“See anybody famous yet?” Keith asked me as I was facing the door out to the sidewalk at the corner of Dolores Street and Seventh Avenue.
The French restaurant, La Bicyclette, known for its locally-sourced, old world crafted and creative cuisine, was packed for lunch and I mean packed. We sat beside a large French family which only added to the excellent atmosphere in the dining room.
Carmel-by-the Sea near the southern end of Monterey Bay in central California, is renowned as a place where one can see celebrities on the street (and Clint Eastwood has a home there). Honestly, I did not expect to see anyone famous. I just wanted to see the small seaside town I had read of in novels and seen in movies and television. I was not disappointed.
An acquaintance recommended La Bicyclette was delightful and the salads (Keith, the Farmer’s Market Tomato Salad featuring buffalo Mozzeralla, basil and balsamic vinegar dressing a tower of heirloom tomatoes and I, the Stone Fruit Salad with cherries, peaches, nectarines blue cheese)…a Mimosa for me and wine for my husband.
The waitstaff was charming and well-informed regarding food choices. The décor in the dining room was decidedly French with a country flair. All in all, it was a delightful lunch experience before we headed out for a quick stroll around town.
I found the eclectic mix or eateries, wine-tasting rooms, retail shops, art galleries, salons and more to be an experience worth at least several days to fully appreciate. One shop, Carmel Bay Company, at the corner of Lincoln Street and Ocean Avenue was the best place I stepped into for local items and general California souvenirs.
Carmel offered plenty of free, two-hour parking spaces and our timeslot ran out before I would have wished. But we had one more goal during out short stop: Carmel Beach.
We picked a particularly windy, but brilliantly sunny day to forge down the high dunes to the waterfront. The white, fine sand blew into our faces the moment we topped the lookout deck at the end of the road. An inhospitable situation for my Nikon, the photos I took on the beach were all captured with my iPhone. Keith was ready to get out of the sandy wind, but I could not resist the need to run down a dune and get just this side of the surf.
All the surf we had missed out seeing further north of Monterey Bay was all at Carmel Beach. Crashing waves, sea birds, kids building sandcastles, digging moats, families sunning and eating were all here. It was a gorgeous a beach scene as I could have fantasized about. It was cold and biting in the wind, but the sun took the chill off. It was a fairytale visit.
We plan to go back next time we are in California to visit a winery down an arched walkway covered in grapevines, Carmel Bakery, and all the other delightful enclaves of shops I only had time to race through on our short visit.
