Only a Minnesotan...

The water was a balmy 12 degrees centigrade, it was the heart of springtime, and my Minnesotan tolerance to cold was up for the challenge. On waking up Sunday morning I took it upon myself to go swimming in the Atlantic Ocean. And when I say "swimming," I really mean "running as fast as I can into the water, submerging my body to make it official, and jumping out of the water as fast as possible". The water was as numbing as Lake Superior in April (provided it has thawed by that time). But it puts hair on your chest.

Speaking of furry chests, we also saw several seals (French: "les phoques") during our boat trip on Sunday afternoon.

French for the Day: "le muguet" is the name for the flower "lily of the valley". For some reason, it is traditional to buy un muguet for good luck on the 1er May (La Fête du Travail), and there were a ton of people outside selling them today.