Ile de Re

The lap of luxury. Hotel Toiras is a small, charming hotel, like an elegant town house on this beautiful flat island. Big rooms, all different (more about that later). I feel like a guest in a very elegant person’s house.

A charming harbor just out the front door...

We decide it is Mykonos crossed with Nantucket. Did I mention it's heavenly? Oysters...

...and pink shrimp so sweet! 

Hollyhocks everywhere...

...and fantastic biking. No, that's not Wally. Check out the binkie leash.

The beaches are filled with seaweed and sunbathers,

There is a market in every town, with sausages,

lettuces, vegetables...

and of course the local fermented stuff. This is France, remember. 

As I'm sitting here in the lobby of the Hotel Toiras, a fellow guest is saying to his wife "You cannot order just water in a French restaurant, my dear - it's against the law!"

The kiddie sail school is enchanting. We watch for a long time - when you dump your sunfish (and you will dump your sunfish) you can be sure some kid will paddle her kayak over your sail. As you’re trying to get it up. Kids are the same everywhere, thank goodness.

We ride our rented bikes along bike paths thru the salt marshes and stop for lunch at the narrowest part of the island - you can see the sea on both sides, the pyramids of salt in the marches. Enchanting. I could stay here forever.

Some of my favorite things: 

1. The croissants that are so light I have to put butter on them to keep them from floating off the plate. The fresh fruit salad with apricots peaches raspberries pineapple and a very light sugar and vanilla syrup.

2. The Strawberry Parfait family who are also staying here. He looks like a pinched worried Tony Blair. She is all pink and white and looks just like a strawberry parfait, the zipper in her sundress working overtime to keep all that parfait in place. And there is a flock of little Strawberry children. 

3. The feel of the sea breeze on my skin. The sound of the gulls. The sun glinting off the boats in the harbor. 

4. Olivia who owns this hotel. Gorgeous. Quiet. Young, thin, elegant, impossibly chic and elegant. Did I mention elegant? I am taking fashion tips. Actually I am just going to copy every thing I've seen her do.

5. The miles of bike paths, the fact that most people here get around by bike. To the medieval towns where there is no parking. It works. 

Tomorrow: The New Hotel - coming soon. And more of the island if I can outsmart iphoto and get to those pictures.