I woke up early this morning and went with a group to Calais-- the weather was perfect! We walked through the town and went sightseeing on our way to the beach, which was about a 10 minute walk from the train station.
It's true that you can see the cliffs of Dover from the beach. It's a neat sight and kind of strange to think about all of the history that happened in the narrow stretch of water between Calais and Dover-- the English sank the Spanish Armada there, the water was all that separated the Nazis from England, etc.
The high temperature today was about 80 degrees. Some of the people in town said it was probably the best day of the year to go to the beach. The water was cool, but warm enough to swim in. The water was also turquoise blue and clear-- I could see fish swimming around when I got into the ocean. I fell asleep on the beach though, and got sunburned.
When I woke up, we walked back to the beach-front. They had a carnival for kids up there, a bunch of street vendors, ice cream booths, etc. It was alot like being in Florida. There are a bunch of cafes that overlook the water and we ate dinner at one of them. The specialty around there is mussels avec frites (french fries). I got a bucket full of mussels with cream sauce that were very delicious. Afterwards we walked to a casino near the beach-- I lost 10 euros and quit. On our way back towards the town center, we noticed the top of a cafe was on fire. We started pointing to it and eventually a crowd of about a hundred people formed. The fire department came after about 10 minutes and put it out.
Finally, we went to the town center. The clock tower and everything are huge and really cool looking. In front of the center is a famous statue, The Burghers of Calais, by August Rodin, who is probably the 2nd most famous sculptor behind Michaelangelo.
It's true that you can see the cliffs of Dover from the beach. It's a neat sight and kind of strange to think about all of the history that happened in the narrow stretch of water between Calais and Dover-- the English sank the Spanish Armada there, the water was all that separated the Nazis from England, etc.
The high temperature today was about 80 degrees. Some of the people in town said it was probably the best day of the year to go to the beach. The water was cool, but warm enough to swim in. The water was also turquoise blue and clear-- I could see fish swimming around when I got into the ocean. I fell asleep on the beach though, and got sunburned.
When I woke up, we walked back to the beach-front. They had a carnival for kids up there, a bunch of street vendors, ice cream booths, etc. It was alot like being in Florida. There are a bunch of cafes that overlook the water and we ate dinner at one of them. The specialty around there is mussels avec frites (french fries). I got a bucket full of mussels with cream sauce that were very delicious. Afterwards we walked to a casino near the beach-- I lost 10 euros and quit. On our way back towards the town center, we noticed the top of a cafe was on fire. We started pointing to it and eventually a crowd of about a hundred people formed. The fire department came after about 10 minutes and put it out.
Finally, we went to the town center. The clock tower and everything are huge and really cool looking. In front of the center is a famous statue, The Burghers of Calais, by August Rodin, who is probably the 2nd most famous sculptor behind Michaelangelo.
Here are the rest of the pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/TigerColby/Calais?authkey=Gv1sRgCObU5pO-zMq3Ww#
No comments:
Post a Comment