Bécassine: The French Beach Vacation Game for French Resorts Created by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget
Bécassine is the heroine of a French children’s picture book series that was created during World War I. Bécassine lives in the Brittany region of northwestern France on a peninsula that juts out into the North Sea.
She
is famous for fooling naughty boys from the big cities who try to cheat her
when buying food. (They grossly
underestimate a woman, who could be an oyster cultivator.)
I
named this summer sales game Bécassine, because many Parisian families spend a
month at the seashore during the month of July or August depending on the
school schedule in their region.
The
family heads sometimes work during the week, but come to Brittany to spend the
weekend with their families using the TGV (High-speed trains). This way the families can spend time walking
by the ocean, eating seafood platters, sunbathing to soak up Vitamin D, and
breathing salty, sea air not polluted city air.
There
are many beaches in France that you can reach by TGV to rent a wooden, changing
cabin, a parasol, and a linen lounge chair before walking around to check out
restaurants and look for summer sales.
Some of the beaches that you can reach by TGV or regular train include:
-Deauville
– Normandy – home to a film festival like Cannes
-Etretat
– Normandy
-Arcachon
– Bordeaux Region
-Sables
d’Olonne – Vendée region
-La
Baule – Brittany
-Quiberon
Bay – Brittany
-Pornic
– Brittany
-Leucate
– Western Riviera
-Le
Cannet – Western Rivera
-Biarritz
– French Basque Country – mostly surfing
-Hendaye
– French Basque Country – famous for water sports
Some
of the items you might be able to buy at the end-of-the-summer-vacation season
include:
-all 3 kinds of Cassoulet - bean stews - from the Languedoc should be sold in Paris, too, at train and subway stations. In the South, these items are sold at gas stations.
-Cassoulet tastes good with red wines such as Spanish Rioja Reds, Bergerac Red, maybe Cotes du Rhone, and Irouleguy red (a Basque wine)
-seafood platter trays with two or three levels
-"tubes d'ete" CDs or summer hits CDs of French Singers
-all 3 kinds of Cassoulet - bean stews - from the Languedoc should be sold in Paris, too, at train and subway stations. In the South, these items are sold at gas stations.
-Cassoulet tastes good with red wines such as Spanish Rioja Reds, Bergerac Red, maybe Cotes du Rhone, and Irouleguy red (a Basque wine)
-seafood platter trays with two or three levels
-"tubes d'ete" CDs or summer hits CDs of French Singers
-espadrille
cloth sandals from the Basque country
-sunglasses
-straw
hats with wide, floppy rims
-beach
balls
-beach
pails and shovels
-swimsuits
-volleyballs
and nets
-coolers
-beach
towels
-plastic
pitchers, glasses, plates, and cutlery
-picnic
baskets
-serving
platters
-tablecloths
-cloth
napkins
-hibachi
grill
-whole
fish roaster for grill
-charcoal
-lighting
fluid
-roll-up
reed mats for sunbathing
-caps
-visors
-thermal
mugs
-metal
holders for escargots (snails)
-kebab
skewers in wood and metal
-chopsticks
in wood and metal
-Lacoste
shirts
-shorts
-summer
study guides for all grades, all subjects
-Bécassine
children’s books and other books
-white,
V-neck sweaters
-brown,
leather shoes
-sailor
hats for all ages
-life
jackets
-light
sweaters
-light
jackets
-mini
skirts
-fitbits
to lose weight
-Cointrexiville
water (mild laxative)
-Evian
water spray to rehydrate face after sunbathing
Tati
Department Store in Paris might carry these items, too.
Have
fun shopping!!!
By
Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
Click here for: Ruth Paget's Amazon Books
Click here for: Ruth Paget's Amazon Books
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