Arcachon Bay, France (September 14, 2025)
Beach day! For our last day together, Sally Mahamdeh, husband Jeremy and daughter Tiya suggested that Violet and I would enjoy a nice swim in Arcachon Bay. It was the most beautiful part of the bay leading out to the ocean that we could see from the top of the Dune of Pilat the other day. Before we arrived, Tiya noticed a shop with a really cool hat:
Tiya tries on a hat that perfectly accents her cool kid outfit. Had to get it.
What I loved is that it was part of a surf shop selling all the brands I grew up with in Northern California. It was like I had time-warped into my own childhood back in Salmon Creek near all the shops selling saltwater taffy alongside surfboards, wetsuits and all the gear you need to spend the day riding waves.
And as we continued to walk Sally asked if Violet and I would like to try the best ice-cream shop in this area. What kind of question is that? Who would say no?
While Violet and I were hamming it up, Tiya once again stole the picture ;-)
So now we are fully fed (with ice-cream anyway), new hat and ready to hit the beach. As we continue to walk the promenade it opens onto a boardwalk that is outfitted with a wonderful artistic “stop and take your picture here” spot. Someone was thinking all of this through and did a wonderful job.
Tiya standing to the left of a French girl holding heart-shaped balloons
Okay, Sally, I think I found your desk picture. How’s this for inspiration?
As a side note, this is what I love about digital photography. Back in the days of film, you would take pictures and not know which ones were any good. Was the lighting right? Eyes opened or closed? Was the subject looking at the camera when picture was taken? Did that guy really just walkin in the middle of the picture? And we’d have to wait to develop the pictures to know. With digital, we can fire away and delete later. Such a better system and way to capture the essence of any given day.
See what I mean? And even the gallery view gives you a sense of what was happening around the “preferred shot” that captures the essence of what’s being talked about — the backstory if you will.
Onto the beach. While it’s September 14th, the weather is quite warm for two New Yorkers and both Violet and I are ready to go for a swim. We look around and very few people have the same idea. Most are happy to walk on the boardwalk or play in the sand, but not a lot of swimmers. No matter.
And if you took the 30 seconds to watch the video you might have noticed another strange art project in the background. A white rotating whale tail out by the swimming buoys. I mean, it’s cool to see a whale breach, but this was more like a water-based mobile rotating with the currents in the ocean. Artistic? Sure. But some things like the ocean don’t need any enhancements. My two cents anyway. But for this region, the art project was approved and there you go.
Incredible French lunch by the beach. Food. Friends. Ocean. All the things.
For lunch, I enjoyed the muscles in that giant pot of broth. No, wait, let me reverse that. I ordered the broth that came with the muscles. You see, as much as I love muscles, it’s all about the French broth that you “work towards” by eating said muscles and enjoy at the end. If I didn’t care about my manners, I would have drank directly from the bowl to ensure every last drop was consumed. This broth included cream and chorizo — a bit of sweet and spicy and of course a natural white wine base with herbs as is the way. So good.
Violet enjoyed her first carpaccio (raw beef) and decided she preferred her more traditional medium rare steak which she followed up and ordered. All of these dishes came with an absurd amount of french fries, so we did our best to at least make it look like we tried to eat some of them. There simply was no way to finish (and I think that was the point).
Tiya LOOOOOVES Violet and being taller than her
For me, the highlight of the day was after lunch. It was clear that Tiya was getting a bit tired. Heck, after a feast like we just had, I think we all could use a nap. But seeing this, Violet asked Tiya if she wanted a ride on her shoulders. Sally was kind enough to translate the offer to make sure Tiya understood. The wide eyes, grin and quick nod of acceptance was priceless. Like, “Really? Yes, PLEASE!”
You can see from the picture, she’s so happy to be perched on Violet’s shoulders and I’m so happy to see Violet bringing so much joy to Tiya. When Tiya first heard that I was bringing my daughter, Tiya (naturally) assumed that I was bringing someone her age. When she saw Violet, her first comment was, “But she’s SO TALL!” Sally explained that when Tiya was older, she could be as tall as Violet and that has had her curiosity going wondering what that would be like — now she gets to experience it as we walk back to the car.
Along the way, we found a few more spots to capture a few more moments as we wrapped up our last day in France.
What a magnificent way to complete our time in France. Tomorrow we head to Barcelona and chase the sun and the hot weather just as it’s turning fall in France. I’ve been travelling for nearly 80 days — the longest I’ve ever been on the road. In just a few weeks time my wife Elena will join us and I’m so looking forward to that — even more than being in Italy.
For now, I so enjoy being part of other people’s families. It truly is the next best thing when only one of my family members is traveling with me. Having Violet join me has been such a gift. Reconnecting with Elena will be equally powerful. Distance truly does make the heart grow fonder.
