Bordeaux

So here I am, finally getting back to my blog. I realize that I am not writing as often as I did at the beginning, but hopefully I will finish catching up, and get back to writing regularly.

Obviously, this post is about my trip to Bordeaux. My trip to Bordeaux was the second week of October. Piha was scheduled for surgery at a cardiac hospital just outside of Bordeaux. Pierre and Sophie said it was up to me to decide to stay in Pau, or tag along with them and head out to Bordeaux. I decided to go.

It is funny how when you are little, a two hour drive seems so long, but now that I have grown up a bit, two hours really isn't that long. It is a barely longer than most movies. It is enough time to watch a game. And in that small amount of time, you can drive from Pau to Bordeaux. I stayed awake to look at the terrain, but it wasn't all that great, and it never really changed. For the most part, we passed plenty of cornfields. And then a bunch of plain old trees. And finally the vineyards. I enjoyed looking at the vineyards most because it reminded me of some chick-flics I've seen.

When we got to our hotel, we went straight to our rooms. Pierre, Sophie, and Piha were in one room. And for the first time ever, I had a whole hotel room to myself. I felt like a big kid. After tossing my bags on the bed, I went back down the elevator to meet everyone for dinner. I'm sorry, but I honestly can't remember what I had for my main course. I remember eating a lot of bread, saucisson (dried sausage, I LOVE it), and an apple tart for dessert. But the main course has left my brain. Which tells you that it probably wasn't that good...

The next morning, Pierre, Sophie, and Piha (from now on in this post they will be known as PSP) went to the hospital to check in. I, however, slept in and eventually went down to breakfast. I don't think I have ever eaten such a big breakfast. There were way too many options, and it was an all-you-can-eat deal. I was in heaven. Every morning, I took: 1 bowl of compote (applesauce), 1 croissant, 1 pain au chocolat, 1 slice of a chocolate/vanilla pound cake, 1 bowl of cereal, 2 slices of bread, 1 sauce bowl of apricot jam for the croissant, 1 sauce bowl of nutella for the bread, 1 yogurt, a glass of water, and to top it off, 1 herbal tea in a paper cup. I am pretty sure people looked at me funny every morning, but I didn't care. The food was too good to care about anything except what was going on with my tastebuds. One morning, Pierre came down and he started joking about how much I had on my tray. Funny thing is, I had already eaten a big portion of the food. Breakfast is supposed to be the biggest meal of the day anyway.

After eating breakfast and getting ready, I left to see PSP at the hospital. I should have taken the bus to the hospital, but I didn't want to plan everything, so I just started walking. I had a map, but the map didn't show the entrance to the hospital, and I didn't know what the hospital would look like. I got to where the hospital should be, but all I saw were a group of buildings. Eventually I saw words on the buildings that looked like medical terms, but since I was still confused on which building PSP was in, I decided to bring out the phone. When I first started entering the hospital, I was concerned. I was entering through the basement and it did not look like a good hospital. It was old, the paint was chipping, the tiles were dirty, and the colors were completely hideous. Who puts pinkish-orange tiles down, and then matches the walls with the same unsightly color? I was walking towards the elevators, and there was a random hole in the floor closed off with attention (caution) tape. I kept passing things that made me question the legitimacy of the hospital, but decided that maybe it was just a France thing to have crappy looking hospitals. And maybe since I was still in a Grey's Anatomy marathon it just made the real life hospital look bad. But Sophie agreed that this hospital looks scrappy. Maybe it was just old.

I stayed with PSP to eat lunch and say hi to Piha, but she was asleep. After, I left to spend my first day in Bordeaux. I know I was told not to travel alone, but I did. I had a phone to call PSP if I was in trouble, but I highly doubted I would be in need of their aid. So I took a bus to the tram, and then took the tram to the center of Bordeaux. P.S. the tram had some very strange and smelly passengers. One time, a lady sat next to me and her stench seriously made me gag. And I was trapped between the window and her. I had no escape route. Anyway, I didn't plan out the things I wanted to see, so I spent my first day shopping. And to justify my shopping, I was in dire need for warm clothes. I bought three sweaters, a jacket, a dress, shirt, two pairs of shoes, and a few pairs of tights. I'll have more shopping to do later...

Eventually I thought it was time to head on home. I didn't want to miss the last tram, or the last bus. I got on the bus to go home, but realized that I didn't know which stop was my stop. I talked to the bus driver, and he said that he would let me out at my stop, but I think he forgot. At one point, I saw my hotel, but we just kept driving away... I thought he didn't stop because we would get closer, but then he dropped me off in some random place... I had a phone to call PSP, but I didn't want to bug them. I could find my way back to the hotel. I got back onto a bus, and I thought I was getting off at the right stop, but I was wrong. So then I was in some random area when it was beginning to get dark. At last, I found a bus that stopped at my hotel. So after an hour of dealing with busses, I was finally back in my room. And I forgot to mention that on one of the busses, I totally fell. Ha, it was embarrassing, but I don't think anyone saw me. I think I had too many shopping bags.

The other days were pretty normal. I was very happy to have bought warmer clothes, because the next day it rained. Because it was raining, and I didn't have an umbrella, I went to a museum. Lucky for me, it was free! Except the tour translator phone I rented. Not gonna lie, the museum was pretty boring. So I ditched the old stones and statues, and ventured off into the city. By this time, it had stopped raining, so I was free to see all the places that interested me. Since this was back in October, one of the fountains was running with pink water. You know, for Breast Cancer Awareness.

These are some pictures from random places in Bordeaux. The bell tower, the pink fountain, tram tracks, a giant lion statue, the grand opera, a cathedral... Oh and speaking of the Grand Opera. when I walked past the opera house, the singers were practicing! It seriously sounded like angels. I really hope that I can go to an opera show in Bordeaux sometime.