Calvin without Hobbes: Bordeaux: Day 1 of 2

Friday, July 23

So... I'm off to Bordeaux today with Britney and Phil! Full album of day one in the Facebook link below:

-Bordeaux: Day 1

I was so excited I didn't sleep until 4am in the morning and had to wake up early enough to catch our 7:50am train ride. It was a 3 hour ride, most of which I slept through. We all booked our tickets separately but Phil ended up being in the same car as me, so that was cool.

ticker signs!

doing 2nd class

When we got to our final destination, we checked into our hotel that was conveniently nearby the station. We we sly(not really) to get the belongings of three up to the room for two at 90€/night.=) After that was settled, we went to rent some bikes. They were 10€ for a half day rental with a 250€ security deposit.
It wasn't too much trouble filling out the paperwork using English/French Charades. We took a quick bike to explore the city area. Since we were early and got there way before the Tour de France, we got a chance to bike through part of the course. I'm no match for Britney nor Phil though...

biking and taking photos is hard...

From here on... I won't have very many photos while I'm on my bike. The city was like a more run down version of Paris with bits of a modern touch here and there. There wasn't the glamor that Paris gave off, but it did have character and felt authentic. This place had age and taste, just like its wine. There wasn't really much to do around the area, but it was great to walk around in.

the place and people are so welcoming...

got some lunch: tuna salad sandwich

When we got back to the course two hours before the bikers' anticipated arrival, we tried to get a good spot to sit in. Most of them were taken but Phil was around the 300m area; Brit and I were about 100m after the finish line.

got pretty hungry so I bought this 5 euro "hot dog"

my sunblock

don't know most of these people, but we got pretty close to them.

some people got really close

Tom Cruise/Cameron Diaz with a police escort out of a fan mob.

We had to return the bikes by 7pm, so we headed back and got some grub around the area.

Terrine de Canard(some kind of duck pate)

Poêlée d'Encornets aux Olives(squid with olives)

Baba au Rhum(rum cake: definitely tasted the rhum)

a well fed happy group of people

Since it was still early, we decided to hit a wine bar that we got info on from the tourist office. We walked back into the city which took much longer than by bike. It wasn't what we expected, but the walk was really nice. The local youth appeared to not really be in the bars, but out on the grassy areas drinking or smoking.