Day 5: Biarritz marketplace and aquarium

Day 5 in Biarritz started off pretty rainy and continued to rain throughout the entire day unfortunately.  Mom made some eggs for breakfast before we headed out with the umbrellas available next to the front door.  A basket of umbrellas should have tipped us off the moment we walked in the house, but oh well.  We had a few things on our agenda for the day: visit the marketplace, rent a car, and see the aquarium.

Umbrellas in hand, we headed over to the fresh foods market where they had everything from slabs of meat to assortments of cheese and wine.  It was really cool to see how huge the place was for such a small town. Everyone in the marketplace was extremely friendly and let us “try before we buy” – the perks of a “farmer’s market” I suppose.  We ended up buying several types of cheese to taste for later, but nothing huge since to cook since we still had many restaurants to try in town.

Fresh fish at the market

One of the best parts of Biarritz is that it’s right on the water, making it a prime fisherman’s town.  We walked into the part of the marketplace dedicated to fresh fish.  I took a few pictures of the place but you can’t get the complete idea without the aromas of fish that come with the visit.  On one table they were serving oysters with wine.  We bought 12 for approximately €1 a piece.  They were slimy, but definitely worth the try.

Oysters!

We took our newfound produce back to the house and sat around for a bit trying to figure out where the tourist center was.  Once we thought we knew where it was, we set out on the classic Turgeon epic that involved many wrong turns and overestimations of distance and space.  We eventually made it to figure out the best place to rent a car for the day which ended up being at the airport.  We sent Dad to pick it up by taking a bus while the other four of us trudged around in the rain looking for food.

After fruitless efforts to find some restaurant that served French onion soup, we settled for a sandwich stand close to the water.  At this point, it was slightly raining, but not that much.  The minute we stepped outside, the rain poured down.  We ran in another building to eat our sandwiches only to find minutes later, Dad was stuck back at the house with the rental car but no key to the garage.  I ran back with the key to help him back into the super tiny garage with his diesel-powered, Toyota stick shift compact car.  Apparently diesel-run and stick shift are the most common kind of car options in France.

Mom trying to coax the baby sea lion to the glass

After the aquarium, Dad got on a picture taking spree again before dinner-hunting.  Usually dinner-hunting involves trying to find the perfect place to eat regardless of how long it takes.  However, we had come out with a list of restaurants with their locations to check out.  We were shocked when 5 of the restaurants on our list were closed for some holiday week it seemed.  Apparently we picked one of the best weeks to vacation where most of the recommended restaurants are closed.  Figures.

When we were about to give up, the last restaurant had a sign on it saying its “sister” restaurant was open when it was closed.  Hence, we went a few doors down to the other restaurant, Le B2, and were pleasantly surprised.  The whole family sat at a bar until our seats were ready and we all got to taste some house sangria.  Once we sat down at the table, we ordered a Pouilly-Fuisse from Louis Jadot in Bordeaux region which was really good!  I had a similar one in wines from Burgundy and that’s how I knew it would be a good choice for dinner.  With dinner, we ordered a Bordeaux Clairet (Rose) wine to go with our meals.  I ordered lamb with green beans and it ended up being the best meal I have had in France yet.  The meat was perfectly done and very juicy.  I enjoyed the meal thoroughly and the rest of the family felt it was the best restaurant we had been to yet!

Pouilly-Fuisse White Wine

My awesome lamb and green beans meal

Finally, we got back to the house and watched “Good Morning Vietnam” starring Robin Williams.  It was pretty entertaining, definitely a good finish to the night.  Bonne nuit!