Blogs from Bordeaux, Aquitaine, France, Europe - page 22

Jean-Marie (my friend who I’d met at the tournament in Moscow and who initially invited me to come and teach baseball), accompanied by the club president, was to meet me at the train station in Mussidan, a smaller station before reaching Bordeaux. I learned two things on this train from Lyon to Bordeaux: first, if it is a small station, the train stops for a very short time (about a minute). The second lesson was that the doors on some French trains are very difficult to open. Because of these two things, I did not get out at Mussidan. It was an aweful feeling trying to open this door (thinking I had ample time to exit the train) and seeing through the window Jean Marie and Alain, le president, standing there scanning the (small) crowd of ... read more

After driving through the night, many coffee stops and a bit of a snooze we arrived near Bordeaux at about 9 ish. We decided to head to the coast to find a camp site. After going in to a couple to see the "Campsite Full" signs we got a bit worried and thought we might have to try some 2* sites (a bit sceptical after the last one being a rubbish 3* one). So we tryed one, it was nice and cheap and the pitches seemed nice enough there was a shop and a takeaway pizza place just outside (you don't need much more) (For the benefit of Sarah & Nathan it was called La Praise in Lacanau, look for Spar on the right). Even though we were knackered, after setting up we went to check ... read more

WELCOME TO BORDEAUX! well after a flight over to Halifax and a 5 hr lay over then a stop in Newfoundland then a 7 hr flight to London. it was amazing to see Ian waiting for me at the Heathrow Airport. You all would love to see us walking around with our backpacks full of all our belongings for 2 mounths. So we spent the day in London. The train station had a place where we stored our backpacks and we were off to explore. London is so nice and busy! We ended up at a bar called the "Maple Leaf" its a canadian bar ... it was pretty fun; caught up and watched a CFL game followed by some world cup action. Then we went out for some drinks with NIck, one of Ians fraternity ... read more

Well, I think we’ve been being at least a bit more like tourists and less like lazy aristocrats as of late, though I say this even as the scent of our second to last dinner prepared by Alain is wafting into the game room here where I’m writing. Three days ago we drove to Pau, which is a city of about half a million people situated about an hour and a half’s drive southwest of the chateau. We did not have a whole lot of time since we ended up leaving kind of late, so we mostly just saw the moderately famous Chateau de Pau and had lunch. The Chateau itself was pretty neat, aside from the fact that it had to be seen in a guided tour that was kind of bothersome both because ... read more

Mike, to mine and Mat’s surprise, actually made it to our rendezvous point day before yesterday. We said goodbye to Paris, took a night train to Dax, and arrived at the chateau at 6:00 yesterday morning. Patrice, one of the chateau staff, picked us up from the train station. Paris was wonderful, but also a bit overwhelming. You could spend years wandering the streets, the history, the monuments, and the museums. The only places I managed to visit were the Eiffel Tower (to meet Mat) and Notre Dame, whose grandeur still inspired hushed awe despite the throng of tourists surrounding the cathedral’s walls. I begin to wonder what the Parisians do besides eat, work in restaurants, and hang around, since the city seemed to be filled with little more than streets upon streets of restaurants, bars, ... read more