deux americaines dans la manche

I met one of my good friends, Sarah, when we both lived in Caen and worked at the university. Since then I moved out to the countryside and Sarah moved to Paris to get her Masters and then as of a few months ago, get an amazing job doing what she loves in Paris.

But every hardworking Parisian girl deserves a break in the countryside! This weekend happened to be one where her boyfriend was on a business trip and where my Mystery Guest was gone helping some friends with their house in haute-normandie.

So girly weekend in Normandy it was! Luckily for us the weather is the best we've had this September, beautiful sunny skies, no cold wind but a gentle warm breeze and of course the scenery around here is pretty spectacular!

It was mademoiselle's request to eat at the Auberge des Grottes which is a charming restaurant out on the very tip of the peninsula a the Nez de Jobourg. They didn't have any place left for dinner so we decided to go for lunch. What an amazing lunch, oysters on the halfshell, sauteed scallops, lamb, cheeses and dessert... YUM. Plus the restaurant is literally out on the tip and our table had one of the best views overlooking the sea.

After lunch we decided to take a hike and we ended up at a quiet little cove where you could hear the waves rolling over the pebbles making the most delightful tinkling sound - Sarah said it should be the sound you put on those machines to fall asleep. I agree. I was too lazy to take off my shoes to dip my feet but Sarah went for it. I had my camera all prepared to catch her screams as her feet hit the ice cold water but she said that it was not cold but refreshing - a true Normande :)

I had wanted to take her to visit a Cidrerie in the area but apparently you had to reserve the guided tours in advance... oh well next time! We still go to wander around the orchard (full of ripe apples!) and sample some of the apple juices, ciders etc and bought a couple bottles of course.

When we got home we took a little walk around to enjoy the end of the day and ran into my neighbor. When we mentioned that we had been out to Jobourg she asked if we had seen Paul.... ummm... didn't know any Paul... Turns out there was a book and then a documentary written about a old farmer and his life. She gave us a lesson in patois and then lent us the DVD and we watched it last night. It was so sweet and it was fun to see the same scenery that we had just seen that day. The only problem was that Paul really mumbles and half speaks in patois so I think we missed quite a bit of dialog!