218. 2015 - off and Running!

Friday, 2nd January 2015. A lot of something or other has (most of it around 13.5° BV) flowed under the bridge since I was last here. We've just returned from a very enjoyable few days away over the New Year visiting family at Andernos-les-Bains on the northeast shore of Arcachon Bay. We've been there before but I don't think we've ever seen it looking so beautiful.
On New Year's day, we had lunch at La Parqueuse at Andernos-les-Bains. Without going into too much detail, most of us decided on the turbot as a main course. I'd only once eaten turbot before - and in any case, never a whole one - and, due to its price elsewhere, I doubt I ever will again. We were all reduced to companionable silence as we ate.. A wonderful fish. (for the curious, it was 21€)
Afterwards, we drove around and down to Cap Ferret (above) for some fresh air and also to move the blood around.. It's one of those 'go-to' locations that exerts a strange kind of pull on people. Yesterday saw it pleasantly crowded with strollers like us walking off their lunches.. 
There were some spectacular views across the Arcachon basin in the slanting afternoon light. It was Kodak weather.. A cold afternoon, with cloudless blue skies. On the return we stopped off at the small oyster community of L'Herbe.. which was almost too photogenic to be true.
A tight knit grouping of wooden cabins - the majority of whom were connected with the oyster farming culture - lay in serried ranks above the waterline. At its center lay the well-preserved wooden structure (above left) of Chez Magne - Hotel de la Plage - which looked intriguing and well worth a visit on another day. I took some photos looking across towards Arcachon:
The oyster beds for which the basin is rightly famous for:

Changing the subject:  here's a web site that could be a boon to any Anglo expats who aren't as fluent in French as they'd like and who are looking for English-speaking services/businesses. Give InEnglish a try...