My first Beach Trip of 2017.

Today, I took the most spontaneous day trip of all time. I got word at the last second that I didn’t have to work on Friday and I immediately went to my computer and bought a round trip train ticket to the northwest coast of France. I’ve wanted to go to the beach for quite some time now and train tickets from Paris to the beach just too expensive over the weekend. Which is why I jumped at the opportunity to go during the week for a severely discounted rate. During the week, student tickets are roughly fifteen euros and with my fidelity card, I got an extra 20% off. I’ll let you do the math.

The beach I chose was Deauville. This is in Normandy and apparently a popular destination for Parisians, because it is so close. The train ride is about two hours and I arrived just before lunch. From the station to the beach is about twenty minutes and the walk is far from boring. I got to walk past the private docks and check out the boats and their funky names. There is also a great view of the canal and Main Street, which I went to after some time on the beach. You also walk past all the massive rental properties overlooking the coast. These things are exactly what you’d expect from a north, French beach town. They’re massive and adorable and most likely very expensive.

I found the beach surprisingly vacant for midday. Although I did arrive on an overcast day at the end of May during the week, so I guess it’s not all that surprising. I walked along the boardwalk and sat down for brunch. My crepe was 3 euros and my coffee was nearly five. How French. And the idea of a restaurant on the beach is so cute but in practice, it’s more of a terrifying, house of horror kind of experience to protect your food from being taken away by the birds that watch you and fearless jump onto your table.

The beach itself is massive! There’s so much sand and space that I almost didn’t know what to do with myself. The most popular picture of Deauville is that of the umbrellas waiting to be rented. So naturally I took my own rendition. And I don’t know that I’d call them mountains, but maybe extreme hills. But you can see whatever these are on every side of the beach and it’s incredible. It was about 25C (or 80F) most of the day and even though it was overcast for a lot of the day, I still managed to get an impressive burn.

After a few hours on the beach relaxing, terrorizing birds and playing in the sand, I headed back into town. I had a walk up the main road and found that it’s mostly geared toward French tourists, which means less barrets and more crepes. But my main goal at this point was to walk to the top of these hills or whatever to see the ocean and the town. This was another really good in theory but when it came to walking up the hills of the French San Francisco, I was regretting my decision. And of course, during this hike is when the sun came out and temperatures hit the highest of the day. But it was worth it. I walked among the (most likely) expensive, residential housing. This is where you wan to be living. I got some great views of the beach and the city and also got my cardio for the day.

After sweating my face off, I stopped by the market for supplies (junk food and beer) and headed back to the beach to enjoy the cold water and the refreshing breeze. I got to spend three more hours lounging on the beach before my train came to take me home and I enjoyed every second of it.