Belle Bordeaux!

Friday morning, having passed a terribly exciting two days enjoying Hanna's apartment (her family was away), full of wine drinking, pasta cooking, dancing, walking around in pj's, watching HSM3 and doing everything else silly and feminine, I departed for Bordeaux to meet Jonathan!

My train ride, which I'd actually been looking forward to, turned out to be a bit of a bust: the train was full, the seats were a bit cramped compared to other trains I've been on, and there was a very angry and exhausted mother in front of me with her twin three-year-old sons, who both screamed, kicked, whined, and jostled the entire four hours. I got to hear them being smacked more than once. It was not too pleasant.

Then I arrived! Quite excited to see Jonathan - we figured out it had been a month since we'd last seen each other. Quelle horreur! But really what better place than Bordeaux to meet up with one's boyfriend?!

Bordeaux was immediately impressive. It has a very pretty and large train station, complete with a tall glass ceiling and lots of pigeons flying around inside. Jonathan and I set about to finding our hotel; we ended up walking there, so we got to see some interesting parts of the city from the beginning, passing through the St. Michel neighborhood.

Finally finding our hotel about two or three miles later, both carrying heavy back packs, we came to find the hotel reception closed until 5. Both tired from the walk, we waited at a near by cafe, where I had some good espresso and Jonathan tried his first ever Orangina!

Walking back to the hotel at 5, we found it was still closed. The French! There was a phone number left on the front door to be used in case of an urgent situation, but I really didn't want to call it: speaking in French is hard enough, but speaking in French over the phone is next to impossible for me!

Fortunately, a group of French women showed up to check in five minutes or so after we did (at around 5:20, now). They straight away called the manager on his cell phone, he biked over, checked us in, everything was fine.

So.

Jonathan and I explored. A few blocks from our hotel was the Monument des Girondins. It is truly magnificent - very beautiful and whimsical in a way - the horses have serpent tails rather than hind legs and conch shells for hooves. Wonderful.

Then we walked along the river, saw the Pont Neuf, the Place de Palais, and finally found a nice neighborhood with lots of restauraunts where we found a good creperie. Jonathan ordered his first meal crepe: ham and cheese, and we split some cider. Afterwards, walked around the city a bit more, had some gelatto, split a bottle of pink, Bordeaux wine to celebrate his impending 21st birthday.

Next day, continued to explore the city. Split a giant pain au chocolat for breakfast: delicious! Saw the Grand Theater of Bordeaux, stumbled upon a market day taking place in the shadow of the Basilica of St. Michel, found a very small church: L'eglise d'Eloi, tucked in between several buildings but very large and ornate and crooked on the inside. Saw the Hotel de Ville, tried to go inside the Cathedral only to disappointedly learn that it was closed all weekend to visitors because it was a religious holiday, full of babtisms, special services and weddings.

Found a Carrefour and bought supplies to make a wonderful lunch: salami, baguette, creme-brulee au caramel, and goutta cheese. Topped off with some Apricot juice. Very delicious.

Then we continued our expedition!

Saw a very, very beautiful church in la Place des Martyrs de la Revolution: L'eglise Saint Seurin. And stopped in another, L'eglise Saint Ferdinand, on our way to the Public Gardens.

In the Public Gardens, we found lots of couples making out passionately everywhere and in everywhich way. On top of one another in the grass, straddling eachother on benches. Seriously, it was unbelievable.

The gardens were very pretty, lots of flowers and greenery and ducks and geese and dogs and children playing. We stopped at the garden cafe, L'Orangerie, for some water and coffee.

Wandered aimlessly a bit.

Then headed out to find a good pizzaria. Found one, although the pizza Jonathan ordered was unfortunatley a little dry - shame, because typically French pizza is a thousand times bettter than American pizza. I had pasta though and it was excellent. Walked around a bit more, etc.

Next morning, headed to the train station to purchase Jonathan's return ticket. Disaster! The train he had planned on taking at 8pm was full, and so he had to buy a ticket for the 4:30 instead. I really did cry a little, which was stupid, but I was sad to cut our weekend short! I found an earlier ticket, which was good and meant I wouldn't have to wait around alone three extra hours and would arrive in Nantes at a safe 9pm instead of a sketchy 11pm.

That resolved, we headed out again. Bought a nice lunch; Jonathan had his first sandwich au jambon et beurre, along with some pain au chocolat and an orangina. I had my first ever croque-monsieur, and it was terrific. We ate it in small park that we found near by, accompanied by some adorable birds who ate our crumbs and the far off banter of homeless people.

Walked towards the Basilica of St. Michel. Were accosted by homeless people, who tried to confront Jonathan for some reason or another. When he didn't respond, one yelled, "Hey asshole! Do you speak French or not?" with the implied answer being that Jonathan did speak French but refused to speak - funny becasue he doesn't speak French.

Anyway.

Visited the Basilica of St. Michel. Very beautiful.

Headed to the train station. I cried a little, which is stupid because we're currently in the process of planning a trip to St. Sebastian, Spain in two weeks, which will be wonderful!

The train ride home was a bit of an adventure: the man sitting across from me, who would not stop staring at me even if I cought him staring at me, only smile creepily, unbottuned his shirt the instant he sat down, revealing a tattooed chest that he continued to scratch for the duration of the four hours.He looked very, very, frightening. A bit alarming, but there was a very friendly looking couple in the compartment with me, I didn't feel too unsafe, just bothered, and I still got to look out the window at the French country side - which was very lovely.

All in all, an blissful weekend! So crazy that I can take a weekend in Bordeaux! With my boyfriend! Love it!