Day 8: Biarritz, France

Today was the worst day ever.  Really.  I will tell you why today is the worst day ever at the end of this, sure to be very long, blog entry.

I woke up at about 8 00 this morning, because I am stupid.  That was fine, because I got a chance to write my previous post, "Day 7: Pau, Fr".  Anyway, at about 10 h 00, we sat down for brunch and we had stuff like omelets and toast and fresh fruit and stuff.  I don't know if I've really talked about this yet, but the food here is wonderful.  I had apple juice today for brunch and I liked it.  A lot. I hate apple juice.  Just ask my mom.   Anyway, brunch was good, and then we got ready for Biarritz.

Basically, Biarritz is the West Coast(not California) version of Nice.  This means that it isn't sunny, and the water is cold, but everything is still really expensive.  Basically this is where all of the rich English people used to go on Vaycay.

The main beach in Biarritz.  Please note, if you can, the varying architectural styles.

Once we got set up on the beach, we went for a swim.  I'm not nuts about swimming, or oceans, but it was pretty fun.  The waves were quite powerful, and were definitely the strongest waves I have even experienced.  There was a yellow flag up, which means swim if you must, but don't drown.  It was extremely tiring, and at one point I thought about getting out, but I had to show how strong and tough Americans are, so I stayed in. 
I also refused to put on my sweatshirt after I got out, even though I was soaked and it was cloudy and windy.

After our swim, we went for a walk along the beach, and it was quite beautiful.  The end destination was this statue of the Virgin Mary on top of a big rock in the middle of the ocean, but there was plenty to look at on the way.  It probably took us about 30-40 min to make the walk as we stopped for pictures and exploring.  I took over 200 pictures today, so I put more than normal on here.

This is one of the many features just off the coast in Biarritz.

Here I am with my host family(L to R): Charlotte, Corine, Pablo, Me, Thom, and Jean-Francois.  They have been absolutely wonderful in welcoming me into their home.

I'm not exactly sure what this is, but I thought it was a very cool feature

There are pathways like this one built all along the shore.

 I was not able to get any good pictures of the Virgin Mary. I guess she just isn't very photogenic. But I promise she looked great.  The shore around the statue was quite rocky, and the waves crashing on the rocks were quite impressive.

Please note the tiny people on the rocks for scale.  Just to be clear, they just look tiny, because of the size of the rocks and waves.  They are actually 15 ft tall.

On the walk back, we went through the town center.  It was mainly very narrow streets with lots of shops and some cafes.  Basically what you'd expect from a beach resort town.  Typically shops and businesses are closed on Sundays, but this is probably when they get most of their business, so they were all open. The town is great and has a beautiful old cathedral and a square with an art museum.  When we got back to our stuff, it was gone.  The tide had come in abnormally high, and soaked the beach.  Some nice people moved our stuff to the seawall.  Once we were there, we sat on some steps leading into town and ate our lunch.  We had bread, various cheeses, fresh fruits and tomatoes (yes, I know tomatoes are technically a fruit), tea, water, cup cakes and rhubarb pie. If you have never had rhubarb pie, it is really good.  After lunch, some people swam some more, and then we left.

Looking back towards the ocean.

After returning to Pau, for dinner, we had pizza delivered.  Pizza here is basically the same as pizza in America, except it is good.  For desert, we had plain yogurt with jam mixed in, left over rhubarb pie and plum pie. It was very nice.  I also had to endure this beautiful sunset, out of my window:

 Anyway, in case you are still wondering, my day was awful because there is water in my ear.  It is stuck there, and it looks like I will be bringing it home with me.