The day after our anniversary we headed west to the coast.  Our day started with a trip out to the airport to pickup the rental car.  The trains were not running, there was a bomb scare at one of the stations on the way out there; everyone was in a panic about missing their planes.  We had no deadlines and took our time and waited for cab.  We finally made it to the airport and got our rental car; this would be my first time driving in France.   It wasn’t bad at all, we found our way out of town easy enough, it was a straight shot to the town we were staying in, Etratat.

The climate was a lot cooler than in Paris.  It really reminded me of the Pacific Northwest.  Etratat is a small town set in a cove surrounded by huge white cliffs.  Our hotel was on top of a hill that looked down over the town.  A lot of Parisians take their vacations here.  It had great seafood, so I hear (I don’t like seafood) also one of the best hamburgers I have ever tasted, that’s right America ONE OF THE BEST HAMBURGERS I HAVE EVER TASTED.  I have had probably thousands of pounds of hamburger pass through my stomach so I consider myself a connoisseur.

The beach was made up of small stones instead of sand.  That first night we sat on the beach drinking wine and throwing rocks into the Atlantic.  When the tide went out you could walk out below the cliffs.  There we found an old World War II bunker and a cave.  Inside the cave there was a ladder leading up to a ledge where there was a sign that read “if you find yourself here during high tide don’t panic you are safe just wait till the tide goes back out and walk out.”

The next day we hiked to the top of the cliffs on the north side of town.  At the top it was very grassy and there were cow pastures.   Looking to the north it seemed that the white cliffs went on forever.  On the way back we spotted a trail that led down a steep path through the cliffs.   Jessica, being very afraid of heights and cliffs, decided to head back to town and do some shopping.  I headed down the trail.  At the bottom was a solid rock bench that led into the water, waves continually crashed against it.  There was an Asian couple there and the man was trying to get in the water so his wife could take a picture.   I offered to take their photo, so the woman skittishly crawled out on the rocks.  I took my own photo while the man was still out there, it ended up being one of my favorite photos I had taken in France.  If one of you had said blurry Asian for the scavenger hunt you would have won the grand prize.  On the way back to the trail I saw a cave that led into the cliff side.  I looked through and I could see daylight.  It was about a hundred yards long and led to the beach that  we  were at the night before.

The next day we hiked the cliffs to the south side of town.  We ran into a Spanish couple that we met in line for the catacombs in Paris.  He noticed that we had new clothes; we told him that our bags finally showed up.  When we met them the first time the luggage thing was a hot topic, with over an hour standing in line next to us they got to hear all about it.

The hike was beautiful blah blah blah…. Photos, food, people.  I am sick of writing and it takes me forever.  I want to go back to France.