The rest of the year

Le Touquet aka Paris Plage. It’s exactly that – Parisians plus beach (or bitch as Jerome and I were joking). A week there is enough for a lowly American like me, although I loved running along the boardwalk.

The beach was gorgeous, don’t get me wrong, and it would have been much nicer if there was some sun. The beach may have been nice, but the Parisians were too Parisian. Even the Nordistes were a little too Parisian.

The town itself is very cute, lovely houses called “maisons balnéaires” which hearken back to Le Touquet’s heyday. Lots of little stores like Sonia Rykiel and Versace. We did have some lovely mussels and fries as well as some good cabillaud (cod) from the local fish market. And Jerome and I treated ourselves to an overly priced, but good, fish dinner at Pérard, the famous Touquet fish restaurant. Good bread, good chocolate and lots of grey skies as you’d expect in a place like Northern France which claims to have 2 seasons: August and the rest of the year.

The beach itself is lovely – right on the bay de Canche with large dunes. The town was actually built in what used to be a forest by some guy in the late 19^th century who wanted to create a beach for the trendy Parisian set as well as some English party-goers.

Etaples, the famous fishing port right near Boulogne, still has the fish stalls every morning. Unfortunately, the fishermen no longer actually bring their boats right up to Etaples. The fish are unloaded in Boulogne (France’s biggest fishing port) and trucked to Etaples some 30 kilometers away. That said, we did get some nice fish there at a restaurant called Aux Pecheurs d’Etaples which I don’t recommend with a tired 2 year old (go across the parking lot to the family friendly Planète Océan instead).

Vacation is over. The sky is grey. It must already be the rest of year. Oh wait, I'm still waiting for August…