Please Keep Your Seat Belts Fastened When The Seatbelt Light Is Illuminated

---

---

Bienvenue!



Alright, I have made it to France. Specifically Bordeaux. Had an blast getting here. And thats what I'm going to tell you about.



First things first, goodbyes at airports are tough. Enough said.

Security in Calgary was a breeze, and I was off to find the waiting lounge. It was very, very crouded, and everyone was speaking German. I guess this was to be expected however for a flight to Frankfurt in Febuary, when most of the travelers were Europeen traveling to Calgary to experience our wonderful outdoor playground that comes alive in the winter months. At this point, I was already starting to feel like a stranger, but hell I was still in Calgary!

Flying with Air Canada was oddly comforting as it was a piece of home that was going to stay with me for just a while longer.

Flight was rather uneventful. Dinner was actually quite good, seats were uncomfortable so couldn't sleep, open bar was a plus, and I was very fourtuate to get a window seat. By the time we pushed back, it was already getting quite dark so there wasn't much to see out the windows. Our route took us north-east of Calgry towards Greenland, and then back down over Scotland and in to Frankfurt. There was a break in the clouds over Greenland and just enough moonlight to make out the land forms below. You could even see the little lonley outposts of light few and far between where the odd village was located.

Upon landing in Frankfurt we were welcomed with a very foggy snowstorm. (Which I later learn is pretty well over all of France, causing quite the commotion in places like Corsica, a French Island in the Mediterranean where snow is "unheard of").

Frankfurt Airport is Huge. And by huge I mean HUGE. I didn't get the pleasure of getting to see much of it, however from any window that you could see out of, you would see a line up of at least 6-8 big double decker planes. Made what I'm used to seeing in Calgary look like a toy. At this point I had been up for quite a long time, so I cheated for the first time on my no coffee regiem, and splurged and had a single cappuccino. Suffice to say that two weeks with no coffee, this one hit me hard. I was very much awake on the flight over to Paris which was super quick (less then an hour) and once again, open bar (I've noticed a pattern..).

Collected my bag in Paris and after a random search of my bags, I was off. Made my way to my hotel for the night and after a quick shower, made my way for dinner. Now everyone has been telling me how expensive europe is, but wow, Airport Buisness Class hotel was a whole other level. I setteled on the $15 (CAD) French Onion Started Soup. I believe in French it's called "Chéapèston Ménu". This aside it was a great meal, and I was very impressed with the hotel. After dinner I went and crashed for the night.

The next morning I got up and skyped back home. Love technology these days..

After a quick bite to eat and checking out of the hotel, I was off to the train station to make my way to Bordeaux. The train station in CDG airport does not have a heating system (although I'm gathering this might be the case most places..?), it was therefore quite cold in the station as it was -3C outside. After some confusion with the platform, I got onto the correct train and was off towards Bordeaux. The train was very smooth, and I enjoyed looking through the window as the world went by at 300km/h. About the most interesting thing I could see from the window was what I later learned were the areas where the Gypsies live. Litterally just a patch of land with very, very basic means of shelters (think poor shelters like you've seen in the help childern of africa commercials). I was very surprised to see this 1. in france, 2. so close to the train and a city like Paris. I guess it makes sense, but much different then what we're used to in Canada.



Bordeaux train station was a breeze, and I found my friends right away. Got a lovely tour of Centre-Ville (downtown for you non frenchies) and then we retired back to the condo.

There you are. That has been the adventure so far. I am currently sitting at the table after having made myself breakfast. It is snowing outside and the clouds are grey. I will shortly get up and on with my first full day in Bordeaux, and venture outside and see where I find myself.

Also, if you made it this far, congrats! That was a lot of rambeling on, heck I think I would have probably skimmed over it.



More adventures to come,



Mack



P.S. Didn't have my camera out well traveling as it was just another thing to have to deal with. So all photos come from my phone. Sorry!

---

Photos

Airplane
Lots of Seats Here! Big Plane!

Frankfurt International
Cool looking tunnel thing that took me from one part of the airport to another. Very cool. People however looked at me like I was stupid when I took the photo... maybe I was..?

CDG Paris
Tube like moving sidewalks that take you from one part of the airport, to another, but pass outside in order to do so.

Hotel Lobby
Fancy!

Bordeaux
Bad Grab shot of the Bordeaux Train Station, Gare St. John.

Comments

[Chris Goodchild]

Fantastic!
Glad to see you're writing this blog Mack! Will be keeping up with you every step of the way hopefully, best of luck and most importantly ENJOY YOURSELF! You're going to have a fantastic trip :)