Catching Up From Dublin to Deauville, Thursday, July 16-Saturday morning, July 18, 2009

---

Thursday, July 16 - St. Audoen’s Church, Dublin Castle, Irish Music Archives,
St. Stephen’s Green and Iveagh Gardens
After Dean returned from the pool, we took the bus into the city. We took the Hop On Hop Off Bus, and we heard someone say, “Hey, Connecticut!” It was the California couple, they told us all about the women swooning during Jeff’s song last night. We exchanged emails, and left them at Dublin Castle, which is the main government building from which the English ruled for so many years.
We decided to go to St. Audoen’s Church first. As usual, our OPW guide was really into his subject, regaling us with the history and legends surrounding the building, its relics, and the “lucky stone” a Celtic cross marking stone housed inside the church. From there, we headed to Dublin Castle, but would have to wait 45 minutes for a tour. So we walked around the outside, being sure to see the Statue of Justice, scales in her hand, but with no blindfold which is how the English judged those of Irish descent. On the bus again, we stopped to see Merrion Square, those often photographed Georgian “Doors of Dublin” and the Irish Music Archives. They have audio files, books and manuscripts of Irish music.
We walked through St. Stephen’s Green and saw the famine memorial, then on to Iveagh Gardens behind the Newman house, but the fountain was not running. We browse through some Grafton and Dawson Street shops before we have dinner at the Millstone on Dame Street, which we happened to notice offered gluten free pizza. We get a bonus because they confuse Jackie and Jeff’s pizza orders, so they graciously give us the mistaken GF pizza for free while they waited for their correct orders to arrive. It is raining when we leave, so we head home to pack for our flight.

Friday, July 17- Beannacht Éire Dea, Bonjour la France- Our Dublin Departure, and Meeting the Jeanbins
We have breakfast, strip beds, and are ready to go by 10. We cannot fit into Caroline’s car with our luggage, so we hire a van. At the airport, though we have printed our boarding passes, we need to check luggage. The problem comes when our first three bags go through, and are gone, then the fourth is overweight. The man says we have to lighten it or pay extra, so we pull some things out. I look very fashionable with my sandals sticking out of my pocketbook!
Then, when we go through security, they confiscate my nail scissors, which had been in the checked bag, but happened to be in a small bag that got moved to a carry on. At least it was not that valuable. I’ll just have to bite my nails instead of trimming them. Finally, we are at the gate with an hour to spare. Jeff sits with the luggage while the rest of us roam the duty free shops. Maybe if he knew they were handing out samples of Jameson’s, he would not have offered to mind the bags! We pick up some mediocre airport food, and sit for an extra hour since our plane is delayed in Spain.
Once in the air, the flight goes quickly, and we are soon flying low over the patchwork fields of France. Unlike Ireland’s shades of green, these are mainly gold and brown. Off the plane, Jackie leads us to passport check and baggage claim, where we see Sixtine’s dad, Eric Jeanbin, waiting for us on the other side of the glass. He is our guardian angel for the next two days, beginning with helping pick up our car lease (a Renault Escape with all the bells and whistles). It had a built in GPS which luckily was in English, a push button start, side mirrors that automatically retracted when you park, and an automatic button to retract the mirrors fast if you see an oncoming truck (very valuable in the narrow streets).
Eric guides us to a cheaper gas station than the one the agency recommends, and leads us to his home in Paris. Jeff rides with him, and we see Eric constantly gesturing. I think he enjoys having a man to talk wit. Jeff said that besides the sights, cars and sports were the topics of conversation. Eric speaks excellent English. We are in Friday rush hour traffic, and the “motos” (motorcycles and scooters) are everywhere, winding between cars and squeezing between side view mirrors and the curb.
We arrive at Neuilly-sur Seine, park on the street and ascend the elevator with two of our bags. Eric is letting us leave Jeff’s beer glass collection at the apartment so we don’t have to cart it around. He even adds a Perrier glass to the hoard. “France is more wine than beer”. We meet Sixtine’s sister Domitille, but she is not coming to Deauville with us. She has a party in Versailles with friends. We descend the elevator (It has an outer door, and is just big enough for 4 people.) and begin our journey to Deauville.
The highways are great, but many expensive tolls. We have 3 tolls on the way, and each of them is more than 4 euros! Eric has a speed pass, so I have to find the right booth to pay each toll. He tells me to look for the green arrow. Unfortunately, I choose a green arrow with a rectangle. It is dark now, and after I drive in, I realize there is no person in the tollbooth. You can’t drop exact change instead you need to use a credit card. It rejects ours, and now there is a line of impatient French drivers behind me. I am amazed they don’t start honking. I push the help button, but no one appears, so I put the car in park, squeeze out the door (I’m near the machine) and run the gauntlet over to a booth with a person. She is startled when something other than a car appears at her window. “Jen ne parle pas bien Francias, pourriez-vous m’aide- parlez Englais?” A few minutes later, I’ve paid her with cash, her supervisor comes over to manually open the gate, and we are on our way. The drivers behind me have all maneuvered to other lanes and have a good story to tell.
Eric has lost us. Lucky for the GPS, we drive on, and contact him by cell phone. He waits for us after the next toll, and we finish our drive to Deauville together, arriving at 10:30 pm. Eric unlocks the gate and we drive in. This is the house of Eric’s grandparent’s, now his mother’s. His grandfather ran a restaurant in Paris in the 1920’s and 30’s, and “that’s what bought the house”. The villa next to theirs with which they share a wall is for sale for 2 million euros. So although it is beautiful, I don’t think we are in the market. The villa has four floors and an attic. There is a German blockhouse in its side yard that is covered in ivy. It was built during World War II.
After we bring our things inside, I ask Sabine, “Ou est la sale de bain?” She brings me upstairs, and shows me a large room with 2 sinks, a claw-foot tub with shower extension, and what I assume is the toilet. She then spreads out a bath mat for me, shows me the soaps, and leaves. Unfortunately for me, the “toilet” is a bidet! I realize that “sale de bain” means bathroom, and “toilets” must be “Ou est la toilette?” So I go back downstairs, and call Sixtine aside. She shows me where the toilet is. Sabine speaks much better English than I speak French, but she had told me in emails that she is the least fluent of the family.
Jeff and Jackie, Dean and I, Eric and Sabine, and Sixtine and Caitlyn, her other American exchange friend, each share a room. We think that Eric and Sabine have given us their room, as it has a double bed, attached bath, and shuttered French doors that lead onto a small balcony overlooking the water. Fantastique! Though it is late, no one has eaten dinner (Dean had a couple of energy bars). Eric and Sabine have packed food for dinner. We have cold pork roast, baby potatoes, wine and cheese, followed by fruit and sorbets. It is almost 2 am when we stop talking around the table, and retire.


Saturday, July 18-Our First Full Day with Sabine, Eric, and Sixtine in Deauville
Dean and I get up at 8 to go into town with Eric to market. He stops to show us the Hotel Normandie, which is quite grand, with animal statues on every turret. The valets are busy polishing the brass signs in the lobby. Deauville has a casino, horse racing, a film festival and is the place to go for celebrities and the ‘upper crust”. The market is fun! The entire town square near the church and fountain is spread with stalls selling fruits, vegetables, meat, cheeses…Eric knows just the vendors he wants, and goes to a certain one for greens, another for radishes, one for camembert cheese, and another for goat cheese. We return to the car and drive to his favorite boulangerie for bagettes and brioche. Then we go across the river to Trouville to visit his fish vendor, who has reserved a turbot just for him. When we return home, we wake the kids for petit dejeuner, and then head for the D-Day beaches. I’ll tell you about them in the next post! Right now, it’s really Tuesday morning, and I have to drive Dean to the pool.

---

Comments

[Ed Raftery]

Waiting
No word for a day. Thought you were lost! Keeping the pool crowd yp with your travels.