Finally.....the beach!!

Now that we are back from our trip, we want to finish posting pics from our drive around France. As most of you know, we spent the last several years living at the beach and we loved every minute of it. We missed it terribly during our 7 months in DC, so when we were planning our trip around France, we placed top priority on including some good quality beach time. Our first beach stop was a little family beach town called St. Cyr Sur Mer. We stayed in a cheap hotel across the street from the beach that had not been renovated since the 1970's. Our toilet, shower, and sink were avocado green to match the orange and green striped wallpaper. We thought this was hilarious though, and the place would have been perfect for us had the air conditioner worked. Unfortunately, it did not.

Other features made up for the heat though, like the price and the view. The best part of the hotel by far was the sun deck, which Peter discovered on our second night. The view of the sunset from up there was amazing.



Nothing Peter loves more than watching the sunset in the south of France while enjoying some red wine out of a plastic cup.


Before we discovered the sun deck, we found another great way to enjoy the sunset...... with a pizza picnic on the huge rocks that line the beach. This was probably our one of our cheapest and favorite dinners of the entire trip.



Peter even found a way to set the camera up on a rock so we could use the timer to take a pic of us together. We were praying that a gust of wind wouldn't blow the camera into the sea, but luckily, the picture turned out perfectly.

In addition to the amazing sunsets, the other highlight of our time in St. Cyr was definitely the hike we did on our last day. Starting literally outside our hotel, we found an 8 mile hiking trail that winds around the cliffs to the next port city. Words really can't describe the views that we experienced that day. It was awesome. Often, the trail took us precariously close to the edge of the cliffs. In this first photo, Peter is contemplating just how high the trail is.



It was a hot day, and when the trail wasn't shaded, it was pretty tough going. So we were very excited to happen upon this beautiful cove where a few people were swimming. The water was the clearest, most beautiful water I have ever seen. We couldn't resist a quick refreshing swim.



Peter's second successful attempt at using the timer feature on the camera in windy conditions. This time we really thought the camera was gone.....while we are smiling and waiting, it was wobbling dangerously on the tiny post where Peter had set it up. The pic was worth the risk though.


Here are a couple more shots of the views.





Next stop Monaco!!