Bread, Brie and Beach - July 11-12

Jill: Not much to report on the paradise here in Menton. We've fallen into a lazy routine. Pick up some bread and cheese, maybe some fruit and soda and head to the beach sometime before noon. We are certainly not the early birds as Todd has seen people setting up their stuff as early as 7:15. The day seems to be at its hottest around 9 or 10, which is so weird to us, but a mist comes over the hills in the early afternoon to cool things off a bit, until it heats up again around 5 or so. Everyone parks their stuff right next to each other, so you can always find a place to sit, and you kind of scoot up toward the water as spots become available when families begin to take their young nappers home. It's very casual, people are laid back and friendly. We've heard plenty of French along with Italian, German and occasionally English. Here ladies young and old wear their tiniest bikinis (or settle for half) and you're pressed to spot a swim shirt or wide-brimmed hat, but cigarettes and suntan oil abound.

The shop owners have been very friendly and seem to know English or pretend to understand my attempt at French, either way we've been getting along just fine. I'm feeling somewhat validated now that we've been using (on a daily basis) the soft cooler and sand buckets (and shovels) I insisted on hauling from home (hooray!). And Todd has been kind enough to not point out that they're available throughout the town.

Since there's not too much to report, I thought I'd include some more photos from Menton and our apartment.




The doorway to our apartment




The living room and windows looking onto the beach



The opposite side of the living room. There is a shower off the kitchen and then the WC is behind the middle two doors here in the living room.



The view of the beach from our window





One of the two archways said to comprise the Roman portion on our road that connected Genoa to Nice, I read today that some say Napoleon had to dismantle his canons to get them through the narrow passageway




Can you make our the word "lettres" on the wood slat of the door? We wonder if this was a post office




Part of the town




Stopping for some sodas and fries



Walking up our street





The beach





Emmy caught a fish!




The "sand"


Tomorrow, Monaco!



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Location:Menton,France