True gems {Look Around}

The Base nautique & By's Café and Restaurant

Open air parties are a different thing altogether: that BBQ smell pervading the air around the KBH Home - a simple yet stylishly solid wooden vessel anchored in the pine wood - and flying away to knock on the neighbors' door and ricochet on every tree trunk to call everyone to join the easy-going feast - now THAT is something to look for all year round and to enjoy like there is no tomorrow, as the saying goes.

When the sun sets on the elegant Le Touquet and lets the cool breeze fly in from the nearby Atlantic ocean, bringing along messages in lost bottles and mesmerizing mermaid songs, it is time to let the birthday party DJ step up and play his tunes, from the highly commercial ones to the unknown voices that will be impossible for us to find once the night is over. The colorful disco lights are free to play wildly against the dark night sky and pine silhouettes: my head spins as I try to follow each of them in their frantic dance, in vain.

That is why they are - and will remain - gems.

Baie de Canche

At least until the next morning, when my fuzzy head full of the night rhythm and the sore feet from the dance floor flurry scan the sun-bathed horizon for a new, breezy destination and invigorating activity: the Baie de Canche. Following the coast path, crossing runners and bikers, we walk peacefully surrounded by nature: dunes and coastal flowers are our natural companions all the way to the base nautique where colorful flags flap playfully in the air and white benches and tables are an invitation to contemplation.

On the way back, we take the less traveled road and go through the pine forest to look for benevolent shade and fragrant pinecones. Precious sand is everywhere, and its every grain permeates my skin to remind me of the beauties of the time spent here in nature's arms and surrounded by friends.

These moments too are gems.

Credits: TheDaydreamerDiary