I've only been to Paris but it was incredible, your gal would probably dig it.

Crowded Biarritz YouTube.  Grosses vagues à Biarritz durant l'été indien!  YouTube.  Same beach, March 28.  Pay attention to the surf.  It's messy but probably thanks to Mark Cunningham, there's swimmers bobbing around.  YouTube.

I finally dropped into Paris for the first time in March.  I was ready for the real city to not live up to its vast reputation.  There was a bit of that.  Place de la Concorde was even more of a mess than expected.  Major tourist-avoidance zones.  But what I at first thought was a tourist zone close to Notre Dame was great for ten-Euro meals, looked like it was popular with students from the Sorbonne.  Beyond that, the perfect cheese shop.  The Middle Ages museum was a few blocks away.  Farther, Monet, Pisarro.  Rembrandt.  A city designed, somewhat successfully, as a work of art.  $35 French National Orchestra concert.  

Edited: 10/11/2017 at 10:35 AM by ww

Surfline:  mechanics of Hossegor.  New.  

We did that exact trip in September back in 2013. 3 dqys in Paris, 2 in the wine country and 4 days at the shore. We went to a town called Lacanau. Took the train from Paris to the wine country, then drove to Lacanau. Easy drive with a gps from rental company (its in English). THe surf was big! Best place we surfed was a town called Carcans. Highly recommend the trip. Although I hear Paris is now full of immigrants in your face begging....hope not because it was an awesome trip.

This spring, central Paris had heavy security, groups of police and soldiers with automatic weapons patrolling busy places and the Metro.  Checks at all the museums and such.  The military museum (including Napoleon's Tomb and the incredible collection of models of forts) had very careful wanding done by soldiers.  I went by the spot on the Champs-Elysee where,  days after my visit, a terrorist shot a police officer.  

Washington last month had similar museum security checks and wanding to enter Arlington National Cemetery.   

In London, June, the Southbank near the terrorist incident was busy anyway but there were security lines to get into theaters and you noticed security people all over.  I came home with a pile of cheese from Neal's Yard Dairy, whose big store was closed in due to the incident, so I made it to their original store.  

I was comfortable in all three cities.  Sorbonne neighborhood had lots of students, London still has nice neighborhoods and people.  Visited the Kennedy Center for the first time.  The crowd for the show was pretty young, mostly immaculately dressed.

Edited: 10/12/2017 at 05:11 PM by ww

Allez!

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"If I say it's safe to surf this beach, captain, then it's safe to surf this beach!"

Are there certain months you are limited to going?