May 9, 2010 - Driving south to Canet Plage

Up early, packed and Ed took luggage to the car while I finished straightening up. I’ve been sweeping all week with a whisk broom! Jane spotted Ed and said she’d be out to check us out. Amazingly she showed up with the final bill but not our deposit. Somehow with heat, linens, cleaning and laundry we owed 60 euros so we paid and cheerfully left . . . never to return. Jane had lost our deposit check so couldn’t return it to us. By the time we opened the door, the cats had taken over. They can have the place! [Later: The security check was never cashed so it is probably still sitting in a drawer at that awful little place in Homps.]

We drove into Homps looking for breakfast but nothing was open on Sunday morning so we left and drove in the direction of Narbonne. Nearing the city we stopped at Campanile for their breakfast buffet and then made an executive decision to avoid the AutoRoute. Wound our way through the countryside to Canet-Plage and the rain stopped somewhere south of Narbonne.

Arrived at our resort five hours before check in time but decided to ask if we could possibly check in around 2:00 PM right after lunch. Luck was with us; our room was ready so we checked in and brought everything up three flights of stairs. As we relaxed before unpacking, our room phone rang. Ed answered and it was Reception. She explained maintenance said our heat wasn’t working properly and they needed to move us but they would give us an upgrade. Ed went down to get the new key; we checked the new room and happily moved down three flights of stairs and back up three flights of different stairs. The new room is lovely. We have a bedroom, full bath with our own washing machine, kitchen with full refrigerator, living area with DVD, wide-screen tv and some sort of media player. There is a balcony off our bedroom and another off the living area. That is on the first floor! Upstairs is another full bedroom and bath and a small office area with a futon and . . . another large balcony with lounge chairs and sea view. Wow!

Meeting a friend at Malibu Village in Canet-en-Roussillon

Malibu Village Resort - we were in the taller building

Malibu Village Resort

Canet-Plage as seen from our upstairs terrace - with binoculars

We unpacked and decided to explore so took our resort map and walked all over the place. It had gotten incredibly windy so we thought it would be fun to drive to the beach and watch the waves and wind surfers. The waves were great but the sand was blowing hard right into our faces. I took surf photos and a little movie and we headed for Casino Supermarché . . . closed on Sunday . . . oops.

Canet-Plage near the Village de Pêcheurs - the blurring is blowing sand

Canet-Plage near the Village de Pêcheurs

We drove downtown to Canet-en-Roussillon Old Town and found the church and did some sightseeing before returning to our apartment. I put my photos on the computer until six and we walked over to orientation where they had free drinks and hors d’oeuvres. Nearly everyone there was British. We’re a minority.

Château de Canet-en-Roussillon

Near Eglise Saint-Jacques in Canet-en-Roussillon

Eglise Saint-Jacques in Canet-en-Roussillon

Near Eglise Saint-Jacques in Canet-en-Roussillon

Near Eglise Saint-Jacques in Canet-en-Roussillon

Near the Hotel de Ville in Canet-en-Roussillon

Near Eglise Saint-Jacques in Canet-en-Roussillon

Near Eglise Saint-Jacques in Canet-en-Roussillon

Hotel de Ville in Canet-en-Roussillon

Sculpture near the Mairie de Canet-en-Roussillon

Antique Citroen leaving Canet-en-Roussillon

At seven o’clock we walked over to Le Safari Restaurant and opened it. The waiter spoke perfect English but was willing to put up with our French and offered helpful pronunciation. We started with a pretty decent kir and Ed ordered magret de canard and I had the chicken and cèpes brochettes. Both were superb and came with a huge serving of frites that we couldn’t finish. We were too full for dessert so I had coffee.

The waiter had introduced us to another American couple (from Virginia) and they started talking to us after dinner. At ten o’clock we finally paid our bills and walked home. They are Brian and Mary Alice and this is their first trip to France so they had lots of questions. Brian also told us about their Verizon cell phone plan that lets them keep their home phone number but still have a European cell phone for the trip. It sounds interesting so we’ll have to check on it when we get home. [Update later: We finally decided to buy LeFrench Mobile SIM cards for our cell phones because we can keep the number forever. We've used them ever since and it's very convenient.]

It was a busy, fun day and although there was heavy rain and a thunderstorm during dinner, by ten o’clock it was over, sky had cleared and the wind was gone. Perfect!