FRANCE: Bordeaux (and the beauty that surrounds)

Monday, July 11, 2011

Our bus ride was fine; we watched Blue Crush, ate nutella and slept!  Leyre’s friend Thómas picked us up at about 12:15am and took us to his dorm.  Thómas speaks great English because he has a Canadian girlfriend who lives in Texas; I’m still shy to speak French but I understand 80-85% of what I hear. Upon arrival, his dorm was like some sort of deserted, run-down building; no plants, dried up grass, etc. Inside it was cute: two bedrooms, small kitchen and bathroom. Thómas instantly began drinking and offered beer… it wasn’t long before his “shy” appearance disappeared. Bed was at 2, and that hour was definitely not expected. Leyre and I slept in cots while Liv got the bed.

Tuesday we got up about 9 to head to the Dune de Pyla, the biggest dune in Europe.  What. A. Climb! I swear, my calves are STILL sore! But what a reward to get to run down the otherside on the way to the plage (thank God I didn’t fall on my face; it’s steep!).  There were some kids that raced down the side, fell face first, and barrel rolled the rest of the way down! Too bad it was overcast, sun here and there, but (of course) I fell asleep face down on the beach and what-do-you-know, my legs are fried! The ocean was beautiful, but cold. That didn’t stop Leyre and I from diving in before we left. Each time I’m in the sea, I forget how salty the water is… wow.  I got some great shots that day, and a great workout!  It was refreshing to listen to everyone speaking French… especially the toddlers and little ones.

                  We returned from the beach in the afternoon and had some quick lunch: scrambled eggs with bacon and mushrooms. Liv and Leyre tooks naps while Thómas and I played Bananagrams in English and French. What an epic fail. Then, him and I made a trip to the Supermarché to purchase all of the ‘goodies’ for the BBQ: les saucissons, bieres, vodka, jus d’orange,fromage, et huit baguettes.  All of us trickled down outside of their dorm, and whomever is still around for the summer showed up- about 20-25.  Apparently they have a bar on the bottom level with and strip of picnic tables and a foosball table, etc. Yep, you guessed it, we got it open for the night.  There we were, having our own personal party, loud music, drinking, grilling and all. Thómas and his friend challenged Livi and I to a game of beerpong and insisted that they’d “kick our asses”. HAA You will all be proud to know that les femmes américaines ont gagnées! Correction, we got 8 cups, and yes, we used a French girl for two celebrity shots. Regardless, I was undefeated in both beerpong and foosball.

At one point I thought I’d die from the birthday boy twirling me about the patio, around and around… his girlfriend was very poised, curious about the American life; altogether just cute. We joked about the American TV series that they watch here, the terrible but unique French films that I’ve seen, and the fact that we both hate subtitles.  All-n-all, the night was a great success. Livi found her French love (Phillip) and her Paul whom both taught her a bit of tech-tonique. Besides the fact that it was raining, Thómas put on a fire-blowing show… Liv and I wanted to try but thank God the boys didn’t let us.

Wednesday: up at 11 and took the tram to Bordeaux.  It was another overcast day, a bit chilly so we walked around the city.  This city is absolutely beautiful! It’s exactly where I could see myself living. Old stone buildings, pretty church, monuments everywhere, and all on a river!  We ate lunch in a little town square, (kebobs/ meat, tomatoes, lettuce, fries, and sauce all in a wrap!). Miam!  For some reason Liv got a kick out of feeding the pigeons  her kebab, while I got a kick of the little 2-year-old chasing the pigeons and laughing.  Ohh the simple things in life.  Leyre, Lola, Thómas and I all went back to the dorm because we needed to get ready for the fireworks in a nearby smaller town. It was the 13^th, the day before the Bastille holiday but some towns have fireworks the night before and others the night of. There was another friend who took his car; they call him “Fucked-Up”, but don’t really know his name. He’s only been here 2 weeks and he fits in well thus far but I’m really bothered by how they don’t know each other’s real names… I mean I get nicknames but you should still know their first name. lol

Anyway, so FU drove Leyre, Lola (her cousin/Alejandro’s sister) and Leyre’s new French boyfriend, Dimitri, to the fireworks while we (Livi, myself and Thómas) took another car. The fireworks were good, then we stayed for the mini festival to have a nutella crêpe and listen/dance to the live band.  Livi had made plans earlier in the night to go out with Phillip and Paul (neighbors of Thómas) to the discotech in Bordeaux so we ended up leaving earlier than expected.   When we got back, Liv and I decided we were having too much fun in Bordeaux so we cancelled both train tickets and our hostel for Tours.  Leyre and company returned from the mini party and we hung out at the residence again that night.

Thursday:  We’re staying in Bordeaux until Saturday.  I left Liv  to sleep all day while Thómas and his other neighbor, Julien, Lola, and I all went to a small medieval town called Saint Étonie.  It was completely surrounded by vineyards, and the entire town was old stone walls.  The weather was perfect and we toured the cathedral, climed 196 stairs up a tower that overlooked the whole town and just window shopped.  Every other shop was a wine shop… trust me, I was loving it!  Before we left, we sat along the stone wall of the town square and had ice cream cones (I had 1 scoop of chocolate and another of Apricot…YUM!).

When we returned to the residence, we had to get ready to go into Bordeaux for the fireworks.  The 14^th is like the 4^th of July for us: lots of people, excitement, and fireworks!   Funny, we had no food in the apartment so we ended up walking to “McDo” for dinner where the birds just loved us.  I held a fry in the air and, sure enough, three different birds fluttered right above my hand and ate it!  I felt like Snow White.  

We eventually then caught the tram into Bordeaux.  Thómas and Julien knew just the right spot for fireworks, so we sat beside the fountain and enjoyed two full rounds of fireworks!  Liv said it was the best show she’d ever witnessed. Us four (Livi, Thómas, Julien, Lola, Myself) found an Irish pub and sat for a couple of drinks. Conversation was pretty comical. We returned to the residence about 1:00am, Liv went to bed and Thómas and I talked until 4.  

Friday: We woke up about 10am and just hung around the apartment with the other “quad” of boys and their friends/girlfriends.  Thómas had an idea of going to visit a famously designed tower just on the other side of Bordeaux; wWe ended up at a different beach about 4pm and met Leyre and Dimitri. There were big waves at this one and the ocean seamed just a bit colder…thank God this day was warmer though!  Besides the wave workout, we brought snacks, and I taught Gin and Spoons to the French boys.  Afterward, we stopped to get groceries and went back to the residence to clean up and shower before we BBQ’d. Dinner was phenomenal: grilled chicken, baked potatoes, and a salad from Julien which was canned green beans, corn, yellow apples, balsamic vinegar, water, black pepper, and salt.

The more important part of the night was Liv and I putting on our “American” outfits and using eye-liner to mark anti-glares on our faces.  It was time for another round of Beerpong and Thómas had been bothering us all week that he wanted a rematch.  We gladly gave him one, all dressed up and dancing to Jock Jams ‘Let’s Get Ready To Rumble’, ‘Tootsie Roll, etc. etc. etc.  Too bad Dimitri (the rookie) decided to be Thómas’ partner.  Let’s just say we called him ‘Sniper’ by the end.  Sadly, Liv and I got owned in, not one, but TWO games in a row!  “Vive La France’”I guess.

Anyway, everyone went to bed and there again sat Thómas and I until 5am. By 3am we had opened a nice bottle of red wine and ate a couple of croissants…how French!  Morning came quickly and Thómas, Leyre, and Dimitri saw us off.  All gave us their contact information and Dimitri offered us to stay in his apartment in Paris.  11:25am came and Liv and I were off to Paris!