The French Lorne

La Rochelle is a bit further up the coast from Bordeaux, almost due west of Paris, so it's a nice easy four hour train trip. It used to be a major port in the days of trade with the New World - now, it exists for tourists, mainly French natives. (Though it also has a pretty solid university, apparently.)

The classic image of the town is of the thousands of boats in the marinas spread up and down the length of town. When I was there there were mostly clear skies and warm days, and the sun setting through the masts of many boats is a nice image. What the town is missing is beaches; there are a couple which are nice enough but nothing compared to those at San Sebastian, or of course anywhere in Oz. And because I was travelling on my own, it's a bit of a production to swim safely, so that didn't happen.

La Rochelle is a nice enough place but my stay there coincided with the mental nadir of my alone-travelling time. It can be a lonely thing, and this was exacerbated by the hostel, a big, soulless place full of groups and French speakers, with barely a person to speak to. And the facilities were the worst of any hostel I've stayed in. So I felt a bit desolate and rang some very nice people in Australia who condescended to talk to me for hours about nothing. (Vic and Mum, of course.)

But I got over it and by my third day there I was better able to appreciate the city for itself. It does have the feel of a beach town, like Lorne or even Noosa, with a large vacationing population catered for by all sorts of weird shit. A little dog riding a tiny bicycle is truly a special sight. Lots of pricey eateries, lots of souvenirs, a good but small flea market. Free bikes was a good thing; you can hire these bikes for two hours without paying anything, and then just a euro an hour after that. So I went for a nice ride up the coast, but failed to find any better beaches, it's all rocks.

Also saw another film, the salvation of a lonely English speaker. Going to see Tsotsi in VO, however, wasn't quite what I expected, since the film is mostly in Zulu and Khosa and Afrikaans. Yeah, it had subtitles - in French. But my French reading is apparently good enough that I could follow what was going on without too many problems. The movie itself was pretty good. It's the almost-cliched story of a hardened (though young) crim who steals a car with a baby in the backseat, then has his heart softened by taking care of the kid. But it's told well and Presley Chweneyagae in the title role has the charisma to carry it.

And then, well, that's about it for La Rochelle. Was feeling a bit lonely so decided to go home. Next stop: Paris.