  Each day we had a French breakfast at our B&B.  This is a small place and they only have two rooms, and this visit we were her only visitors.  It felt strange, but she was so warm and friendly it almost felt as though we were spending time with a friend (who only spoke French!!!!  But she tried English and we tried our French!!!).

Deauville is known for its horse racing so we spent some of the morning walking around seeing where horses were stabled and where races were run.  It's the sister city of Lexington, Kentucky, because of its horse racing.    The neighborhoods were very quaint and beautiful-even in the rain!  Martin had tennis every day so we'd stroll with Francoise in the early morning (after breakfast) while Kveta took care of some of her household business then we'd get her and pick up Martin and have lunch.

We walked along the beach several times in several locations.  Of course, the weather wasn't what I want in a beach stroll, but the beaches were very nice.  One day we had lunch at a little lunch spot on the beach (inside, of course!) and it was so relaxing looking out onto the beach and the hear waves breaking.  What did I select for lunch??  A good old American cheeseburger and fries!!!!  Delish!!😋

I loved this-the changing rooms along the beachfront had these dividers between each room all with the names of various celebrities from various eras.

I do love walking on the beach!!!

This is the view from the back of their home-I would never tire of it...even  with clouds and rain!

As we drove through the countryside and small towns, we stopped at a British Cemetery from World War I.  It was in a remote little place and was lovely and quiet.  We also stopped at an apple farm where they grow apple trees and make Calvados, an apple liqueur, and other apple products.  We   bought some apple caramels, jam and an apple liqueur.

This is a beautiful-manicured little cemetery to honor those young men who gave so much

Trouville-sur-Mer (commonly known as Trouville) borders Deauville.  It is a village of fishermen and fishing boats, and we spent a rainy afternoon there strolling the streets, walking along the boardwalk and, of course having a treat!

Watching the waffle being made

We had a wonderful few days in the north of France.  It always makes us wonder how different life would be living outside Paris.  Certainly our French would have to be MUCH better...several nights we had aperitifs with Francoise and Kveta and friends of theirs.  Everyone spoke French (of course) but little, if any, English.  David found it challenging to try and understand while I found it frustrating and stressful!!!!  But we enjoyed these visits and appreciated their welcome to Francoise and Kveta's American friends.

There is no question in our minds we will leave this country different than we came........