Prelude
We came to La Rochelle in large part because our two good friends, Alain and Isabel, live here. They are warm, welcoming, interesting, and funny. In turn they introduced us to another warm, welcoming, interesting, and funny couple, Daniel and Danielle. He was an urban planner for the city of La Rochelle, and she worked (effectively) for a non-profit. A lot like me and Suzie.
One evening last week, Alain and Isabel invited us to have drinks with them and Daniel and Danielle at the Maritime Museum, on a ship that formerly served as a weather observation vessel for Meteo France. A happening place, in part because the Parti Socialiste was having a national conference right next door. (The poor PS, as it’s called, went from holding the French Presidency and a majority in the Assemblée nationale as recently as early 2017, to being steamrolled by Emmanuel Macron’s party later that year, garnering only 6.36% of the first-round Presidential vote and 31 assembly seats (out of 577!) in elections later that year. Les pauvres.)
We had a great time eating, drinking (pas moi bien sûr), and watching the crowd (spiffy and young for the most part, with a few Berkeley-esque older PSers thrown in the mix).
The next day, Suzie and I met Isabel for coffee at a cafe next to the big central market. Daniel and Danielle arrived too, and because the cafe is a place they frequent often, we were introduced to a stream of their friends, including a gentleman named Jacques and his wife Joëlle .
Later that afternoon, Suzie got a call from Danielle. Their friend Jacques owns a beautiful, large sailboat, and he wanted to invite us the six of us to go on a sailing tour later that afternoon. An offer we accepted right away.
On the Water
Jacques’ boat is moored in the large marina at Les Minimes. (La Rochelle has the largest port de plaisance in France; Les Minimes alone has over 4,500 slips).
After backing the boat out of the slip and getting it headed in the right direction, Jacques asked if I wanted to take the helm and steer it out of the marina into the main channel. I felt like I did as an 18-year-old freshman in Iowa City when I got behind the wheel of a transit bus for the first time as a part of my Cambus training: You’re going to let me drive this thing? But in truth, it was easy — although the boat seemed big, the aisles of the marina seemed narrow, and there was lots of traffic, the boat was extremely responsive and easy to turn, and I caused no damage.
I’ll admit to a bit of apprehension while going out to open water: It was about 5 p.m., and lots of vessels were returning to port (I told Suzie later it looked like the private fleet of British boats heading to Dunkirk during WWII), so I had to weave and dodge a bit to avoid them all.
But once out of the channel, it was easy, even when using the sail. I kept Fort Boyard as my cap and enjoyed the magnificent water and sky, and the refreshing cool of the ocean air.
Later Suzie took over.
When we came back into port, Jacques took us past Les Minimes and into the Vieux Port, right next to the older part of the city.
Lots more pictures from the water are here:
But the most fun part of the day happened after we got back into the slip. Everyone had brought food and drink, and as the sun set and dusk arrived, we enjoyed a feast, along with interesting conversation. Too many excellent items to remember (although the pizza, melon, watermelon, and fish tapenade stick in my mind).
We feel blessed to have met such wonderful, warm people, and humbled by the fact that they have taken us in and included us in their La Rochelle life. Donc, merci Alain et Isabelle, merci Daniel et Danielle, merci Jacques et Joëlle votre amitié et votre camaraderie. On ne peut pas vous assez remercier.
Categories: Blogging, France, Travel -- France
Tags: La Rochelle