Home >  Journal Main >  The Beach   <Prev  Next>

The beach

Typical row of apartment buildings in Juan les Pins, pretty much the same all along the French Riviera.   My wife's parents found us a great apartment on the beach along the French Riviera and we are tremendously grateful that they were willing to make the many trips necessary to scout the area and find us such a nice place.  We have an unobstructed view of the Mediterranean, the bay of Cannes and the mountains that surround it.   We got it for a reasonable rate because we are here in the off-season (fall and winter).  We arrived in late August so it was pretty crowded at first but come September school started and most of the craziness has subsided.  The weather has been unusually rainy in September but there has been plenty of time for sun. 

  The proximity of the balcony to the beach is a continued source of entertainment throughout the day.  In the morning we have breakfast while watching the seaside come to life.  First there is the day's condition of the surf and a new set of yachts that have moored during the night.  A tractor comes to sift the sand on the beach (we call it the Sandboni because it follows the same pattern as the machine at an ice rink).  Next, the regular beach-bums (mostly retirees) come to take advantage of the freshly cleaned beach for an early swim or to stake out their territory for the day.  As the sun increases in intensity the tanners come in good number to bake their bodies.  That the woman often go topless on the beach here is more than distracting to a poor American male but the locals seem not to pay too much attention.  Young girls, mothers, and old ladies alike seem very concerned about tan lines.  Often, they put their tops back on when getting up to go swim and remove them again only while sunning.  (I have studied this behavior carefully.)  During the day, sport is limited by available space to the ubiquitous paddle ball (a sort of ping pong without a table, net nor any score.  The object is to keep the ball going back and forth between two people as long as possible.  That's it.  Click, clack, click, clack, aye!)  As we sit for dinner (at 7:30 or  8:00pm--early by French standards) there is often a game of soccer or volleyball (or a cross between the two where they never touch the ball with their hands but instead kick, knee or head the ball over the net) being set up on the beach for our entertainment.

  I am not so fond of the blazing heat of the day or the crowds that it attracts but it's nice to take the family for a late walk before the kids go to bed.  Late at night, the sound of the ocean can be soothing once you master the ability to ignore the vehicles zooming past on the road below.  Actually, even watching the impatient tourists, the often cute or exotic european cars and the death defying antics of motor scooters is amusing from the safe vantage of our overlooking balcony.

  Thanks again to Maïté's parents for finding this place for us. 

  I considered the idea of doing a series of sand sculptures on the beach below but there are already a couple of guys doing that--for spare change.  They have some kind of special permission from the city government to sleep on the beach to protect their work as they elaborate it day after day.  The response from passers by is typically positive though the coins are generally small.

29 August 2005

Home >  Journal Main >  The Beach   <Prev  Next>