carmel-by-the-sea

on saturday morning, ingrid and i were struck by a brilliant idea. instead of going to the city (as that is what one would expect us to do), why not have an adventure of the true ingrid-and-katie sort? 4 hours later we were safely inside our Zipcar, on our way down Pacific Highway 1 to Carmel-By-The-Sea. As the name suggests, Carmel is a beautiful, quaint, former artist colony town in an idyllic seaside location.

we found an excellent parking spot when we arrived (unfortunately near jcrew - the lack of commercialization in the town does not extend to the shopping industry) and proceeded to shop, sightsee and wander along the beach. it was a very relaxing and refreshing evening. we ate at Nico's, a european-style restaurant where our waiter spoke with us en francais. we finished the evening with a visit to a wonderful carmel-style bakery, and a drive home. it was truly the highlight of a wonderful visit. made us homesick for europe though.