Laying Low

Back on the couch at the Yvetot Tennis Club blogging away. This place is becoming a second home. Which wouldn't be all that bad because Pascal basically runs the place and he treats us like kings. But we had no intentions of being here today, we just sort of ended up here. The day begin at Camp E'tennemare in the small coastal village of Saint Valery en Caux (pronounced 'cow'). We found a nice little campground for about €10 and decided to stay there for the night because we were under the impression we were both playing Saturday morning in the even smaller coastal village town of Veules-Les-Roses, which is only about 10 kilometers away. We swam in the ocean for a little while and sauntered around the cliffs before heading back to our campsite and setting up our giant tent, which due to it's size and complexity takes at least 20 minutes. After conquering the beast we wandered back into the city and had dinner at a fine kebab shop, which is basically the French equivalent of an American fast food joint. Right after dinner we got a text from Gustavo informing us that Frankie actually played Friday at 15:30. 

St. Vallery en Caux from the cliffs above the town.

The view of the cliffs from the very rocky beach.

A view of the cliffs from the cliffs. How meta.

We asked someone to take our picture. They did a poor job.

Just as an aside, they do have the real equivalent of American fast food joints here, like McDonalds and KFC, but they are considered luxury eateries and are quite expensive. For example a Big Mac meal at McDonalds will run you over $10, and 20 McNuggets is closer to $13. It's a crying shame. Thus we frequent kebab shops, which are quite cheap and very delicious. 

This morning we woke up and did our laundry by hand in these giant sinks, which for some reason is an absolutely exhausting task. At about 14:00 we made the short drive to Vueles-Les-Roses where after a bit of difficulty we located the club. The club is tricky to find because there are giant stone buildings surrounding the courts, which makes it hard to see from the road. 

Aforementioned giant stone building surrounding courts.

When we went into the clubhouse we met this older woman who was the tournament director and a younger guy who spoke English. After some conversation we found out that apparently she had given Gustavo bad information and Frankie actually does play tomorrow in the morning. Instead we asked if we could just hit some balls and practice but she said it would be €12, and said so with some distinctive French attitude. We opted to pass and instead drove 30 minutes back to Yvetot where we knew we could hit for free. 

We have some intricate lines hung for drying clothes.

PP Tennis 4 Life!

So we both play tomorrow at 10:00 and if we win we would play again in the afternoon. After this tournament our plan is to head West to the towns of Arromanche and Caen. These two towns are quite close to the Normandy D-Day Beaches and have the biggest museums and monuments to the event, so it will be really cool to check those out. Following our visit to these memorials we're going to start making our way down the Western coast to play a few tournaments. Before we head back into the heart of France to play some more. Hopefully we can time it well and end up near Spain around the 28th so we prepare ourselves for La Tomatina. I'll try to update tomorrow to let you know how the tournament goes. 

Umm...the toilet was small....perhaps intended for children...this picture makes me uncomfortable.

-Max