Noirmoutier

After getting over my sinus infection in about 4 days I spent the first part of my vacation on an island named Noirmoutier off the west coast of France. The family of a friend from Paris have a “country home” there (because everyone has these cute little country homes, its normal), so off we headed from the snows of Paris to the ocean. A 5 + hour drive and we were there. The countryside that we drove through was absolutely breathtaking.

The further we got from Paris, the less snow there was on the ground, until finally there was none. We arrived at about 8pm and waited for the rest to get there to eat dinner. Cute little town with cute little houses and it smells of the ocean but in a different way. Spent four days sleeping until noon, eating nutella on rice cakes, lounging,  buying play mobiles, eating lunch between 2 and 4, napping, reading, watching movies, having guitar hero competitions, going to the beach day and night, eating, eating more and sleeping. Then repeating. Cutest little house. Heated floors. I will most definitely have heated floors when I grow up. Fires in the fireplace all day long. And so much food. The first day we woke up too late and all of the stores were closed (it was Sunday) and somehow ate delicious food all day. Roasted chicken bought at the convenience store and pan roasted potatoes for lunch. Pasta with a tomato sardine sauce. Delicious. Herb pan fried fish, raclette melted by the heat of the fire and a wonderful “Christmas” dinner of oysters, (I am now a oyster shucking master) lamb shoulder and green beans. Lots of POP! Champagne and wine with every meal but never getting drunk.

The beach was beautiful but in a different way than what I’m used to. The sand was different, coarser. The seaweed was amazing. It wasn’t green! It was pinky-red. And all over. A beautiful mix of colors. Covering the beach.

The smell was different. And the coastline. I think I’m finally used to looking out at the ocean and not seeing tree covered islands. We looked out at the ocean and saw the ‘continent’ aka France. And it glittered with lights. And the stars! I don’t think I’ve ever been able to see so many stars in my life. So far away from big cities, less than 1000 people live on this island year round. And the sky is just full! It is really breathtaking. I could picture my momma and poppa living there in the little white/cream colored house with a wall around it, a red tile roof and the doors and shutters painted this certain color of blue. All of the houses are like this. And all of the shutters are just about the same shade of blue. There is a rule as to what color you can paint! And the gardens are beautiful and the streets of the town are windy and narrow. There are boats in the port, and the people of the island raise oysters and take salt from the ocean.