Picardy with Brett

I arrived safely in France on Monday, May 21. The flight was rather uneventful; that's usually a good thing. My friend Brett met me at the airport and we drove up to Saint-Valery-sur-Somme after picking up my little grey Nissan Micra. After having a bite at the local Saint-Val, we met Anne, who gave me the key to where I'll be staying for the next five weeks. It's a the cozy two-level studio, located right downtown. From my bedroom, I see the Bay and from a distance, I can hear the sheep roaming in the Bay.










We stopped by Laurence and Antoine's to say hi, and after buying a few groceries at the InterMarché (where we met a lively local woman and her teenage son), we had a cozy evening at home.

It feels great to reconnect with French pâté, jambon sec (similar to prosciutto) and baguette. I've also missed my favorite lemon-flavored water for the last year (let's start a petition to bring "Volvic citron" to America)! We took a long walk along the Bay and in the streets of St-Valery after dinner. Needless to say, I fell asleep like a rock.

On Tuesday, Brett and I headed up to Cayeux-sur-Mer to see the beach, after having a quick coffee at La Civette in Sy-Valery. It felt good to breathe the ocean and see that the "cabines" are almost ready for the beginning of the summer season on June 1st. Then, we drove to Ault, so that he could see the magestic cliffs. It was low tides, so we were able to walk around and see a few (life-filled) shells. We spent the rest of the afternoon in Abbeville, where we had pizza, pasteries and a warm beverage downtown.

Brett's visit to Picardy was short, but I think it was a nice change of pace after his year in Paris. We had good seafood at the Drakkar (rue de la Ferté) in St-Valery before taking another nightly walk in the medieval part of town. On Wednesday morning, we were back in Abbeville. Brett took the train back to Paris to spend his last twn days in France.

P.S. I hope you made it home safely, Brett. How about posting a few of our pictures to show our readers how talented we are at taking autoportaits? :)