From Munich, Germany to Bordeaux, France

I've been in France for about a month now and I am just now able to write a blog about France. My 1st stop in France was Bordeaux, well actually there was a 9 hour delay on my 31 hour bus ride from Munich, Germany to Bordeaux, France. Also being as I was planning to be in one place in Europe for a year and it didn't turn out that way, I was dragging 3 rolling suitcases and a laptop bag with me everywhere. It was actually easier than you would think, but I attracted lots of stares. Here's a picture of Eric helping me out once I was in Bordeaux. A man stopped us on the street and asked us "Who's idea was that?" Eric pointed to me and said "Her's" He nodded and said "Yeah, women are the smart ones." The best part is they don't fall over if you have to let go for a few minutes. 

So since I was arriving during my brother's long weekend we decided to pick Bordeaux to meet instead of Limoges, where he lives. So back to my 31 hour bus ride that was supposed to last 27 hours. I know I slept at some point but it wasn't great sleep. 

As you can see from my lovely Google map, a straight shot from Munich to Bordeaux would take about 12 hours, but if you'll read on you will come to understand the common French phrase "Why do something simply, when you can make it complicated?"

No one told me that all transportation in France goes through Paris and there was a 7 hour delay in Paris that turned into 9 hours because of traffic. I made a few friends after we got off the bus in Paris. The bus station had no lockers for us to put our luggage in and we had too much to take it with us while exploring Paris, so we couldn't go anywhere. I actually went to Paris in 2005 so I wasn't too disappointed, but still, our only option was to wait for McDonald's to open at 7 (it was 6:00 in the morning). One of my new friends was greatly in need of cigarettes and he almost didn't make it until the stores opened. So we finally ordered breakfast and took turns exploring the shopping center and sleeping/watching the luggage. We finally dragged all our luggage back to the bus station an hour before our scheduled departure and then found out we had a 2 hour delay due to heavy holiday traffic. (Bastille Day) 

Here's a picture of some stopped traffic.

I have to admit I was a little amused as I watched my future friend Samuel of Sweden yell at the bus lady because he was going to miss his train in Bordeaux that was taking him on to the next leg of his journey, to Spain I think. When we finally got to Bordeaux my brother had somehow accidently booked a room with 3 twin beds and we let Samuel sleep in the 3rd bed for the few short hours he had between arriving in Bordeaux and the next train out. I think we arrived at 2 in the morning and the next train was at 7. When we woke up we found 20 euros from him which I think paid for the room that night. So thanks Samuel, I hope you had a good trip!

I also have to tell you another story about my 2 other friends on the bus, Rene and Helhem. (I have no idea of the spelling of Helhem, but it is pronounced eel-hem.) Rene is german and Helhem is from Morocco. They met while Rene was on vacation in Morocco. Helhem was a relative of Rene's friend and she showed them around her city. After two weeks of together, Rene returned to Germany, emailed her for a month or two, then returned to Morocco to ask Helhem to marry him and she said yes. I stared at her in shock at McDonald's and said "You married him after two weeks?!" Traveling can make you get pretty personal pretty fast. (Me with my questioning and her with her future husband apparently.) Anyway they were kind enough to share their beer with me on the bus after we had been sitting in traffic for hours and hours. And if anyone knows me at all you understand how bored I would have to be before I would drink a beer of any kind voluntarily. 

So anyway, here's a picture of me hiding my beer from the bus driver. 

Also I ate this thing and it was really good, no idea what it is, they are everywhere though. I only bought it because it looked gross. 

So after all that Eric and I are now in Bordeaux. The next day we went to Wine School. There was only one other person in our English speaking class, a Canadian. I swear our teacher thought we were idiots. We knew nothing. He made us play a game where we had to identify the smells of random pots of gel. It was to help us identify the smells and tastes in wine. I swear every one of those things smelled like soap or tree bark. Apparently they were things like; cherries, cinnamon, leather, lavender, mint, honey, and various other stuff. 

It was fun, but we got the giggles when he made us gurgle our wine and spit. When asked if we liked them, I had to say no to every single one except the one at the end that tasted like candy. I wanted to drink all of mine but I was embarrassed to be seen drinking the wine when I was supposed to be spitting, so I did a combo of spit half drink and drink the other half in my mouth. But then I realized how classy I was and regretfully poured the rest down the sink. We each got our own sink and light with fancy buttons. I didn't comprehend any of the stuff about where grapes come from to make which wines, but I did learn maybe 3 things:

1. Red wine does not come from red grapes, the insides are clear just like every other grape you've ever seen. They make wine red by getting the juice out and then boiling/steaming the juice over the skins 3-5 times depending on how red the wine is going to be.

2. You do not make a blush wine by mixing red and white wine. Our teacher asked us in class how we thought it happened, and I could tell that was the answer he expected to hear, but I didn't dare say it, but my brother was "brave" enough to say it. The teacher promptly smacked his forehead and muttered some swears in french. Then proceeded to tell us it is the same process as red wine with the boiling juice over the skins just done only 1 or 2 times. 

3. I can now tell approximately how old a wine is by its color. 

Here are 3 videos put together in 1. First is our teacher demonstrating how to taste the wine, then me trying & then Eric. 

After wine tasting I believe we stupidly chose to eat at a bakery, and wanted to walk with our food, but we were somehow forced to sit down outside with no shade at one of two tables situated on a street corner. We ate pretty fast in that hot sun and left, not typical anywhere in Europe where you are expected to sit and eat for hours. 

Then we walked around Bordeaux, saw some old stuff, cathedrals, sculptures etc. And then my favorite part: playing in this fountain that shot water up and then just gently misted water to cool you off, then there was nothing but giant puddles left and they slowly drained away and then it all started over. I love the feeling of playing in a fountain, its like "Am I allowed to do this?"

Oh and then we went to the beach. We got ice cream there and they had some unusual flavors so of course I had to try them. We decided on Litchi fruit (good decision) and grapefruit (bad decision) Ice cream should not make your tongue hurt. 

Here's another flavor we found.

A few pictures from the beach, this 1st one had to be cropped to make some of the sunbathers more appropriate to be viewed on the internet....
Some former beach residents...Eric made a sandcastle with real glass windows and roof tiles.

Up next...Limoges, Tour de France & Bastille Day!