We decided to leave Vincent's place because Guillaume was kind enough to offer up his room to us. He is staying with Julia for the weekend which is so generous of him. Vincent was just a little bizarre and Guillaume has a mattress for us. Turns out Guillaume was nicer than we could have imagined or hoped for. We arrived and he had an extra set of keys for us and he'd bought us fresh croissants for this morning and little packaged waffle things for future breakfasts! Amazing!
With our last and FINAL (!!!!) move of the trip done (except for to and from airports), we headed back to the St. Michel area where we were meeting up with Rich. He was waiting for us by the fountain and promptly announced that he was freezing, so we went to a cafe about 10 meters from where we were currently standing. Have I mentioned I love cafes in Paris? Or anywhere really, but in Paris, especially. We spent a couple hours over our petit cafes telling him some of our most ridiculous stories and hearing about his life here in Paris, including his morning at a literary festival, his adventures in shopping trolleys, et le coupe du monde. He moved here from England around 2 years ago and works at a bar and lives the 20-something Parisian life. I have a lot of admiration, I guess is the word, for him making the leap to move here. He's the first person I've met that's actually doing what I've been talking about doing for years, so it was inspiring to hear what that's like.
When Rich left to go back to work (after stubbornly insisting on paying for my too expensive cafe au lait), we wandered around the area, went past the Notre Dame again, found some great street food, high fived some Scottish men in kilts, and got little French flags handed to us. When it started raining we decided to come back to Guillaume's to get some more layers. This stop over ended up being much longer than anticipated, but we were planning out other things to do and Laura was trying to figure out how on earth to cheaply get to CDG for her 8 AM flight. I cannot believe this trip is almost over. What she decided was that she would just go Sunday night on one of the last metros and spend the night in the airport or something. Which means this is our last night together....tear :'(
The weather cleared up and around 930 we headed to the Eiffel Tour to go see it at night and catch its little light show. It's so gorgeous at night. I know I've seen it so many times and I know the rest of the world also thinks it's gorgeous, but still, I think it's just beautiful at night. We found a little shop that was still open, bought a 4.90 euro bottle of wine which was to become our project for the night. The nice men at the shop even opened it for us. We took our seats about 5 minutes before the light show, which really isn't that big of a deal but it's still cool to see. After the light show, we watched some street dancing before jumping on another metro and heading back to Montmarte.
We got to Montmarte around midnight so there was still live music being played and a few people dancing but there weren't as many people as I was hoping. We sat on the steps and could see the Centre Pompidou, the Notre Dame, and the Invalides all lit up. After about 30 seconds, people started talking to us (that's why I love The Steps). I spoke in French for the majority of the night, because the drunk Algerian boys didn't really speak that much English. We found a group of a few Americans who were all studying in Scotland and here visiting. We spent the next hour and a half or so working through our bottle, gazing up at the Sacre Coeur (also stunning at night) and talking with our new friends. Eventually it started to get cold and I started to have to go to the bathroom, and we weren't sure if the metros were still running so we headed home.
We got lucky and the metros WERE still running but when we got out of the station we had no idea what street we were on. We thought it would be a great idea to run down the up escalator and go back through the metro to another exit. When we got to the bottom of the escalator we found that the doors to the metro locked shut (because they were exit doors). Bummer. So we went back up to street level and found our way home.
My brain is tired.
Quotes:
"I've got Paris. Sure, I don't travel much, but I've got Paris! That's all that matters." - Rich
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Friday, June 18, 2010
Vincent - CS #24
Oh man this morning was weird. We had to leave Noemie's flat because she's gone for the weekend. We headed to Vincent's place. When we got there, there were 3 other CouchSurfers there; two of them were heading out for the day though. With the three of us that were left, even though we were tired and hungry and it was nice out and we wanted to go play in Paris, he started showing us 10 minutes of 3 different videos and giving us little mini lectures in between. It was the strangest thing! This was after he showed us some of his aikido (sp??) skills and gave me a lecture on how much sugar is in hamburgers (he is a dentist, FYI).
So, we watched some of a shark movie, and then some of a Fast and the Furious movie, and then some of a Katherine Heigl movie, and finally it was like 11, and we were STARVING and we were like - Hey man, we want to go outside and stop watching 10 minutes of all these random movies and eat some food and figure out our plans! So he let us use his internet (which was not wifi, because he 'heard' somewhere that wifi was bad for you) and we coordinated with three different people for today and tomorrow and finally left around noon.
It was a crazy morning. Once we got out of the house though we went to the Opera area and found pastries and some cheese and bread sticks. Then we walked back down to Rue de Rivoli and around Place de la Concorde and the Jardin de Tuilieres. We sat at the garden for a while looking out over the Place de la Concorde. Finally we left and looked at trinkety souvenir shops making our way to the Comedie Francaise. You can get really cheap tickets, but we wanted to know if there were any English shows (there aren't). Then we went to Gallerie Lafayette and looked at a lot of expensive things that we can't actually afford.
After that, we went to an Aussie bar called Cafe Oz to meet up with another CouchSurfer who is living in Paris this summer with her German boyfriend. There was also a 5th surfer who met up with us. The five of us watched the US/Slovenia game which was great fun. It was a really nice spontaneous CouchSurfing group. Everybody was willing to converse and laugh and we all got along quite well. The game was really exciting too - our comeback was sweet and we 100% got robbed of our winning goal. I don't usually get upset with ref calls, but this was just....tragic. Really, an awful, awful, literally game changing call. Major bummer.
After the game ended Laura and I found another place to have a nice dinner close to the Grands Boulevards. We split a pizza and I got red wine (she got chardonnay). Then...after looking at so many menus and going "that would be good" I finally ordered a cheese plate. However, Laura didn't really want any, so Yes, I did eat the entire cheese plate. And I loved it. Don't judge me for eating like a cow. I'm in Paris. I got brie, camembert, and chevre, and they were all delicious. Also, for a plate of all three and a ton of fresh baguette bread it was only 7 euros which I'm pretty sure is way cheaper than you could get all that cheese in the states!
So after a delicious meal that I still cannot believe I ate all of (!!!!) we went to the Bastille to meet up with Estelle!!! Estelle was one of our hosts in Brussels, Belgium and she is here in Paris visiting her friend. We went out to dinner with her, Julia, and Julia's boyfriend Guillaume (I didn't / couldn't eat anything) and it was so much fun to see her again and to hang out and chat!!!
Then we went back to Vincent's place and were happy to know that we got an air mattress instead of just a floor. That was good news...
So, we watched some of a shark movie, and then some of a Fast and the Furious movie, and then some of a Katherine Heigl movie, and finally it was like 11, and we were STARVING and we were like - Hey man, we want to go outside and stop watching 10 minutes of all these random movies and eat some food and figure out our plans! So he let us use his internet (which was not wifi, because he 'heard' somewhere that wifi was bad for you) and we coordinated with three different people for today and tomorrow and finally left around noon.
It was a crazy morning. Once we got out of the house though we went to the Opera area and found pastries and some cheese and bread sticks. Then we walked back down to Rue de Rivoli and around Place de la Concorde and the Jardin de Tuilieres. We sat at the garden for a while looking out over the Place de la Concorde. Finally we left and looked at trinkety souvenir shops making our way to the Comedie Francaise. You can get really cheap tickets, but we wanted to know if there were any English shows (there aren't). Then we went to Gallerie Lafayette and looked at a lot of expensive things that we can't actually afford.
After that, we went to an Aussie bar called Cafe Oz to meet up with another CouchSurfer who is living in Paris this summer with her German boyfriend. There was also a 5th surfer who met up with us. The five of us watched the US/Slovenia game which was great fun. It was a really nice spontaneous CouchSurfing group. Everybody was willing to converse and laugh and we all got along quite well. The game was really exciting too - our comeback was sweet and we 100% got robbed of our winning goal. I don't usually get upset with ref calls, but this was just....tragic. Really, an awful, awful, literally game changing call. Major bummer.
After the game ended Laura and I found another place to have a nice dinner close to the Grands Boulevards. We split a pizza and I got red wine (she got chardonnay). Then...after looking at so many menus and going "that would be good" I finally ordered a cheese plate. However, Laura didn't really want any, so Yes, I did eat the entire cheese plate. And I loved it. Don't judge me for eating like a cow. I'm in Paris. I got brie, camembert, and chevre, and they were all delicious. Also, for a plate of all three and a ton of fresh baguette bread it was only 7 euros which I'm pretty sure is way cheaper than you could get all that cheese in the states!
So after a delicious meal that I still cannot believe I ate all of (!!!!) we went to the Bastille to meet up with Estelle!!! Estelle was one of our hosts in Brussels, Belgium and she is here in Paris visiting her friend. We went out to dinner with her, Julia, and Julia's boyfriend Guillaume (I didn't / couldn't eat anything) and it was so much fun to see her again and to hang out and chat!!!
Then we went back to Vincent's place and were happy to know that we got an air mattress instead of just a floor. That was good news...
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Walking
Today we did the free city walking tour of Paris, which sadly paled in comparison to Stephanie's Berlin tour and failed to live up to Keith's Prague tour. A bit of a bummer, but we got some good walking and sight seeing in. I can't put my finger exactly on what I didn't like, and when I try it just ends up being a nitpicky list of negative things, so I'll spare you. But it was just missing something.
After the tour, we sat on a bench for a while waiting for the rain to stop, then walked up the Champs Elysees, stopping at fun stores like the Citroen store and the Louis Vuitton store. People were throwing money around like crazy in the LV store. It was so busy. I definitely felt like a slob just walking in. We continued up the Champs Elysees until we got to the Arc de Triomphe. That seen, we were walking away when a funeral procession started. I don't know who passed away, but there was lots of music and flags and official looking people parading down the street.
Then we went and found a bar in the St. Germain area to watch the France/Mexico game. I got a nice dinner finally which steak with a Roquefort sauce, salad, and red wine. It was very satisfying. We spent a long time in this bar eating slowly and waiting for the game to start. France played like poop so it wasn't that exciting. They lost after an awful game and some embarrassing mistakes and we headed back to Noemie's flat.
Once back, I got into a long conversation with Noemie about the importance of accurate CS references. I think mine have been accurate, but they've also been very nice and sometimes maybe too euphemistic. I think from now on I am going to try to be a little bit more...strict? Harsh? Honest? with my references. Not sure of the best word. I am worried of sounding ungrateful or rude when things don't go fantastically, but we have also had a couple weird experiences that I have not warned, per say, other surfers of. Anyway, my mind seems open to inspiration lately and I think I'm going to start being better about those.
After the tour, we sat on a bench for a while waiting for the rain to stop, then walked up the Champs Elysees, stopping at fun stores like the Citroen store and the Louis Vuitton store. People were throwing money around like crazy in the LV store. It was so busy. I definitely felt like a slob just walking in. We continued up the Champs Elysees until we got to the Arc de Triomphe. That seen, we were walking away when a funeral procession started. I don't know who passed away, but there was lots of music and flags and official looking people parading down the street.
Then we went and found a bar in the St. Germain area to watch the France/Mexico game. I got a nice dinner finally which steak with a Roquefort sauce, salad, and red wine. It was very satisfying. We spent a long time in this bar eating slowly and waiting for the game to start. France played like poop so it wasn't that exciting. They lost after an awful game and some embarrassing mistakes and we headed back to Noemie's flat.
Once back, I got into a long conversation with Noemie about the importance of accurate CS references. I think mine have been accurate, but they've also been very nice and sometimes maybe too euphemistic. I think from now on I am going to try to be a little bit more...strict? Harsh? Honest? with my references. Not sure of the best word. I am worried of sounding ungrateful or rude when things don't go fantastically, but we have also had a couple weird experiences that I have not warned, per say, other surfers of. Anyway, my mind seems open to inspiration lately and I think I'm going to start being better about those.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Noemie - CS #23
Today we walked around the 3rd and 4th arrondissement looking at cute little shops. My favorite was shop called Olivier & Co (which I later found out is not just in Paris). They sell delicious olive oils, vinegars, tapenades, seasoning salts, etc. They had yummy samples out and I almost bought the whole store. Because of this, I left without buying anything so that I could think about what I really wanted (to carry home). They started speaking English to me and I responded by saying that I understood (in French). Surprised, the sales woman was like, "Oh, you speak French?!" and I was like, "yes." And she said, "Sorry, I thought I heard some English," and I was like, "Well, yes, there is that, too..." And she spoke in French to me from then on. As I was leaving I asked for a business card so I could find the place again. She didn't have any but gave me their beautiful catalog for free instead and told me it was a little present. So cute.
We went to the Centre Pompidou because I love that building, and I tried to show Laura the awesome fountain outside of it but it was EMPTY! Very upset by this. The water was completely drained :(
We got lunch at a great little cafe on a busy street and sat outside eating freshly toasted Croque Monsieurs (now that's the only way I'll eat them).
Then we went back to meandering through shops and Laura ended up buying 2 pairs of shoes! Very proud of her. I was quite tempted but the shoes I liked all had tiny little things wrong with them which would have driven me crazy, so I resisted my consumerist urges. Instead I just bought a little tarte.
We went back to Noemie's place and got ready to go to the Moulin Rouge!!!! Finally - I've been here so many times and I always say, "Yeah, I want to do that." Well, this time it's happening! I actually felt like a girl and wore my dress and put on a little bit of make up and that was lots of fun. We went with Noemie and a couple of friends for a glass of wine first and then headed to the show.
The costumes were AMAZING, the singing was pretty good, and the dancing was only mediocre. You can't take pictures in there but it was a really gorgeous setting. A very fun night :)
We went to the Centre Pompidou because I love that building, and I tried to show Laura the awesome fountain outside of it but it was EMPTY! Very upset by this. The water was completely drained :(
We got lunch at a great little cafe on a busy street and sat outside eating freshly toasted Croque Monsieurs (now that's the only way I'll eat them).
Then we went back to meandering through shops and Laura ended up buying 2 pairs of shoes! Very proud of her. I was quite tempted but the shoes I liked all had tiny little things wrong with them which would have driven me crazy, so I resisted my consumerist urges. Instead I just bought a little tarte.
We went back to Noemie's place and got ready to go to the Moulin Rouge!!!! Finally - I've been here so many times and I always say, "Yeah, I want to do that." Well, this time it's happening! I actually felt like a girl and wore my dress and put on a little bit of make up and that was lots of fun. We went with Noemie and a couple of friends for a glass of wine first and then headed to the show.
The costumes were AMAZING, the singing was pretty good, and the dancing was only mediocre. You can't take pictures in there but it was a really gorgeous setting. A very fun night :)
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
St. Emilion
We woke up painfully early and left Ming's flat with our now overflowing bags. We arrived at the train station at about 6:45 - so we had 20 minutes to check our bags and make it to the train. We knew that the baggage consignment place opened at 7:00, but sometimes things in France don't open on time. If it opened late, we were screwed. Actually, if anything went wrong, we were screwed. The French staff did not really seem to get our sense of urgency as I quasi-panickedly tried to get my brain into French mode. As I waited for them to officially open so that I could run our bags through the conveyor belt, Laura was checking our train's platform and timing how long it took to run from the baggage consignment place to the platform (useful to have two people). As soon as they would let us, we scanned our bags and carefully threw them into one of the large lockers. This done, they told us that locker was broken so we unloaded everything and reloaded it into another locker. The lockers would only take coins though, and it was a mad race to change a bill to coins and frantically put exact change into the little slot. It was about 7:04 and we SPRINTED out of there and booked it to our train. We made it with literally 60 seconds to spare. Phew. We haven't had to run like that in a while.
Oh yeah, so St. Emilion...let me explain. Bordeaux is known for red wines. The Bordeaux wine region expands well past the actual city of Bordeaux. In the olden days, winemakers from all over the region would ship their wine to Bordeaux, and it would be exported from Bordeaux's ports. Cleverly, Bordeaux is a combination of the words "Abord de l'eaux" or "Close to the waters". This is because there are two rivers that run through Bordeaux. The left bank produces primarily Medoc wine. The right bank is where St. Emilion wine come from. Other wines are produced between the two rivers in a region called "entre deux mers" or "between two seas". Bordeaux had a monopoly on the wine exports from its ports, always making sure to sell out of Bordeaux wines before selling anybody else's wines. St. Emilion is one of the most famous wine making regions. It was founded by a monk (named Emilion) a long, long time ago (in a galaxy far, far away). Today in St. Emilion, there are 900 chateaux (wineries). St. Emilion is only allowed to produce red wine and call it St. Emilion wine. So, they do produce some white wine, and some other alcohols (similar to cognac), but if it's not red wine it cannot use the St. Emilion "brand". These bottles will say something or other Bordeaux on them, or perhaps the name of one of the appellations bordering the St. Emilion region. But the region of St. Emilion is a defined space that was decided upon a hundred years ago, and only red wines produced in St. Emilion can have the honor of being called a St. Emilion wine. Hope that makes sense.
Now, there are 4 classes of St. Emilion wine. There is plain old St. Emilion wine which is the bottom tier. 400 of the 900 chateaux produce this wine. This wine is still about 3 levels above normal French table wine. Then the next level up is called St. Emilion Grand Cru. The next level up is called St. Emilion Grande Cru Classe. The top tier level is called St. Emilion Premier Grande Cru Classe, and this level has two classes. Class A only includes the top 2 wineries: Ausone and Cheval Blanc. Class B includes 12 wineries. Wine judges test taste the wine every 10 years (last in 2006) to confirm or alter classifications of wines.
So, when we got to St. Emilion though, it was not quite 8 AM yet, and we were walking through clouds. It was so foggy, none of it had lifted yet. There were hardly any other people there because it was so freaking early and we had no clue where to go. We followed our guts and turned right. As we walked, the fog began to lift revealing neat green lines of vineyards for as far as the eye could see, and the sun came up higher and illuminated the leaves and chateaux. It was a gorgeous, silent morning. We soon reached the small town center area of St. Emilion to find, of course, that all shops were still closed. So we gave ourselves a little walking tour on the empty cobble stones streets, enjoying the silence and space. Mid day I was sure this tourist place would be much, much busier.
After walking for about an hour and pretty much covering the town, we found the first open wine shop. The lady was really nice and offered to give us a taste, even though it was not even 9:30 AM. I hadn't had breakfast yet, but that seemed fairly irrelevant; of course we accepted her offer. Once it got to be 9:30, we went back to the tourist office and made a reservation for a tour leaving later in the afternoon at 3:30 and I talked to them in French and asked them some other questions. My French is coming along exceptionally well, I think (by the way). Extremely pleased about this :)
Then we went to a shop called Maison du Vin. There was a table there where you could smell different wine aromas and guess what it was. I wasn't very good at it. I think I liked the beer aroma test in Copenhagen better. We then watched some educational videos on the history of St. Emilion and wine, but we were so tired that sitting in a dark room was causing me to doze off. So we stood up and left to continue meandering.
We found an open shop where Laura got a crepe and I got a quiche lorraine and by this time many of the other wine shops had opened - it was now around 11:30.
From 11:30 to 3:30, pretty much what we did was walk from wine shop to wine shop tasting free sample of wine after free sample of wine. It was fantastic. We must have tried at least 10 if not more. At most shops, we would stop and talk to the people there for a while. Two shops in particular we stayed at for a good 30-45 minutes each. I spoke in French with them and can now more or less talk about wine in French (SWEEEEET!) and they told us all that I wrote up above about the region and the wines and the classifications. We learned so much from these people; it was so cool. And so free!!! Who needs a tour when you can talk to people at the wine shops and learn a ton and have great conversation? And who needs to pay 6 euros for a glass of one wine when you can have free samples of tons of wine?! Seriously! Amazing. Nothing like this anywhere else as far as I know, especially not in the states. It was really fun speaking in French for most of the afternoon and trying so many wines, swirling and smelling, sipping and refilling. My French may or may not have improved over the course of all this... :) I do know that I would always say Bonjour coming into a shop and then they would always speak to me in French, so maybe I actually sounded French?!
When it got close to 3:30, we stopped at a kind of pastry shop - not with the typical tartes, but with other treats I think that are more specific to Bordeaux and/or St. Emilion. I tried something called a cannele which I'd never seen or heard of before today, but it was all over the town. It was 2 euros for a little piece of this thing, but it was pretty dang good. It was kind of cinnamon-y but the inside was rich and creamy and almost like a dry-moist (I know that doesn't make sense) pudding. It was weird and cool and exciting. Yay for new pastries.
Then we regrouped at the tourist office and left on our tour. We walked past the Ausone vineyard (exciting, this is one of the two vineyards that is in the very very top tier of St. Emilion wine makers!) and then to another chateaux called Clos du Madeline. There, we got to walk through the vineyard and learn about how they grow the grapes and see little baby grapes that will be ripe in October. Then we toured the actual winery which was on the same small plot of land and had both oak and ceramic vats. Next was the cellar, where we saw the actual oak barrels (which cost 750 euros EACH) where the vintage 2009 wine is currently maturing. Then we got to taste two different wines produced by the winemaker who owns the chateaux. I am really glad we got to do this because there are so many chateaux here, and each chateaux literally has the grapes right next to the winery and the cellar. All the red wine, it all happens HERE! And I got to see it! Pretty freaking cool. Also, considering how much I've learned about beer over the course of my brewery tour filled life, I am really glad I got a chance to learn so much about wine in such a unique and amazing place so well renowned for it's incredible wines. I totally feel like an educated wine snob now. Awesome.
After the tour we walked back to the train station and I took a much needed power nap while we waited (and on the train back). We had an hour in the Bordeaux station in which we grabbed some quick baguette sandwiches and relaxed until it was time to retriever our bags and go to our train platform.
I asked a conductor outside the train where our car was and she pointed down in one direction. We were looking for car 6. We were by car 15, and the train left in 2 minutes, so we just got on. The train left and finally we get to car 20, which was A) not in the right numerical direction as where the conductor pointed me, and B) the end of the train car line. Problem. We set our bags down and I walked in the opposite direction to see if car 6 was where it logically should be on the other end of the train. however, around car 13 or so I run into a conductor person. I ask him where car 6 is. You want to know what he says? "There is no car 6." What do you mean, there is no car 6? This is the train leaving at 19:47 from Bay 5 headed to Paris Montparnasse, right? "Oui." Showing him my tickets VERY confused I asked again, what do you mean, there is no car 6? And he just says, "This is the wrong train." Sure enough, somehow, this train's number was 5 digits long and entirely different from the 4 digit train number printed on our tickets. I asked him if this would be ... uh... a problem, seeing as to how we were moving and stuff. He looked more amused than anything and told me to just go find a seat somewhere in 2nd class. WHY is this happening to us on our LAST train ride?!!? WHY! We're supposed to be good at this! I mean, thank goodness it's still headed to Paris and we're not getting fined or kicked off, but seriously where the heck is our real train?? So confused.
Once off the train we saw that there was another train connected to the train we were on. This was our train. I waved hello to car 6 on our way out to the metro stop.
We got to our newest host's (Noemie's) flat sometime after midnight and pretty much went straight to bed...have not been sleeping well lately; I am exhausted.
I know we were in Paris like 72 hours ago and this whirlwind trip to Bordeaux was amazing and perfect and beautiful...but I'm still so happy to be back in my city of lights.
Oh yeah, so St. Emilion...let me explain. Bordeaux is known for red wines. The Bordeaux wine region expands well past the actual city of Bordeaux. In the olden days, winemakers from all over the region would ship their wine to Bordeaux, and it would be exported from Bordeaux's ports. Cleverly, Bordeaux is a combination of the words "Abord de l'eaux" or "Close to the waters". This is because there are two rivers that run through Bordeaux. The left bank produces primarily Medoc wine. The right bank is where St. Emilion wine come from. Other wines are produced between the two rivers in a region called "entre deux mers" or "between two seas". Bordeaux had a monopoly on the wine exports from its ports, always making sure to sell out of Bordeaux wines before selling anybody else's wines. St. Emilion is one of the most famous wine making regions. It was founded by a monk (named Emilion) a long, long time ago (in a galaxy far, far away). Today in St. Emilion, there are 900 chateaux (wineries). St. Emilion is only allowed to produce red wine and call it St. Emilion wine. So, they do produce some white wine, and some other alcohols (similar to cognac), but if it's not red wine it cannot use the St. Emilion "brand". These bottles will say something or other Bordeaux on them, or perhaps the name of one of the appellations bordering the St. Emilion region. But the region of St. Emilion is a defined space that was decided upon a hundred years ago, and only red wines produced in St. Emilion can have the honor of being called a St. Emilion wine. Hope that makes sense.
Now, there are 4 classes of St. Emilion wine. There is plain old St. Emilion wine which is the bottom tier. 400 of the 900 chateaux produce this wine. This wine is still about 3 levels above normal French table wine. Then the next level up is called St. Emilion Grand Cru. The next level up is called St. Emilion Grande Cru Classe. The top tier level is called St. Emilion Premier Grande Cru Classe, and this level has two classes. Class A only includes the top 2 wineries: Ausone and Cheval Blanc. Class B includes 12 wineries. Wine judges test taste the wine every 10 years (last in 2006) to confirm or alter classifications of wines.
So, when we got to St. Emilion though, it was not quite 8 AM yet, and we were walking through clouds. It was so foggy, none of it had lifted yet. There were hardly any other people there because it was so freaking early and we had no clue where to go. We followed our guts and turned right. As we walked, the fog began to lift revealing neat green lines of vineyards for as far as the eye could see, and the sun came up higher and illuminated the leaves and chateaux. It was a gorgeous, silent morning. We soon reached the small town center area of St. Emilion to find, of course, that all shops were still closed. So we gave ourselves a little walking tour on the empty cobble stones streets, enjoying the silence and space. Mid day I was sure this tourist place would be much, much busier.
After walking for about an hour and pretty much covering the town, we found the first open wine shop. The lady was really nice and offered to give us a taste, even though it was not even 9:30 AM. I hadn't had breakfast yet, but that seemed fairly irrelevant; of course we accepted her offer. Once it got to be 9:30, we went back to the tourist office and made a reservation for a tour leaving later in the afternoon at 3:30 and I talked to them in French and asked them some other questions. My French is coming along exceptionally well, I think (by the way). Extremely pleased about this :)
Then we went to a shop called Maison du Vin. There was a table there where you could smell different wine aromas and guess what it was. I wasn't very good at it. I think I liked the beer aroma test in Copenhagen better. We then watched some educational videos on the history of St. Emilion and wine, but we were so tired that sitting in a dark room was causing me to doze off. So we stood up and left to continue meandering.
We found an open shop where Laura got a crepe and I got a quiche lorraine and by this time many of the other wine shops had opened - it was now around 11:30.
From 11:30 to 3:30, pretty much what we did was walk from wine shop to wine shop tasting free sample of wine after free sample of wine. It was fantastic. We must have tried at least 10 if not more. At most shops, we would stop and talk to the people there for a while. Two shops in particular we stayed at for a good 30-45 minutes each. I spoke in French with them and can now more or less talk about wine in French (SWEEEEET!) and they told us all that I wrote up above about the region and the wines and the classifications. We learned so much from these people; it was so cool. And so free!!! Who needs a tour when you can talk to people at the wine shops and learn a ton and have great conversation? And who needs to pay 6 euros for a glass of one wine when you can have free samples of tons of wine?! Seriously! Amazing. Nothing like this anywhere else as far as I know, especially not in the states. It was really fun speaking in French for most of the afternoon and trying so many wines, swirling and smelling, sipping and refilling. My French may or may not have improved over the course of all this... :) I do know that I would always say Bonjour coming into a shop and then they would always speak to me in French, so maybe I actually sounded French?!
When it got close to 3:30, we stopped at a kind of pastry shop - not with the typical tartes, but with other treats I think that are more specific to Bordeaux and/or St. Emilion. I tried something called a cannele which I'd never seen or heard of before today, but it was all over the town. It was 2 euros for a little piece of this thing, but it was pretty dang good. It was kind of cinnamon-y but the inside was rich and creamy and almost like a dry-moist (I know that doesn't make sense) pudding. It was weird and cool and exciting. Yay for new pastries.
Then we regrouped at the tourist office and left on our tour. We walked past the Ausone vineyard (exciting, this is one of the two vineyards that is in the very very top tier of St. Emilion wine makers!) and then to another chateaux called Clos du Madeline. There, we got to walk through the vineyard and learn about how they grow the grapes and see little baby grapes that will be ripe in October. Then we toured the actual winery which was on the same small plot of land and had both oak and ceramic vats. Next was the cellar, where we saw the actual oak barrels (which cost 750 euros EACH) where the vintage 2009 wine is currently maturing. Then we got to taste two different wines produced by the winemaker who owns the chateaux. I am really glad we got to do this because there are so many chateaux here, and each chateaux literally has the grapes right next to the winery and the cellar. All the red wine, it all happens HERE! And I got to see it! Pretty freaking cool. Also, considering how much I've learned about beer over the course of my brewery tour filled life, I am really glad I got a chance to learn so much about wine in such a unique and amazing place so well renowned for it's incredible wines. I totally feel like an educated wine snob now. Awesome.
After the tour we walked back to the train station and I took a much needed power nap while we waited (and on the train back). We had an hour in the Bordeaux station in which we grabbed some quick baguette sandwiches and relaxed until it was time to retriever our bags and go to our train platform.
I asked a conductor outside the train where our car was and she pointed down in one direction. We were looking for car 6. We were by car 15, and the train left in 2 minutes, so we just got on. The train left and finally we get to car 20, which was A) not in the right numerical direction as where the conductor pointed me, and B) the end of the train car line. Problem. We set our bags down and I walked in the opposite direction to see if car 6 was where it logically should be on the other end of the train. however, around car 13 or so I run into a conductor person. I ask him where car 6 is. You want to know what he says? "There is no car 6." What do you mean, there is no car 6? This is the train leaving at 19:47 from Bay 5 headed to Paris Montparnasse, right? "Oui." Showing him my tickets VERY confused I asked again, what do you mean, there is no car 6? And he just says, "This is the wrong train." Sure enough, somehow, this train's number was 5 digits long and entirely different from the 4 digit train number printed on our tickets. I asked him if this would be ... uh... a problem, seeing as to how we were moving and stuff. He looked more amused than anything and told me to just go find a seat somewhere in 2nd class. WHY is this happening to us on our LAST train ride?!!? WHY! We're supposed to be good at this! I mean, thank goodness it's still headed to Paris and we're not getting fined or kicked off, but seriously where the heck is our real train?? So confused.
Once off the train we saw that there was another train connected to the train we were on. This was our train. I waved hello to car 6 on our way out to the metro stop.
We got to our newest host's (Noemie's) flat sometime after midnight and pretty much went straight to bed...have not been sleeping well lately; I am exhausted.
I know we were in Paris like 72 hours ago and this whirlwind trip to Bordeaux was amazing and perfect and beautiful...but I'm still so happy to be back in my city of lights.
Monday, June 14, 2010
Dune de Pyla
The weather today said it's supposed to be sunny with a chance of thunderstorms out by Arcachon, where the huge sand dune is close to. We decided to risk it and took a train about 40 minutes away to Arcachon.
Luckily, it was pure sunshine and blue skies with some light fluffy clouds!! Arcachon is an adorable French beach town. We found our way to the water (Bassin d'Arcachon) which feeds into the Atlantic Ocean. The white sandy beaches looked specacular and walking along them was so peaceful and relaxing. We found croque monsieurs for lunch which were amazing. They usually are, but sometime they're pre-cooked, and the cheese is already melted. This time though, the cheese looked freshly grated on top and he toasted them after we ordered them. Amaaaazing. We ate our delicious sandwiches sitting on a bench in the sunlight looking out at the boats and water. Yes, my life is like a postcard (sometimes). It was incredibly picturesque. I flagged down a man and asked him to take a picture of us. He ended up taking a series of 4 pictures all of which came out really cute. He was adorable and kept trying to position us and taking different shots. I love it when you ask people to take your picture and they're actually comepetent at photography and know how to frame it well so that it looks good. So we have some super cute pictures of us at the beach!
Then we mosied back to the bus stop by the train station and took a 20 minute bus ride out to the Dune du Pyla. This sand dune is GORGEOUS. Google it. It is the largest sand dune in Europe. I forget its dimensions but it's huge. I don't think I've ever been to a real sand dune before. If I have, it wasn't like this. This sand dune was sandwiched in between a huge, lush green pine forest and the vast, blue Atlantic ocean. The sand was of course bright yellow and went on for miles, so the series of colors was just spectacular. I think it's one of the prettiest natural sights I've ever seen. It's really special too because I don't think anybody back home will have heard of it, and I don't even think most people in Europe or France will have heard about it. So it feels kind of like a secret. And it's so, so, so pretty.
As soon as we got up to the dunes, we took off our socks and shoes and started the fun trek up the warm sand mountain. Every few steps the view kept getting better and better. We were so excited to be going up that we didn't look down til we were about half way up the hill. By that time, you could see a lot of the green forest and it was just so pretty. Getting to peer over the top of the hill was so incredible I had to redo it with my video camera in hand. Standing on top of the dune so high above the forest and looking out over the ocean on a clear sunny day was just stunning, absolutely breathtaking. Many pictures were taken which will probably make you jealous.
We found a little spot to sit in the sun and played in the sand and watched the people and kites and ocean. The sand is so pure here. There is virtually no litter, glass, shells, rocks - it's just sand. So you can walk or run and play in it barefoot exercising very little caution. It's very liberating.
Later we walked all the way down the dune to the ocean where once again I rolled up my pants and played in the water. A dog came to say hi to us and took a liking to me, and me to it. We goofed off and I ran up and down the beach with it, splashing in the shallow surf. It was fantastic to run in the fresh, cool air and feel the sand and water on my bare feet.
After playing on the sand dune and beach for a couple of hours, we started the trek back to the bus. It took a solid half an hour to walk all the way back to the top of the dune. Lots of people slide down the dune on sleds to get to the bottom where the walking path to the cars and shops are. I tried using my jacket but it didn't work :( We did run down though which was also fun. I saw a kid run too fast, do a face plant, and somersault down a good chunk of the hill. That was awesome.
It was a perfect afternoon spent at the beach. So relaxing, refreshing, just having time and space to think and to enjoy the moment and our lives and nature and our trip and everything. Simply wonderful.
Down at the shops, I made some mostly spontaneous purchases. It's the last country so I don't have to carry everything for very much longer. I am really not sure how it's all going to make it home but I'm sure I'll find a way. I really like what I bought and it will all remind me of a fantastic day in some remote place in France that was a side trip from our Bordeaux side trip. Crazy how much ground we've covered in these three months. It was weird too because after being gone for so long on SAS the Atlantic Ocean is what I saw at our last country (Spain). Now I've been gone another long period of time and once again I'm at the last country touching the Atlantic Ocean. But I feel so different this time.
So we took a bus back to Arcachon, the train back to Bordeaux, and two trams back to Ming's and finally walked in the door around 8. Ming asked if we had eaten, and we hadn't, so he whipped up some rice and ginger chicken for us, which was so nice of him! After dinner, I really wanted to go to this wine bar in town, but tomorrow we want to go to St. Emilion. We looked up train times and the website says the trains leave either at 7:06 or 13:33. That cannot be right, but there's no way to say, "sorry website, I think you're wrong." The whole point of coming to Bordeaux was to learn about and taste the delicious wines, so we figured we had to take the disgustingly early 7:06 train to spend a quality day there. Our train back to Paris leaves Bordeaux at 19:47 so leaving at 13:33 would hardly have been worth it. That decided, after dinner we apologized and rejected Ming's offer to show us the night view of the city (again), and I stayed up researching what to do at St. Emilion.
Quotes:
"Aw, our bellies only look kinda big." - Laura, about our beach photo shoot
Luckily, it was pure sunshine and blue skies with some light fluffy clouds!! Arcachon is an adorable French beach town. We found our way to the water (Bassin d'Arcachon) which feeds into the Atlantic Ocean. The white sandy beaches looked specacular and walking along them was so peaceful and relaxing. We found croque monsieurs for lunch which were amazing. They usually are, but sometime they're pre-cooked, and the cheese is already melted. This time though, the cheese looked freshly grated on top and he toasted them after we ordered them. Amaaaazing. We ate our delicious sandwiches sitting on a bench in the sunlight looking out at the boats and water. Yes, my life is like a postcard (sometimes). It was incredibly picturesque. I flagged down a man and asked him to take a picture of us. He ended up taking a series of 4 pictures all of which came out really cute. He was adorable and kept trying to position us and taking different shots. I love it when you ask people to take your picture and they're actually comepetent at photography and know how to frame it well so that it looks good. So we have some super cute pictures of us at the beach!
Then we mosied back to the bus stop by the train station and took a 20 minute bus ride out to the Dune du Pyla. This sand dune is GORGEOUS. Google it. It is the largest sand dune in Europe. I forget its dimensions but it's huge. I don't think I've ever been to a real sand dune before. If I have, it wasn't like this. This sand dune was sandwiched in between a huge, lush green pine forest and the vast, blue Atlantic ocean. The sand was of course bright yellow and went on for miles, so the series of colors was just spectacular. I think it's one of the prettiest natural sights I've ever seen. It's really special too because I don't think anybody back home will have heard of it, and I don't even think most people in Europe or France will have heard about it. So it feels kind of like a secret. And it's so, so, so pretty.
As soon as we got up to the dunes, we took off our socks and shoes and started the fun trek up the warm sand mountain. Every few steps the view kept getting better and better. We were so excited to be going up that we didn't look down til we were about half way up the hill. By that time, you could see a lot of the green forest and it was just so pretty. Getting to peer over the top of the hill was so incredible I had to redo it with my video camera in hand. Standing on top of the dune so high above the forest and looking out over the ocean on a clear sunny day was just stunning, absolutely breathtaking. Many pictures were taken which will probably make you jealous.
We found a little spot to sit in the sun and played in the sand and watched the people and kites and ocean. The sand is so pure here. There is virtually no litter, glass, shells, rocks - it's just sand. So you can walk or run and play in it barefoot exercising very little caution. It's very liberating.
Later we walked all the way down the dune to the ocean where once again I rolled up my pants and played in the water. A dog came to say hi to us and took a liking to me, and me to it. We goofed off and I ran up and down the beach with it, splashing in the shallow surf. It was fantastic to run in the fresh, cool air and feel the sand and water on my bare feet.
After playing on the sand dune and beach for a couple of hours, we started the trek back to the bus. It took a solid half an hour to walk all the way back to the top of the dune. Lots of people slide down the dune on sleds to get to the bottom where the walking path to the cars and shops are. I tried using my jacket but it didn't work :( We did run down though which was also fun. I saw a kid run too fast, do a face plant, and somersault down a good chunk of the hill. That was awesome.
It was a perfect afternoon spent at the beach. So relaxing, refreshing, just having time and space to think and to enjoy the moment and our lives and nature and our trip and everything. Simply wonderful.
Down at the shops, I made some mostly spontaneous purchases. It's the last country so I don't have to carry everything for very much longer. I am really not sure how it's all going to make it home but I'm sure I'll find a way. I really like what I bought and it will all remind me of a fantastic day in some remote place in France that was a side trip from our Bordeaux side trip. Crazy how much ground we've covered in these three months. It was weird too because after being gone for so long on SAS the Atlantic Ocean is what I saw at our last country (Spain). Now I've been gone another long period of time and once again I'm at the last country touching the Atlantic Ocean. But I feel so different this time.
So we took a bus back to Arcachon, the train back to Bordeaux, and two trams back to Ming's and finally walked in the door around 8. Ming asked if we had eaten, and we hadn't, so he whipped up some rice and ginger chicken for us, which was so nice of him! After dinner, I really wanted to go to this wine bar in town, but tomorrow we want to go to St. Emilion. We looked up train times and the website says the trains leave either at 7:06 or 13:33. That cannot be right, but there's no way to say, "sorry website, I think you're wrong." The whole point of coming to Bordeaux was to learn about and taste the delicious wines, so we figured we had to take the disgustingly early 7:06 train to spend a quality day there. Our train back to Paris leaves Bordeaux at 19:47 so leaving at 13:33 would hardly have been worth it. That decided, after dinner we apologized and rejected Ming's offer to show us the night view of the city (again), and I stayed up researching what to do at St. Emilion.
Quotes:
"Aw, our bellies only look kinda big." - Laura, about our beach photo shoot
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Ming - CS #22
I woke up at 430 AM and was unable to fall back asleep. I listened to music and watched the sunrise and packed my bag and soon it was time to head to the train station anyway. Exhausted but wide awake, we made our train. I completely forgot that you are supposed to validate your train tickets before you get on trains in France, so we had a "oops, sorry" moment when the conductors came by.
We arrived in Bordeaux around noon and met up with our host, Ming. Ming is from China but is doing astrophysics research here. I am constantly surprised and excited by how many people from countries other than European countries we have met through CS, either as hosts or as fellow travelers. After we dropped all of our bags off at Ming's flat, he commenced to give us a lengthy tour of Bordeaux. He said he had a Google map in his head and the route was 8 km. I told him we weren't really into museums, but then on the tour he kept taking us to churches and I didn't have the heart to tell him that we weren't really into churches either...
We stopped at a little shop for lunch where I discovered Croque Chevre sandwiches - amazing. While we ate on a bench close to water and flowers and grass I asked Ming about his family. He is the first generation of China's one child policy. His mother and father both have 4 or 5 siblings each, and he said the policy was a little strange for Chinese people because they traditionally love children. But he said that people are okay with it, and that China provides good access to birth control, and that the government is so strong that everybody just follows. He says if the government decided to change the policy that within 5 or 10 years most families would begin having more children again. He said you need to get permission to have more than one child, but that you must pay a fine (which he says is not that much money and not a problem at all for rich people that want to have more than one child). Very interesting discussing this with him.
Then the rains came. And when it rains in south west France in the summer time, it RAINS! It was like flash flood quality and we were soaked within minutes. Thank goodness for quick dry pants. We waited out the downpour inside a Virgin Records store. They had quite a few books and I found some books that I've read in English. Of course they're in French here but I could read the back summaries really fluently!!! This was very exciting to me and inspires me to buy some of my favorite books in French to practice reading. This is not a new idea to me but I've just never acted on the thought before. Maybe I will now though.
Back out in the world once the downpour stopped, Ming led us all over town. We went to at least three different churches and two different bell towers. We also walked along the river, crossed some bridges, saw a bunch of cows on parade, saw the grand theater, old city gates, and the water mirror. The water mirror is this really cool fountain type thing. It's a large rectangular flat surface that kids run/jump/play on, and also bicycle, scooter, etc. on. Every so often, without warning, the ground will start misting. This mist doesn't get you too wet, it's just fun to play in. When the mist is done, the ground burbles spontaneously and kids chase around the quickly disappearing streams of water. I think acting like a little kid is good for your soul, and really, that's what quick dry pants are for - playing in fountains. I stripped off my shoes and socks and rolled up my pants and walked around the fountain thoroughly entertained by the children and scene in general. Laura and Ming watched me act like a child, they're too big for those kind of silly games.
Side note: Ming things I'm weak because I got sick during our trip. I feel fine now, but I have a slight cough that refuses to go away. Every time I cough, Ming makes a comment about how weak I am. It's gotten pretty embarrassing and a little awkward by now. He also told me about this Chinese method of cleansing your system, where you dilute peroxide and snort it through your nose and spit it out through your mouth. He said Chinese people do this and they never get sick.
Bordeaux is infinitely dirtier than I imagined. It's actually quite gross. When I think of Bordeaux, I think of red wine, which makes me think of clean, proper, sophisticated, suburban people. I figured Bordeaux would be some kind of reflection of that, but it's not. It's pretty disgusting. There is trash everywhere. Especially due to the flash rains and wind, flea markets we walked through looked like a hurricane had gone through them. They were destroyed, books soaking on the ground, broken glass everywhere, half eaten sandwiches lying around. It was just a mess!!! Yuck. Worst of all, there's a spot in the river where "clean" water is coming in. I don't think Ming was totally right about this though, because he said "clean" but I saw FILTHY black water running into a FILTHY yellow river filled with debris. The contrast in water colors was so distinct; I've never seen anything like it. Then you can see where they blend in and finally where there's no different in water color. It's a really depressing ecological site.
We were about 3/4 of the way done with our tour. It had been 6 hours and we were very tired so we asked Ming if we could go home. I think he may have been a little put off by not being able to finish his tour. I felt kind of badly but I was so tired, I was getting hungry, and we had seen quite a lot of the city.
We stopped by a store on the way home to grab some pasta and sauce (and I talked Laura into buying Lu cookies from Nantes!) and went home. Ming shared some of his nice Bordeaux wine with us and I ate while watching Australia get positively destroyed by Germany in the World Cup.
Sometime around 1030 or 11, Ming asked if we were ready to go out again so he could show us the night view of the city. The view he wanted to show us was probably a good 45 minutes away. Again, we were like, no...we're tired!!! And again, I think he may have been a little put off :/
Also sometime this evening, a Polish girl and her mother came to surf with Ming just for a few hours. Their train left at 4 AM the next day, which is crazy to me, but it was pretty cool having somebody and their mom surfing together!! The Polish girl had been studying in Bordeaux so she was friends with Ming (she surfed with him when she first came here). She and Ming both kept going on and on about the Dune dy Pyla, this huge sand dune close to Bordeaux. I spent the evening researching the dune and talking with them about how to get there, and I think we'll try to see what that's all about tomorrow.
Quotes:
"There's much less of them now, because of evolution. And also, because we ate them." - Ming, discussing pigeons in China.
We arrived in Bordeaux around noon and met up with our host, Ming. Ming is from China but is doing astrophysics research here. I am constantly surprised and excited by how many people from countries other than European countries we have met through CS, either as hosts or as fellow travelers. After we dropped all of our bags off at Ming's flat, he commenced to give us a lengthy tour of Bordeaux. He said he had a Google map in his head and the route was 8 km. I told him we weren't really into museums, but then on the tour he kept taking us to churches and I didn't have the heart to tell him that we weren't really into churches either...
We stopped at a little shop for lunch where I discovered Croque Chevre sandwiches - amazing. While we ate on a bench close to water and flowers and grass I asked Ming about his family. He is the first generation of China's one child policy. His mother and father both have 4 or 5 siblings each, and he said the policy was a little strange for Chinese people because they traditionally love children. But he said that people are okay with it, and that China provides good access to birth control, and that the government is so strong that everybody just follows. He says if the government decided to change the policy that within 5 or 10 years most families would begin having more children again. He said you need to get permission to have more than one child, but that you must pay a fine (which he says is not that much money and not a problem at all for rich people that want to have more than one child). Very interesting discussing this with him.
Then the rains came. And when it rains in south west France in the summer time, it RAINS! It was like flash flood quality and we were soaked within minutes. Thank goodness for quick dry pants. We waited out the downpour inside a Virgin Records store. They had quite a few books and I found some books that I've read in English. Of course they're in French here but I could read the back summaries really fluently!!! This was very exciting to me and inspires me to buy some of my favorite books in French to practice reading. This is not a new idea to me but I've just never acted on the thought before. Maybe I will now though.
Back out in the world once the downpour stopped, Ming led us all over town. We went to at least three different churches and two different bell towers. We also walked along the river, crossed some bridges, saw a bunch of cows on parade, saw the grand theater, old city gates, and the water mirror. The water mirror is this really cool fountain type thing. It's a large rectangular flat surface that kids run/jump/play on, and also bicycle, scooter, etc. on. Every so often, without warning, the ground will start misting. This mist doesn't get you too wet, it's just fun to play in. When the mist is done, the ground burbles spontaneously and kids chase around the quickly disappearing streams of water. I think acting like a little kid is good for your soul, and really, that's what quick dry pants are for - playing in fountains. I stripped off my shoes and socks and rolled up my pants and walked around the fountain thoroughly entertained by the children and scene in general. Laura and Ming watched me act like a child, they're too big for those kind of silly games.
Side note: Ming things I'm weak because I got sick during our trip. I feel fine now, but I have a slight cough that refuses to go away. Every time I cough, Ming makes a comment about how weak I am. It's gotten pretty embarrassing and a little awkward by now. He also told me about this Chinese method of cleansing your system, where you dilute peroxide and snort it through your nose and spit it out through your mouth. He said Chinese people do this and they never get sick.
Bordeaux is infinitely dirtier than I imagined. It's actually quite gross. When I think of Bordeaux, I think of red wine, which makes me think of clean, proper, sophisticated, suburban people. I figured Bordeaux would be some kind of reflection of that, but it's not. It's pretty disgusting. There is trash everywhere. Especially due to the flash rains and wind, flea markets we walked through looked like a hurricane had gone through them. They were destroyed, books soaking on the ground, broken glass everywhere, half eaten sandwiches lying around. It was just a mess!!! Yuck. Worst of all, there's a spot in the river where "clean" water is coming in. I don't think Ming was totally right about this though, because he said "clean" but I saw FILTHY black water running into a FILTHY yellow river filled with debris. The contrast in water colors was so distinct; I've never seen anything like it. Then you can see where they blend in and finally where there's no different in water color. It's a really depressing ecological site.
We were about 3/4 of the way done with our tour. It had been 6 hours and we were very tired so we asked Ming if we could go home. I think he may have been a little put off by not being able to finish his tour. I felt kind of badly but I was so tired, I was getting hungry, and we had seen quite a lot of the city.
We stopped by a store on the way home to grab some pasta and sauce (and I talked Laura into buying Lu cookies from Nantes!) and went home. Ming shared some of his nice Bordeaux wine with us and I ate while watching Australia get positively destroyed by Germany in the World Cup.
Sometime around 1030 or 11, Ming asked if we were ready to go out again so he could show us the night view of the city. The view he wanted to show us was probably a good 45 minutes away. Again, we were like, no...we're tired!!! And again, I think he may have been a little put off :/
Also sometime this evening, a Polish girl and her mother came to surf with Ming just for a few hours. Their train left at 4 AM the next day, which is crazy to me, but it was pretty cool having somebody and their mom surfing together!! The Polish girl had been studying in Bordeaux so she was friends with Ming (she surfed with him when she first came here). She and Ming both kept going on and on about the Dune dy Pyla, this huge sand dune close to Bordeaux. I spent the evening researching the dune and talking with them about how to get there, and I think we'll try to see what that's all about tomorrow.
Quotes:
"There's much less of them now, because of evolution. And also, because we ate them." - Ming, discussing pigeons in China.
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