Sunday, August 1, 2010

Vive La France--part Deux


Today we went by bus to San Jean Cap Ferat--a hairraising bus ride along the coast, ending in a delightful little harbor. You should see the size of the yachts--and so many of them. There is a lot of money in the world!
I took lots of pictures of villas for my book, and found the perfect one for my bad guy. On the way back we stopped at Beaulieu sur Mer to swim. Water temperature perfect.

Obervations on the French character as revealed in their shops:
The French are hedonistic. They care about their appearance.
There are an incredible number of beauty salons, perfumeries, clothes boutiques, optical stores and pharmacies. You can find one on any block, much more easily than finding bakeries and food stores. It's amazing to me that so many dress shops can actually make a living, especially when clothes are so much more expensive than in the US.

And on the subject of clothes: no on can look more chic that a French woman in a simple outfit with a scarf carelessly flung around her neck. At the other end of the scale, however, older French women seem to have lost any clue about fashion. They wear hideous bright T shirts with slogans like Hot Babe on them.:  It seems to be in fashion to wear T shirts with English words on them. Some of the words are quite puzzling and don't actually make sense to English speakers.  The older women also sit topless on the beach, boobs drooping down over their waists, or they wear bikinis with a large sagging stomach between the two parts. Not a pretty sight.

And on the subject of beaches--nobody seems to have heard of the words "sunscreen" or skin cancer here. Brown, almost naked, bodies lie stretched out on the beaches. Little children run around naked. No thought of putting sun hats on them.

Tomorrow is Sunday, so I expect everything will be closed. More later.
Your foreign correspondent, Rhys

2 comments:

  1. Ooo-la-la!
    Maybe all those salons and boutiques are merely hints for the old women...

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  2. Rhys, thanks so much for sharing! I'm loving reading about your travels, and looking forward to seeing how it translates to Georgie's next adventure!

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