Since my recent excursion into old Bayonne, I couldn’t wait to go back there, where Bayonne city life starts bustling again when everyone is back to work, the shopping back to normalcy, and all the cafes open. I owed myself to see old Bayonne, or I wouldn’t have gone back home to the United States quite satisfied. Actually both old Bayonne and the Eiffel Tower, too.

I stopped by the Deaf mainstream program next to old Bayonne where there are two classes, with seven Deaf kids in one class, and five smaller Deaf children in the other class, where Deaf teacher Veronique Deck teaches.

The Deaf school had closed and the Deaf students transferred into the mainstream schools so the French government can save money. All of the students were fluent in LSF, which is good, the less communication barriers, the better.

The Deaf teacher Deck set up the video projection showing the DeafNation website, for her class to watch. Students had to sign using a combination of both LSF and international sign language to ask me the questions about the presentation. The students were so eager to challenge themselves by trying to communicate in sign language with an American, with Veronique jumping in to assist us with our classroom dialogue.

Said Deck, “I admit to the fact there is concern over the future of Deaf children,” thoughtfully adding, “I would love to see new Deaf children born in the Bayonne area, if there are none, then I don’t have the job as a teacher to Deaf children.”

Back to the camaraderie of the engaging French Deaf students, they exhibited a sense of humor, laughing with me during my presentation about DeafNation and Deaf people around the world that I experienced meeting in the past years. I was very impressed with those students who have open minds, doing well with both the French language and LSF.

Leaving the classroom, all of the Deaf students including their Deaf teacher Deck gave wide smiles, they gave me a great added inspiration to my good start beginning my day in Bayonne.

Walking to old Bayonne was almost like seeing the modern day age of 2009 disappear into a hole literally changing into the 1500’s era, I had to be guided by Veronique’s husband Christian as he knows the “maze” by heart. Bayonne is 6km, or 3.7 miles from the Atlantic Ocean north of Biarritz.

Christian was puzzled, wondering why Seth and I was walking slowly, and I explained to him that we would like to do a video to show our viewers how old buildings were built in the 1500’s or earlier, which prompted him to slow down.

I glimpsed the coffee roasting shop and thought “there is NO way for me to resist some good coffee brew,” following my nose into the shop, getting a close-up view of the new beans being roasted. The attendant brewed me a small cup of espresso, which tasted so fresh with pure concentrated coffee flavor as I sipped outside of the shop, watching people walking by.

We kept going on with our tour, stopping by one of the chocolatiers that boast of more purely refined chocolate than America will ever offer. The chocolate here is made the old-fashioned way: bitter, spicy and in a heavenly mug.

Imagine, Bayonne had over 130 chocolatiers in the year 1870, which is more than all of Switzerland!

I never had seen such an imposing mug of hot chocolate with a huge chocolaty foam, a signature of the chocolatier visited. It melted in my mouth, to my gasps. I also picked up a few chocolate candy pieces, and I had to force myself to stop or I would have ended up eating up their whole inventory. I even had to stop for the other reason that I couldn’t stop trying all the different kinds.

I saw so many small cafes, shops, bakeries, and countless doors. I spotted one shop selling Chocolate scented perfume and found the more unique scents of perfumes such as caramel, mint among many other popular scents, marvelling that the French are so creative with all the different perfume scents.

Christian introduced me to a true Basque local who was Deaf, named Patxi. He was wearing a Basque Jai-alai uniform, looking like the real thing. Seeing his outfit brought memories of when I was a young kid attending a Jai-alai sporting event, who always wanted to try and play that game. Upon researching a little more, I was surprised to find that there were more than 20 different kinds of Jai-alai, from just the hand to using a big straw racket.

Jai-alai link: http://www.guethary-france.com/anglais/peloteuk.asp

We tried two different locations; Trinquet and Fronton. I didn’t realize that each location has its purposes. Trinquet is an indoor court with glass or hard walls, while Fronton has just one wall without any side walls.

Patxi applied some special tape on his hands, wrapping with several layers, taking me to Fronton and started playing handball. I thought that I could play for a few minutes without my hand becoming sore without wearing the special tape, and sure enough on the first hit, my hand got pretty sore when the ball thumped against the palm of my hands thunderously. I couldn’t continue five minutes longer without wrapping some of that special tape, otherwise I’d have to play fast with him before my hands gave out.

Patxi gave me the Jai-alai chistera (racket) to try. “It’s such a challenge to keep the ball under control back towards the wall,” I fretted, trying to maintain a good control game. I told myself, “there is no way I can keep up with a 180 mph gassed ball,’ shaking my head in dismay, but with a smile as a good sport.

Patxi explained, “I used to be serious about the Jai-alai games in the past, but I’ve been so busy with my career at Turbomeca doing the helicopter engines.”

When I met Patxi’s parents, I was impressed how they can sign to Patxi and me. Any parent who puts their mind to it, will be able to learn sign language to communicate with their loved ones.

Being weak over the finest local chocolate, I was sorely tempted to order yet another mug of hot chocolate, so I set forth in motion a series of events shaping way for my impulses to be satisfied with more chocolate, stopping first to grab a view of Bayonne up the hill, a nice view nearby Patxi’s home. We then rushed into Bayonne’s maze and tried to park the car with little luck until I found a perfect spot by the river. I stood by the empty cafe and river, taking in my sights before I proceeded back to the same chocolate shop, with the staff and manager all roused up by my repeated visit, thrilled. Now back in my latest favorite place, I sipped the hot chocolate very slowly, absorbing all the flavor in my taste buds, and I made sure each drip was done with a clean cup.

I am ready for a great dinner prepared by Veronique with Goose Liver and cheese, Salmon fish with a special sauce, homemade apple/blueberry pie along with Basque wine, of which the Decks declared as “the best,” and “even better than Bordeaux wine,” their faces smirking.

Christian brought two bottles from Henri Corderoy du Tier’s family cognac that has been made since 1724. It was a perfect occasion drinking cognac particularly due to the fact it came from a Deaf family.

I will always think of Christian and Veronique Deck with their warmest hospitality.

You must see Bayonne and the Basque countryside whenever you are in France, you can always go to Spain directly from the Basque region in your travels conveniently, it’s not far from here.

Au Revoir!