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Mrs Monet On The BeachWhere Churchill May Have Bought His Fish
The towns of Deauville and Trouville are linked at the hip like a pair of Siamese Twins. However, unlike a pair of Siamese Twins, there are only two of them whereas there’d be four of the Siamese twins…if you see where I’m coming from. Anyway, given their proximity my Deauville page is my Trouville Page and vice versa..confused?
Trouville has a very pleasant beach. As well as wielding their brushes down at Honfleur (see my Honfleur page), Monet and Boudin also turned out a few nice canvasses on the beach at Trouville. Indeed one of Monet’s paintings in the National Gallery in London actually contains some grains of sand from the beach mixed in with the paint. However the French aren’t demanding them back, unlike the Greeks and their Elgin Marbles…and on that particular issue, ‘finders-keepers’ is what I say. If any of you aren’t familiar with that piece of Old English Legislation then it comes from the same Law Book that states ‘He That Smelled It Dealt It’.
On the beach at Trouville these days there are plenty of diversions other than peering over the shoulders of impressionists. There’s plenty for the kids to do including amusement rides, a swimming pool, treading in dog-poo and upsetting the locals. There’s also a casino in which Winston Churchill used to gamble away the small hours with other European notables in the 20s and 30s. Indeed it was rumoured that the invasion of Poland but was nothing to do with a German desire for ‘liebensraum’ and more to do with settlement of an outstanding debt that he ran up playing ‘Snap’ with Hitler.
There’s also a fantastic fish market on Saturdays but it isn’t recorded as to whether Churchill ever bought his halibut there.
However, the real attraction of the area is the best value horse racing you’ll find anywhere, especially in August. There are two racecourses in Deauville and throughout August there’s a meeting every other day. There are books of vouchers to be had in campsites and tourist offices that mean you park free, get in free, free gifts for the kids and your only expense is the gambling (which is all on the tote). Even if you don’t get the vouchers it is only a mere three euros for adults. The racecourses are spotless, stylish and families are welcomed. So, all in all, it’s an excellent opportunity to fritter the holiday spending money at little additional expense.
Contrast this with the piece of mail awaiting me on my return to Angleterre that held the wonderful news that Sandown Park Racecourse was happy to offer me their ‘bargain’ entry price of only £15 to one of their evening meetings. Harrumph, I fear they know where they can stick that one.
