Beach Day

First of all, a big THANK YOU to all of you who let me know you are reading this blog.  It lifted my spirits considerable and now I really feel like you are all making this wonderful trip with us. 

We got up a little early this morning and drove south to the carmargue region.  Along the way we saw fields and fields of sunflowers again...had to get another picture, of course.  Can you pick out the big 'fruit' in the middle of the sunflower field?

We were trying to beat the crowds to the beach.  It turns out that we are just barely an hour from the beach - a big long stretch of extremely fine sand and glorious cool, clear water. We stopped in the beach town of Stes. Maries-de-la-Mer and had some quick chocolat croissants for breakfast and purchased a beach umbrella.  We were able to find parking easily around 10 am, something we could not have done an hour or two later for sure.  It was lovely.  The ocean floor was entirely sand - no shells or rocks or even pebbles.  It was quite shallow but easy to walk out in.  We were in and out several times over the next few hours.  Larry roamed the beaches - he just LOVES the french beaches. :)  I got to soak up the sun and even spent quite a bit of time 'sans top'.  Very french!  Larry loved that part, too.  It was certainly a different experience, I must say.  (Sorry, no pictures.)

One thing I love about the french beaches is the fresh water showers - incredibly civilized.  We rinsed off and then drove through town, caught a quick bite to eat and went off to explore the Carmargue region and see the Ornithological Park.  The entire area down here at the sea between Marseilles and Montpelier (around the mouth of the Rhone River) is a really large delta created by the river.  It is very flat and very marshy.  It is inhabited by cowboys who tend herds of big, black bulls and by lots of big white horses.  It was much too hot to go riding but it would have been fun on a cooler day.  We saw lots of horses.

The area is also home to a huge number of pink flamingos.  Who knew?  I HAD to go see that, which is why we went to the Ornithological Park.  We also saw some huge white egrets, cranes, heron, eagles and owls.  It was wonderful!

Did I mention yet that it is very hot here?  Down at the beach it wasn't quite as bad - a light sea breeze kept it down to 88 or so, but as we drove back north to 'home' it crept back up to 97.  We are home now waiting for a cool evening.  The plan is to shower and head to St. Remy-de-Provence to find some spagetti!  Nothing like a day at the beach to build up the appetite!