FABULOUS is the word.
Trip Start
May 04, 2006
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4
7
Trip End
May 22, 2006
Biarritz, France
Friday, May 12, 2006
A couple of Kathryn's friends were going to join us on our trip but chickened out at the last minute on account of sour weather reports, so again Kathryn and I were left to our own devices which is always a recipe for hilarious disasters and happy accidents.
We remained energized and optimistic about our weekend, even when greeted with gloomy skies and intermittent showers. In truth, even with crappy weather, this place is gorgeous, as my photos will corroborate. We spent our first afternoon and evening just checking things out, walking along the coastline. My first thoughts about the view were otherworldly, like scenes from "The Never-ending Story", like when Sebastian is flying across the water on his dragon (Falcor .... yes I know it's pathetic that I know this and what a big dork I am...but I digress).
I mean, I don't wanna knock my own coastal spot on Manhattan beach, BUT, shit, this places is A-MAZING. And this was before the sun came out the next day and shone across the clear torquiose water and we basked in the sun all day. Yes, um, I think I'd go back.
So after our first afternoon and evening exploring we sat down for an extremely late dinner which put us in just in time (or so we thought) at Club Playboy around 1 am. Kathryn had been to Biarritz a few weeks back and had tons of fun at the place so it was a bit of a shock when we walked through the entrance and the whole place was dead. With the exception of a half dozen men stumbling about the bar, personne(nobody in French) was there. Kathryn and I decide to give The Playboy the benefit of the doubt and take a seat on some couches when suddenly OH LA LA!!! a man slithers up behind Kathryn scaring the bejesus out of her ( btw: the French say "oh la la" in response to almost anything). He's drunk and French and really wants to buy us drinks and chat. We are not amused. He tries to charm us with free drinks and garbled English. We give him fake names and buy our own drinks thank you very much. He stumbled away and Kathryn and I run to the ladies room to regroup. We decide to switch seats so we can see oncoming approachers. The same fella comes back wearing an odd pink beanie with a crazy drunken friend. He's very disappointed that we bought our own drinks and insists that we owe him dance now. He's trying so hard to speak English we actually warm up to the guy....just a little though. As he is explaining to us how he just saw us from across the room and knew he just had to talk to us, a cute older man with a pink sweater around his shoulders runs up and puts his arm around pink beanie guy and whispers something into his ear. Kathryn and Pink Beanie and pink sweater guy all start chatting in French and suddenly a huge smile erupts on Kathryn's face. She leans in to convey some crucial information: "They're all gay Sarah." We both turn back around to the crowd and notice that as we've been talking several hoards of young, exceptionally clean looking men have all entered the establishment. I start to smile. Again, we excuse ourselves for some giggles in the ladies room. Damn! We should have let those fabulous men buy us drinks! How cute is that pink beanie! We decided that we should at least have a lil dance with our new friends before we leave, since a few more handfuls of men, even gay ones, wasn't gonna fill this place up. We wash our hand and head back out. We emerge from the bathroom to find the whole place PACKED. Total transformation. The music was bumping, the dance floor was filled with gay French fabulousness. We were in heaven. In short, we danced the night away with Pink beanie and pink sweater guy. As far as first experience as gay clubs go ( and this was my first), it was definitely one for the record books.
A few highlights:
Being Reeled into a tango via pink sweater.
Pole Dancing
Having an awkward looking German boy get really really close to my ear and screaming at the top of his lungs
I WANT TO TOUCH YOUR TITS
Being followed into the bathroom by some Morrocan guy with the worst BO I've ever smelled ever.
As we walked home that night, Kathryn and I both agree that we wouldn't go out the next evening because really, nothing could top The Playboy and our fabulous gay Frenchmen.
We spent the morning sleeping in and the afternoon lying on the beach (tough life eh?) and then we set up shop at the little restaurant situated in this little cave-ish inlet hallowed out of one of the cliffs overlooking the water to have drink and watch the sunset . . . at about 9:30 pm. We hit up a little bistro for dinner where we made friends with a lovely gay (well we aren't 100% on this one, he may have just been French; it's a challenging game!) waiter. An evening well spent.
On Sunday we made the trek out to the lighthouse which rests way up high (as lighthouses are oft to do) and is perfectly placed so that you get the full view of the Biarritz coastline. And we shopped and ate pastries. The End.
