Sleeping amongst the vineyards in Bordeaux

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The two most wonderful things about Bordeaux for me (Matt) were the wine tasting and the football match (soccer for the lay American). So, I figured I would give a compare/contrast of the two events.

Football Match:

1. Cheerleaders
US = cute girls with pom poms leading cheers
Them = drunk guy with megaphone leading cheers and songs that EVERYBODY knows (except us of course)

2. Start of game
US = flashblubs everywhere
Them = first two rows set road flares on fire

3. Fan Passion
US = lots of cheering and booing
Them = From Stephan - our friend/guide for the game "A fan was shot and killed by a cop in Paris last night during a game, but these two teams are friendly, so I think it should be okay."

Also, they closed off an entire section of the stadium so each teams fans did not interact and were far enough apart so that "it is harder to throw a chair or bottle this far" Stephan pointed out, explaining that was he asked if we brought a cap.


Bordeaux Wine Tasting:

US - show up when you want
Them - by appointment only, AND the ones that are "always open" close for lunch from 11 - 2.

US - each vineyard makes 5 - 20 different types of wine
Them - each vineyard makes 1 type of wine, maybe 2 - a regular and a reserve

US - the percentage of each grape is known and printed on each bottle
Them - when asked what percentage of cab franc is in the bottle? "I dont know, depends on the year"

US - pay 5 dollars, taste five wines. If you like, you buy a whole bottle.
Them - dont pay for tasting, but are pressured/guilted into buying a bottle

US - can buy wine directly from the vineyard while there
Them - "sorry, you can only buy the wine in restaurants" (and following up with the obvious question of..."so why do you offer tastings here?", gets answered with a simple shrug.)

Onto the details...

We stayed in the city of Bordeaux the night of thanksgiving and had a nice french dinner. The next day we went driving through wine country on the outskirts of town through St. Emillion and Fronsac. What beautiful country. I must tell you though, the french have gone a little overboard with their mansions. In Bordeaux and the wine country around it there were manors everywhere. It was quite amazing. That night we drove to Aude and Stephans house to stay for a few days. (for those of you wondering who are these new characters we just introduced... Christina shared an apartment with Aude in Summer 2005 in Sunnyvale and Stephan is her fiance-both are French.)

Because we got to stay with Aude and Stephan for the weekend, we got to see how the french spend their weekends. Here is a quick synopsis of things we did:
1) Had a house party
2) Went to a football match
3) Had McDonalds for dinner (Christinas first McDonalds burger)
4) Went to the bars in Bordeaux
5) Went bowling at 2:30 am and left at 4am
6) Went to another house party where we played card games and drank tea
7) Took a walk through Audes backyard, which are vineyards and through the village where there is a horsefarm
8) Ate a french home cooked meal- Rabbit in a dijon sauce with mashed potatoes and, of course, cheese for dessert (all delicious)

All and all, a wonderful time. We started heading to Paris for our flight home.

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Comments

[Dawn]

wait hold up
FIRST McDs burger? Wow I am shocked