Arcachon

As before the trip first went by train to Arcachon for a few days.

Beach of Arcachon with wale fin

The tide is rising and soon some bath towels would be hectically moved...

The Hotel has changed a bit, access to the upper floor is now by an external staircase

Sand animals

Another piece of sand art

Sunset at the beach

The winter village (Ville d'hiver) of Arcachon

A few impressions with nice architecture and scenery.

View from the lookout in the direction of the bassion of Arcachon

The vegetation is definitely different from the one in German towns

Palm trees in the Parc Mauresque, a little parc in the winter village

The lookout Observatoire Sainte-Cécile

Extraordinarily nice wooden rafters

Decoration grid on the roof and unusual chimneys

Catamaran sailing in the bassin of Arcachon

From Arcachon one can do a boat trip through the bassin and sail all the way to the dune:

The catamarans Tip Top One und Tip Top Two

The sails were straightened

The bar

Cap Ferret seen from the seaside

View over the island back to Arcachon

Oyster and mussel buffet

Return to the harbour of Arcachon

Cap Ferret and Atlantic beach

This time I also made it to Cap Ferret on land.

Arrival at Jetée de Bélisaire at low tide

here you have to cross the tidal flat

Forest on Cap Ferret

An empty egg shell, probably from a small cat shark

Depart at Jetée de Bélisaire at high tide

Low tide between headland and fishing village

Local flora

On the atlantic beach

View towards Dune du Pilat from the tip of Cap Ferret

The must-have visit on the Dune du Pilat

This time the sand was very hot, and also there were Covid restrictions in the access area (mask obligation).

View from the ascent

On the seashore at low tide

View from the dune towards the sea

The zero-g flight

Bsically it is always the same scheme: There is a get-to-know evening, directly before the flight there is a briefing, then the flight follows and after the flight there is a lunch. This time all went a bit different due to the Corona pandemic. Flight suits (in my case I didn't need a flight suit, because I still have the one from last time), patches and socks were given out at the evening get-together, after that we had a drink and little talk on the terrace, but no dinner. This time I was in "Team Moon". On the next day there was no snack before the flight, the breakfast at the hotel had to be enough. Also we had to wear a medical mask on the flight (I hope I have to never experience this again, because I cannot really get along with masks even 2 years into the pandemic).

The mandatory briefing

The flight video

Team Moon with Astronaut Jean-Francois Clervoy (in the front left in the blue flight suit) in front of the aircraft with Corona distance

Last advice from our instructor Neil Melville (in blue)

I try out spins

Ball games and upside down trials

Small group floating picture (the best one of me on this flight, sadly this time I was very unlucky with pictures)

Superman

Floating coloured water droplets (to make them better visible)

On the flight back to Mérignac

Lunchtime after the flight

Last day in Bordeaux

Bordeaux has become a very nice city, as the following examples show. When I got to know it the first time almost 20 years ago, the renovation had just started, almost all of the building walls were black and next to the Gironde the traffic was immense.

The eastern side of the cathedral St. André

The water mirror on the Place de la Bourse, a very popular meeting point in ot weather

Artistic details on the building of the Chamber of Commerce

Until next time!

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Entrance of the cathedral St. André

Pont de Pierre with park

Porte Cailhau, an old city gate