Holiday En France - Part 2

Following on from our accommodation crisis on our first night in France whereby the key was not left where we were told it would be and we had to find alternative accommodation, this situation was not resolved the following day when OH left myself and Little Bird at the market in Boulogne and went back to try to sort it out.  Here's a picture of the busy market on Saturday morning.

The result of the accommodation crisis was that  OH had a heated exchange with the company when the key was left in a place where we could not find it.  They refused to acknowledge our difficulties in finding it and the fact that there was no lighting and no number on the door of the apartment.  They would not give us the key without paying up front which we were, of course, not prepared to do.  I just hope they have the common decency to return the deposit this week.

As a consequence of the above, we were very disappointed by our treatment and left in Boulogne with a dog, a child and without accommodation.  We sat outside one of the brasseries in the Market place and checked out a new apartment using the free Wifi.  There was a pet friendly apartment available in Le Touquet 30 miles away, so we headed there to book in person.  Again there was a slight misunderstanding as we went to a different apartment block run by the same company first, without realising it, and received very little help or polite understanding from staff there, which was disappointing as on a previous stay there we had found them very accommodating.

We were eventually directed to the correct apartments and were booked in by a very helpful lady who restored our faith in humanity.  We unloaded the car and settled into our new apartment which was very basic, but we didn't care as had we not been able to book it we would have almost given up the will to live and come home.  Once settled in, we sat down to our roterie chicken and potatoes bought at the market.  Once we'd eaten we felt so much better and it felt like our holiday had started proper.

Later that afternoon we wandered into the town. I had a wander around the shops and bought this beautiful calendar from my favourite stationery and book shop for just a few euros.

I also got this card

and present for the puppy who's first birthday it was in a couple of days time.  OH and Little Bird meanwhile headed to the beach with the puppy, who by all accounts had a wonderful time in the sea and on the sand dunes.  Here's a picture of the lovely beach and the sand dunes at Le Touquet.

We all met up again later at the Mini golf and then headed off to a restaurant for dinner before doing a bit of food shopping and then retiring for the evening to our apartment.

It hadn't been a great start to our little holiday, but at least eventually we were able to relax and start to enjoy it.