After breakfast, we dressed and headed to the Atlantic Ocean and the English Channel, one in the same at the place we were staying. Our walk took us by the central market and what a market it was. Parking on the streets was permitted in places that would not usually permit it because this market was now in full swing the entire months of July and August. We parked our car near the hotel and kept it there, free of charge from the city, because this market needed the usual places we would have parked. The market itself had the usual trinkets and souvenirs, but it also had needlepoint pillow covers, at least 5 purse vendors, the same for jewelry vendors, fruits, nuts, vegetables, cheese (which was rather aromatic), and meats with surf and turf. I never saw a fully cooked lobster on ice, so I'm not sure how or why you'd eat it cold. I wanted to stop and get some things at the market, but my daughter was insistent that she had waited enough to find a place to get into the water and nothing was going to stand in the way; as if the water would dry up before the market would close. So, we kept walking to the beach.
We arrived at the same location as the previous day and slowly took off our socks and shoes so we could make it to the water across the beach. I had determined I did not want to enter the water because of the aerobic exercises required to re-don my compression stockings. The stockings make my feet and legs feel awesome by eliminating the water retention, but it is easiest getting them on when the skin is dry. Since we had no beach towels, drying my legs would have been difficult in the moist air that was blowing off the water onto the beach, and if I got any sand inside the socks, I'd be sandblasting my legs the remainder of the day.
The beach was soft. Most of the beaches I have experienced in tourist areas are so compressed that they are like walking on concrete with fire below the surface. But the beach in Deauville was soft and cool. It was quite comfortable to walk along the beach, and rather relaxing. We walked to the water, and I stayed on the beach while Sarah waded into the water. She was shocked at how cool the water was, and was not interested in going too far into the ocean. She did have clothes on, and her jeans were pulled up to the thighs, but she was in her glory. My daughter is an Aquarius, the water bearer, so it's no wonder why she loves the water. Being a Cancer myself, I too love the water, but can find fun out of water as well. But Sarah is happiest in water. So, she was most pleased.
As I watched my daughter explore the water and the beach, I realized I had traveled over 5000 miles to the eastern Atlantic. We live on the western side of the Atlantic, and figured I had made it this far, I might as well get my feet wet. So, I motioned for Sarah to come back towards me. She helped me take off the stockings, and I placed them in my shoes with my socks. Then, we slowly headed to the water. Initially, it was cold, but not piercing cold; just cold. According to the weather reports, the water temperatures were about 65F. For my father, it might as well have been -200F; there's no way he or others in his generation would consider this water for swimming. But I'm more like a polar bear and this water was rather refreshing. So we began walking along the beach, while maintaining a water level to just above our ankles.
As we waded in the water, I noticed I had quickly become acclimated to the temperature and had wished I had worn a bathing suit so I could have ventured in deeper. Then, we noticed a rather interesting looking object on the beach. It was shinny, deep indigo color that it originally looked like some sort of glass. When we went up to it and poked it with a shell, we realized it was a jellyfish. This was not the typical type we had encountered. Then, within 20 feet of this one, we found another jelly, but it was clear with blackish brown tentacles emanating all around the dome. There were jellyfish here and the last thing I needed was to get stung in a country that I did not know the language. So, finding these jellies simply validated my decision to not go any further into the water. Since we were wading in the ocean, I did not take any pictures for fear of getting the camera wet. So, no pictures of these jellies are available.
After walking along the beach and water for a mile or so, picking up a couple of shells and other strange artifacts that Sarah found some intrinsic value in, we headed back to the boardwalk. I looked specifically for a place along the boardwalk that was more elevated than the remainder; there's a bit of a step down from the boardwalk to the beach. I wanted this to act as a bench for drying my feet in the sand and sun, then re-donning my socks. We found a good spot and redressed. As we rose to begin our walk back towards the market, we encountered a gentlemen painting the beach and its wares, and the Danish couple we met the previous evening during the fire. We talked for a while, and decided to exchange pictures. They were a really nice couple. We also encountered these buildings with railings that had the names of movie stars on them. We read in a history of Deauville that these names were the names of famous individuals that had been to the Cannes film festival. Check out the variety of names; we were shocked to see Buzz Aldrin.
When we made it back to the market, it was closed. So we went next door for lunch and continued to relax for the remainder of the day. But we were both satisfied that we had finally reached water on our trip. It was not as extravagant as we usually enjoy in swimming pools or ocean resorts, but it hit the right spot for this trip.
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