After a peaceful and relaxing week in France, my plan is to head off to Stockholm tomorrow. This week was full of surprises and a lot of it was from not having over planned my time. Surfing every morning for two hours was quite a workout. The surf was rough on sometimes and strong down shore currents pulled me downshore. I started off the week riding an eight foot board working on getting up on my feet and by the end of the week I progressed to a 7 foot 9 board traversing across waves before they broke. The surfing was out at Casernes beach which had a small crepe shop next to the surf shop. The sandwiches and crepes were delicious and I tried to get one after surfing each morning.
Here is where Casernes is:
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I stayed at an eco-friendly lodge 10 minutes away from the beach. The other surfers were quite chill and from all parts of the globe, including a girl from Vancouver who moved to Boston to study at MIT before moving to Paris to work in corporate finance. My flatemate for the week works for Google Poland, originally from Boston and plans on moving back to the Google headquarters in California. Many of us joined in on the yoga session at the lodge to stretch out our tired muscles from surfing. The relaxation and mediation aspects of yoga may have been a little too peaceful, which left many of us struggling to stay focused and awake during the session.
In a few hours I will board a plane back from Biarritz back to Paris for a final night at the Champs Elysée Marriott. All those out of town consulting assignments have earned me a free night at the beautiful hotel. Tomorrow I board an evening flight to Stockholm, which means I will have half a day to check out the louvre with one of my new friends from the lodge.
Over the course of the week I realised how nice it is to be out in the country and away from the busy city-life. The people out in Biarritz are relaxed and have all the essentials to lead a happy and healthy lifestyle. It'd be great to have a holiday home in Biarritz. The weakened Euro makes the real estate out here quite affordable compared to Sydney and Vancouver. I will need to brush up on my broken French that I haven't used in 12 years if I want to spend more time here.
