Dear Mom,

St. Jean-de-Luz, the French Pays Basque
After our excursion into the wonders of Spanish Basque Country (País Vasco) with Bilbao and Donostia-San Sebastián, of course we have to go to the French Basque Country (Pays Basque)!

We hopped on  the train from San Sebastián to Hendaye (where Hitler decided that Franco was too much of an idiot to become an ally with, thus cutting Spain out of the wrong side of WWII... lucky Spaniards!), then from Hendaye we hopped on another train to St. Jean-de-Luz, an adorably tiny coastal town.

Pictures below!

Our hotel... :D

Fotos del pueblo y de la playa cerca de nuetro hotel.  ¡Qué bonito!  (Photos of the town and the beach near our hotel.  How pretty!)  The beach was literally half a block from our hotel.  Wahaha!

So the first thing we do when we get to France at 1 p.m. is not to figure out what to do for lunch.  Oh no, my friends.  The first thing we do is take care of . . . DINNER.

So we found a little place that was a few blocks from our hotel (recommended by God-of-European-Travel Rick Steves) and with the help of Alea's awesome phrasebook and my embarassingly horrendous and nonexistent French we managed to make reservations for 7:30 p.m.  Excellent.  And, at 2 p.m., it was time to find . . . lunch.

Where did we go?  Yet another place on Rick Steves´recommended places to eat in the French Pays Basque.

Yes, we hit up two restaurants in one day.

No, we are not heifers.

Not really, anyway.  :D

Our main course:

YUM.

We went for a walk around, and . . . I FOUND MACARONS!

Not quite the same, but I bought a bag anyway.  Because I'm silly like that.  Heh.

Three and a half hours later . . .

We hit up restaurant 2...  Heh.

This one, I think, was the better one.

This little French child kept staring unabashedly at me.  And smiling.  But the second I busted out Priscilla's camera, she hid.  This was the one picture I managed to get of her.  Adorable, no?  Maybe I should find a way to make sure my future children have golden ringlets . . .

Hmm, somehow I don't think my Asian blood will let that happen.

We were close to the Bordeaux region, and since it is really difficult to make it to Bordeaux without a car, we splurged and bought a bottle of Bordeaux.  Heh.  And yes, we had wine with our lunch, too.

 Squid in black sauce.  Delicious!

Ttoro, a tomato-y seafood stew.  Also drool worthy.

French Pays Basque is TOO CUUTE!

Too bad I can't speak French to save my life.

Our petit dejeuner (breakfast) included:  a croissant, a large pat of butter, orange juice, a baguette, jam, and a café.  :D

Unfortunately, it was pouring that day, so we had to hide for cover as we made it back to Bilbao.  Just in time for our 5 p.m. class!