VENTURING OUT IN FRANCE
BY TRACY M.
We were delighted with the news that
France was allowing tourists back into
the country as of June 24. Our vacation
had been booked since December, and
we had been antsy to know if we would
even be allowed to go to Contis-Plage on
the Atlantic. Our relaxing, lying-in-thehammock,
family-game, swimming-inthe-waves
vacation was saved!!
We rent a bungalow on a campground
every other year and are able to decide
for ourselves how much contact
we want with other people. With a
complete kitchen and two bathrooms,
it is like living in your own home.
The campground was spectacular,
with distance-friendly, one-way walk
paths and mask requirements for the
registration office, restaurant, and
grocery store on the property. Of course,
the obligatory lines on the floor and
“Distance, S’il vous plait” signs were
in every shop and restaurant in the
next-larger town, Mimizan. There was
no mask requirement in France other
than on public transportation, but most
people in shops and grocery stores wore
masks. 1.5-meter distance-keeping was
another story. No one, neither French,
German, nor Dutch kept distance
outdoors with or without masks. This
gave me the heebie-jeebies, and I got
more than a few stares when I made
a wide path around some folks. Ally,
21, in French, asked a family to keep
their distance only to receive a tsk-tsk
and “Les Allemandes—horrible!” The
beach, however, was a different story.
Sunbathers set up with more than
enough distance to their neighbors,
and even in the waves, swimmers were
aware of their distance to one another.
The four of us were able
to enjoy a semi-quarantine
at the beach without
undertaking any touristy
trips during these two
weeks except for an evening
excursion to Dune du Pilat to
watch a spectacular sunset,
which was certainly big enough
to give everyone their
space!
Venturing Out in France
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