Bordeaux

Well, it’s back to work for me today. The vacation is over. France has random holidays all the time, which works out well for me. We just had a week and a half off. I didn’t do a whole lot. From Sunday to Tuesday, Missy and I went to Bordeaux. It’s about a 3-hour train ride. The ride there wasn’t the greatest. It was early in the morning and there were screaming children the entire way. Also, this old woman stole my window seat and I didn’t have the balls to tell granny to move it. I am out of practice lugging a backpack, so we set out to find accommodation immediately upon arrival. We found a hostel following some signs. Our hostel mate was a Scottish girl who grew up in Germany. She was quite nice.

Our first day in Bordeaux, Missy and I wandered around the city. Once you get away from the train station and a bunch of sex shops, the city is quite nice. We wandered around downtown and booked a wine tour for the next day. There was a little festival going on, so Missy and I were able to go on a Ferris wheel! And we had a giant chichi, which is a deep fried sugar stick. Mmmm healthy.

On Monday, as I said, Missy and I went on a wine tour. We went to a region close to Bordeaux called Blaye. We went to two chateaus. The first one explained to us how the wine was made. It was in English, but I still didn’t understand half of it. Then we got to taste both white and red wines. The price was a little out of our league to actually buy the wine. We don’t normally go above 3 euros (yes, it’s that cheap here). The second chateau was nice as well. The woman there explained to us about the vines. Then we had some Merlot. Again, it was out of our price range, but it was tasty. We got to see a lot of the French countryside. It’s really quite different from anything I’ve ever seen. Really pretty and picturesque.

On Tuesday, Missy and I again, as we did Monday morning, walked down the supposedly longest pedestrian shopping street in Europe. It was a bit dodgy near our end, but gets quite posh once you get more near the classy part, or the ‘Bourgeois’ part as our internet-setting-up French fellow described it. That day we went to St. Emilion. The train station is literally in the middle of nowhere (you will see in the pictures I’ll put up). So missy and I basically had a St. Emilion photo shoot walking in and out of town. It’s a pretty walk though, and it’s not that far. St. Emilion is a medieval town, much like Eze, which I visited in the south of France my first time around. It seemed more authentic though. We wandered around taking pictures, and we went on a tour of the underground monuments. The tour was in French but the guide spoke every language imaginable, so he would break off sometimes and explain it to us in English. Oh! My favourite part of the trip! Missy had read that the bell tower in the centre of town gives a nice view of the surrounding countryside. We couldn’t find a way in, so we asked at the information centre if we were able to go up. The guy hands us the bloody key to the ancient tower and charges us each a euro, telling us to lock the door behind us. So Missy and I were able to climb and play in this ancient tower by ourselves. It was quite bizarre, and possibly the best thing ever.

So it was a nice little break for us to get away. It did make me miss Paris though. I really love this city. We have no immediate travel plans, but Missy keeps talking about England, so we’ll see. Also, I’ll be home in no time. I get back on December 20, and I’m there until January 9th. I can’t believe how fast this is going!

Till next time