Trouville 1985

In the late summer of 1985 Candia and I took the train to Deauville for a vacation from Paris. The closest beach was Deauville on le Manche or 'the 'the Sleeve' or the English Channel. The Normandy sea resort was not the Riviera, but it was only a two-hour train ride away. Deauville was out of my budget, so we stayed in the pleasant neighboring town, Trouville or 'city of a hole'. The weather was pleasant and after checking into a small hotel we swam in the shallow sea off the broad sandy beach. The water was cool, but the sun was hot. Candia loved lying in the sun.

The first night I intended on dining at Les Vapeurs, except the famed seafood restaurant on Boulevard Francois Morceaux was closed, so we went to another eaterie. Starting with a bottle of Sancerre I decided to be adventurous and ordered something other than sole for my main course, however the raiee au beure noire was abominable and I sent it back. The cook came out and insulted me as an ignorant American. The waiters took his back. He might have been right, but I stood up, told Candida to leave, and then picked up a fork, asking ,"Oui, veux perde un œil?"

The threat of lossing of an eyeball was spoken in Boston-accented French.

The answer was silence, pobably not udnerstanding what I had said, but the fork in my hand translated my intent.

I dropped 200 francs for the bottle of wine and left the restaurant.

Out on the foggy street Candida asked, "So now where do we eat?"

There was nothing open. We had a crepe from a small stand.

Candida was not happy, but was happier after crepe stand owner gave us cups to drink the wine. We sat on the stone quay and listened to lap of the incoming tide. It was nice to be out of Paris with someone you loved. Actually better than nice.