Just a few photos to demonstrate the wide range of weather conditions we've experienced down here in Saint Raphael. No snow, but nearly everything else: sun, mistral winds, fog, rainy deluges. It's been most apparent along the beaches where the waves have been alternately rough, and non-existent.
First day, freezing cold but lovely sunshine. Georges standing on top of huge mountain of sand dumped by city fathers to prevent complete beach erosion. The spot where he got down on one knee to propose to me is just in the lower right corner. He had to drop a melon (purchased just before at the local market) to do it... that's why we now call this spot "Melon Beach" -- a much better name for it than what the locals redundantly call it: "Sandy Plage".
Same approximate spot, two days later. In the interim, there was a pretty good-sized storm with a lot of wind and some massive waves for this beach, which rarely has any waves (not by my standards, anyway). Much of the added sand has already been washed away, and you can see the surf still churning.
Just yesterday at Fréjus Plage, on the other side of the small harbor at Saint Raphael. There was a strong mistral blowing but I was basking in the sunshine on a lounge chair in the shelter of a (closed for the season) restaurant. We went to this same beach several times during our summer holidays. The water was calmer but with lots of white-caps. This one sailboat/catamaran was anchored, but we later saw a lot of wind-surfers and para-sailing surfers in another part of the harbor, taking advantage of all the wind. Hope they had good wetsuits, because it might be the Mediterranean but the waters are cold here this time of year.
And this was taken just today after lunch. It's a little harbor/cove near Cap Dramont, site of American/Allied landings during the war. This tower island, by the way, is FOR RENT during certain times of the year. Not sure you'd want to rent it now, though; look how gloomy the skies are!
Forecast for the rest of the week is supposed to include more sunshine and milder weather as we head into the New Year. But we'll see. Nothing is what you expect it to be in France. ::wink, wink::
