Our trip - Part V

The last evening in Douzens, Abe had received a phone message from the firm with which he is working on the synagogue project. The plan was to go to Lucas’ godmother’s house in Narbonne. When we got there, she helped us look in the yellow pages for an internet café, so that Abe could do some work. After lunch, Lydia, Serge, Lucas, and Valentin returned to St Lys, while the 4 of us went to Porte La Nouvelle to find the internet café. The town is a classic beach side town along the Mediterranean, and the café was exactly perfect. A normal bar/café; we went in and asked to use the internet. The guy behind the bar logged off his email and passed his laptop over the counter. Abe worked for about an hour, I got a coke, and the kids wandered around checking things out. The whole thing cost 1 euro. Abe sent off an email and requested a reply. While waiting for the reply, we headed down to the beach. It was too cold to swim (although there were a few brave souls in the water), but the kids took off their shoes and rolled up their pants and hunted for shells, dipping their toes in the surf. When our pockets couldn’t hold any more shells, we went back to the quai for an ice cream. Abe returned to the café, read the reply, finished a few last bits of work, and we headed back to St Lys.

The last few days of the trip were relaxing and fun back at Serge and Lydia’s home. Ella and Lucas made jewelry boxes out of the collected shells. Jonah played in the cabana in the yard with Valentin. We played boules, and lots of board games. Jonah watched the movie of Cinderella 4 times. Jonah also entertained everyone by speaking outstanding French (both kids’ teachers noted when we got back how much their French had improved over the vacation). For example, Jonah told us one day at breakfast (in French), “Ella is big, so I am not big. I’m not a baby, so I’m not small. I’m medium (moyen).” Abe, Serge, and Valentin went to see a rugby match (complete with a VIP box and great seats thanks to a client of Serge’s). We took the train back to Paris Sunday morning refreshed and ready to get back to real life.