FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 2
PLACE TURENNE, A NEIGHBORHOOD SQUARE
A short walk from our hotel was Place Turenne, a typical French square with small bars, banks, a patisserie and boulangerie. The houses between the hotel and Place Turenne were delightful — painted a multitude of soft colors, some with bay windows, some with turrets and pointed roofs. Among the decorative elements were cast iron Juliet balconies and larger, overhanging wooden balconies, an occasional oval window, and small plaques with the names of soldiers who had lived inside.
For our breakfast of coffee, bread and cheese, we chose a small bar on a corner of Place Turenne. Five grey and balding men and a middle-aged couple were seated at the bar and tables. Wine and coffee were equally popular. A mother, child and grandfather arrived after we began eating. The others in the bar greeted them, and we realized how small the town was, how familiar people are with each other, that life here follows routines. The waiter, people at other tables, in fact, everyone we met that day, was friendly and curious about us.
A line had formed outside the door of a corner patisserie. Local were lined up to buy their morning loaf of bread, maybe two loaves for the day. We figured it this was where the locals shop, we should, too. Good call. The bread was excellent. One street behind the main square we found a sumptuous cheese, wine and meat store, rich in smells of all things yummy about French food. The cheeses oozed with pungent odors that mixed with the savory spices of salami and other sausages.
MALO BEACH
After picking up a few treats, we returned to our hotel, and headed for the beach. Of the 20-kilometer length of beach we probably walked about five kilometers. Again, the architectural variety along the beach was surprising. Considerably larger than the buildings in town, they were equally quirky and eclectic, every imaginable style on display, some attractive, some not so much. The range included art deco, perhaps a few buildings that survived the bombings during WWII, a few of pale-colored, Elizabethan-influenced structures, some decorative 1930s French, and some 1970s block-style with bold primary-colored patterns painted across the façades.
Many people walked along the beach and boardwalk, but spread at such great distances, it felt as if we were mostly alone. A giant jellyfish washed ashore, a few fisherman stood knee-deep in the waves. The wind, cold and strong off the water, whipped and pulled kite surfers along the sand, and the water.
CITY CENTER ONE MORE TIME
At the end of the day, we returned to the city center to arrange some of our upcoming travel and visited a bustling mall that opened onto the main square downtown. It was nice to have free bus transport. When we returned to the Malo-les-Bains neighborhood, we ate at a Japanese Restaurant near a casino and our hotel.
