Day 56

Up at a reasonable hour, we were soon on the road for a fun filled three day weekend.  We arrived at the little coastal town of Ondres around the noon hour.  Knowing that we could not check into our accomodations until 4 pm, we decided to spend the afternoon at the beach.  The weather is still a bit on the Spring side to play in the water much, but we did manage to wet our feet a bit.  Actually, in the mad retreat from the incoming tide, the youngest of our crew managed to take a header in the surf and wet a whole lot more than his feet.  A quick change of clothes later, we were back in business.  We spent the afternoon building sand castles and playing at the edge of building seas.  To be perfectly honest, the Atlantic coast line is no place for a kid to swim.  The waves crashing at the shore line are unfriendly and would certainly suck a full grown man out to sea if unprepared.  That being said, the afternoon was lovely and we ended up hopping down the coast from town to town, sampling the beach life at each.  Having sufficiently sunburned my bald dome, we headed back to the resort to check in.  Apparently we were just a minute or two late and the office was closed.  A few phone calls were made and an attendant met us at Reception to get us checked in.  Our little cabin was really quite inexpensive, however, we soon found out that the devil is truly in the details.  The intent of this resort is for the the self-serve extended holiday traveler.  The beds are provided without bedding and the bathrooms are not equipped with a single towel.  All these conveniences could be rented . . . at a price.  With our pocket book emptied we were off to our chalet with two towels and one set of bedding.  The advice given at the front desk was to have the children dry the towels with a hair dryer after we had used them.  That still makes me laugh.  Being a sporty lot, we would make do.  Having become quite accustomed to traveling with limited toiletries, it never crossed our mind that a joint that doesn’t provide towels is unlikely to provide miniature bottles of soap and shampoo.  By the time we realized the error in our ways, it was past the hour at which any store would still remain open.  The best that could be accomplished was a hose down in the shower to remove MOST of the sand we had caked in our ass cracks earlier in the afternoon.  It was decided that since the following day was to be a trip to the Pyrenees by car, we had better have a more substantial shower come morning or it was going to be a REALLY long and SMELLY ride.  There is was one feature of our little cabin that would be my favorite and a statement about how much our life has changed in a short month and a half.  Our camping spot was not equipped with linens or towels . . . OR a television set.  What a treat.  A break from the glowing black box!  The funniest part of this was that we hadn’t noticed at all until we were going to bed for the evening.  See, the language barrier has pretty much put a halt to our use of the television all together.  With the exception of video gaming and an occasional Blu Ray brought from the States, the television at home is never used.  This is a GOOD thing and is probably the reason I have been able to maintain my writing as I have.  Quietly tucked into our bunks, we were soon off to sleep.