Bordeaux
/Our journey from Barcelona to Bordeaux was simple but annoying. We left our Barcelona flat at 7:00 in the morning to catch our 8:00 train to Narbonne, which connected to Bordeaux. The annoying thing about French trains is that you can't reserve your seats online, so our connecting train from Narbonne to Bordeaux had to be purchased when we arrived at the station. 3 hours to Narbonne and had 25 minutes until our connecting train. We went into the ticket office just to find a long line of people and two slow staff members processing requests. We anxiously stood in line with other anxious passengers as the time between our connecting ride slipped away. We watched the departure board announce our train boarding and then sadly watched as it pulled out of the station just as we got called to the front of the line. We were stuck in Narbonne for 2 hours, with nothing around to do, so we sat in a little French cafe that was attached to the train station and quietly passed time.
After a boring wait we caught our train to Bordeaux and arrived around 4:30pm, then walked 25 minutes to our new flat. Louis, an adorable old man originally from California called down to us from his balcony and buzzed us in. We met him on the second floor and then made our way up to our perfect little space. He told us about his early years studying in Bordeaux and visiting family in the city, and then he met his wife. Today they are both retired and spend their time renovating this beautiful building for AirBnB apartments. He sat on the couch between Mike and me and reviewed the city map, circling and writing down suggestions for our 3 nights in his city. He also gave us an abbreviated history lesson.
Bordeaux used to be absolutely covered in dark black soot. All of the buildings from the streets to the rooftops were blackened from unkept chimneys, automobiles, and lack of city cleaning. In recent history, within the last 50 years, the city got a new mayor who required property owners to have their buildings cleaned, and when this took action the city completely transformed. Black, ugly buildings were rinsed of their grime and revealed gorgeous architecture with wonderful detail and beautiful stone. It's because of this story that the city is referred to as Sleeping Beauty!
We enjoyed spending the better part of an hour with Louis, and then he bid us a farewell. We got settled, then went out into the city to walk around a bit and then grocery shop. Exhausted from little sleep the night before (because of exciting news) and then an early morning, we decided to stay in and watch a movie.
What's the exciting news we received? Well! After changing our game plan to move to Boulder, CO instead of to Bend, OR we started chatting with a real estate agent who had an awesome little apartment within our budget and a less than 15 minute walk to downtown Boulder. That night we received an email beginning the negotiations to get the process rocking and rolling to lock it down. While we don't love not being able to see the space before moving into it, it will only be a 6 month lease and we are beyond excited to have a potential space to call home when we arrive in our new city!
December 9th we woke up and had complimentary cereal and coffee at the apartment then began our exploration. It was a grey day, which was perfect for exploring the old medieval roads. We popped into a church then passed through a majestic medieval gate onto a quaint little street with fun shops that we spent time in admiring fun products (dreaming of how cool they'd look on our new mantle).
We zig zagged through the streets, making our way to Garonne River and to the bridge Napoleon was responsible for building. We continued walking along the river's edge in a very nice park (because the French love their waterfront) and found the reflection pool that creates a perfect mirrored image of Place de la Bourse. We had fun trying to capture the perfect mirror image, until I got bored and decided to incept Mike's photos.
From across the road we saw another heavy medieval archway that we back-tracked to find. It led to more quiet cobbled streets lined with warm bistros and shops dressed in their Christmas best. Almost every road in this old quarter of the city crosses Saint Catherine road, which is a long shopping street. We strolled up the last bit of this road until we popped out at a plaza with the grand theater and a Christmas market.
Bordeaux has really helped us harness out holiday cheer. The ambiance of French architecture, the cloudy, cool weather, and the holiday decor is so heart warming. We had so much fun making our way up and down the aisles of wood kiosks and listening to the carols at the holiday market. We ogled at passerby's with warm sandwiches and decided we didn't just want one, but needed one. We found the vendor and bought a melted ham and cheese sandwich on a French baguette. So simple and so delicious.
We continued our exploration of the streets around us until we had covered the majority of the area that Louis said was worth seeing. Earlier, we had passed a French cafe with sparkling red lights in every window, so we decided to go back for a drink as the light began to creep away. Inside, the ceiling was covered in red, dangling ornaments, the walls had old vintage artwork, the back of the restaurant had a dusty cabinet of aging whiskeys, and the soft melodies of Christmas tunes played over the speakers. I was more than smitten as we sat enjoying Bordeaux wine. As we continued our walk towards home we found an awesome second hand shop, where Mike found a really awesome green corduroy shirt for €7. Later that night, after a bit of a siesta back at the apartment, we went to a very popular Irish Pub for a dinner before calling it a night after a charming and productive day.
The following day we had a later start as we enjoyed our cozy flat, breakfast and coffee. We had to go to the train ticket kiosk on Saint Catherine to reserve our seats from Bordeaux to Paris for tomorrow, so that was first on our agenda. After 30 minutes waiting and then reserving our spots we decided to leisurely walk Saint Catherine and do some dream shopping. We went into a handful of stores trying on winter jackets and warm clothes, and pretended like it wouldn't break the bank if we bought the pieces we fell in love with. But, alas, they were hung back up on the rack.
After walking all of Saint Catherine, we walked the length of the river until we came to a row of cafes looking out at the brand new bridge that Louis raved about. We sat outside and enjoyed a cup of tea until it was time for lunch, so we made our way back to the Christmas market and had beef stew, which I didn't like but Mike loved. After lunch, one of Louis' other recommendations was to go to Bar del Vin and try different Bordeaux wines- and so we did. We walked into the wine bar, which had tall ceilings, large pillars, white everything, and modern sitting areas. We tasted a red and a white that we're both delicious. Sorry- it wasn't a tasting. When we first arrived at Bar del Vin we asked the woman up front if we could sit and taste some wines, and she quickly corrected us saying it wasn't a tasting bar. You sit and enjoy glasses of wine. Sorry, didn't mean to offend!
Our final night in Bordeaux we bought more groceries and some delicious cheap wine to enjoy at our apartment in an effort to save money for our final three, expensive destinations (Paris, London, and Dublin). We watched the Christmas movie 'Prancer,' packed our bags, and had an early night.
Update- December 15, 2015: En Route from Paris to London
It's s hard to believe that we only have a week left. The days seem to be going by a little slower but also pass faster because every morning brings the end closer into sight. Our lives for the past two and a half months have been nothing short of adventurous, different, exciting, exhausting, fun, stressful, and amazing. While I think we're both ready to go home, I know we'll quickly miss this way of life. The constant change of scene, being the boss of our daily lives, having no ties to jobs, and everything in between has been so liberating. I thought that during this trip I might gain some personal insight into what I want my next job to be- that I might meet someone whose career sounded up my alley, or that traveling would make me wiser, but I honestly still have no idea. I have realized, though, that I miss my healthy routines and that they really help to put my head in a good place- so maybe something in a health industry? I also really enjoy my time sitting on trains and writing these posts- writing about my passions, which for the last two and a half months has been traveling, is really rewarding and therapeutic. So maybe a health writer. Who kmows! I wish I had more time each day to write a killer post on the tiny details of each place we visit, or a post about our observations and feelings. But the reality is that these blogs have been written while on train rides from one city to the next and we have to write about 3+ days of lots of exploring-it's hard to cover it all!
My hope for Levart Travel moving forward is to take you along on our move out West and little adventures we have. Probably not as frequently as these posts have been, but still having an outlet to journal our experiences and share them with the people we love and can't be with. But for now, we have a little over a week left and 2 more exciting cities to explore!
