Winter Wonderland

I’ve decided that I’m over it.  I’m over the sitting-inside-because-its-cold.  I’m over the never-walking-to-the-tram-because-it’s-raining.  I only have a week and a half left in Bordeaux, and I’m not going to waste it sitting inside!

 

I formulated a plan… I had yet to visit the Jardin Public, which all of my friends had been to and said was absolutely beautiful, and I also wanted to visit the Marché de Noël, set up right next to Place des Quinconces.  So I braved the weather, grabbed a scarf, gloves, and my parapluie and headed out.

 

First stop?  Souvenir shopping, of course!  I picked up some wine-openers and some corks that were handmade and said “Bordeaux” on them, as well as rounding out my postcard collection to send out to my family members across the states.  From there, I headed back to Hôtel de Ville, where they have one of the many ice skating rinks that have magically appeared in Bordeaux since the start of the month.  I happen to be a horrible ice skater, but I figured that I might as well glide around a few times with the native Bordelais and give them all a good laugh when I fell on my face… plus, it was a bargain deal at only 3 euro for unlimited rink time and skate rentals.

 

You will be happy to know that I did not fall ONCE while on the rink, although I did stay pretty close to the railing the whole time and the high schoolers on the rink with me were spinning circles around me while balancing on one leg while doing inverse zig-zag patterns… I tottered off the rink, down the stairs, and headed for the skate return window… at which point, I tripped and fell flat on my face.  My fellow ice-skaters found that quite hysterical, and they proceeded to laugh and applaud for me… I decided that the only thing I could do (since, I’ll admit, it was pretty funny, probably looked pretty ridiculous, and the high-pitched squeal I let out as I was falling towards the ground sounded rather silly, I’m sure) was roll with it and take a bow, which is exactly what I did.  After gathering myself and dusting ice shavings off my jacket, Lauren and I headed for Monoprix to gather supplies for our picnic in the Jardin Public.

 

We gathered what we considered to be a “French meal” (cheese, bread, and some Pepperidge Farm Soft-Baked Double Chocolate Chip Cookies) and meandered through Bordeaux, eventually landing at the gates of the Jardin (absolutely splendid… green, trees, carousel, lake), where we sat back and enjoyed what had turned into beautiful weather.

 

Then it was off to the Marché de Noël, a small little market of little cabins lined up next to each other, offering you a splendid assortment of Christmas goodies and sugary delights.  I indulged in a freshly made gaufre (Belgian waffle looking-thing) topped with Nutella, and wandered through the stores.

 

Soon, after a short trip through the Christmas tree farm, it was time to head home and start studying for finals… a quick tram ride and I was back home, drying out my gloves and putting on thicker socks.  I would say that my early Friday morning weather-defying attitude turned out quite well.  Now I just have to get up the guts to visit the Miroir d’Eau in the freezing nighttime temperatures!

 

Bisous!

Donde esta la fiesta?

6 December 2008

 

We’re deprived.  Very very deprived.  No Chipotle, no taco sauce… “tortilla chips” means that you go to the store and buy overpriced “nature flavor” Doritos in a bag that is way too small to satisfy any kind of Mexican food urge.

 

But then, Erin’s mom took matters into her own hands.  She went to Trader Joe’s and purchased 1) tortillas and 2) beans.  Sheer magic in Ziplocs and aluminum containers.

 

Fast forward 10 days, and the package has arrived in Bordeaux.  This leads us to a frenzy of shopping for chicken, peppers, Tabasco sauce, and avocados.  I proceed to make the most amazing guacamole ever, and we compliment the lemony-avocadoy goodness with chicken fajitas… and a bottle of Bacardi (before dinner), a bottle of wine (during dinner), and a bottle of Mint Chocolate Bailey’s (after dinner).  Add in some drunk Skyping and the Miss France competition (brought to you courtesy of TF1), and you have yourselves a house party.

 

Needless to say, it was quite fun and enjoyable, and we all had a good time.  I probably could have used a little more water and some Advil, but all in all, the six of us (who I shall not name to protect their dignity) were thoroughly ridiculous, loud, and obnoxious… and had a ton of fun.  Nights like this just reinforce how great the life Bordelaise is, even if there is only one meal of Mexican food every four months… first stop when I get back to California?  Someplace where they’ll serve me a really big burrito.

Paris in the Fall… It’s not supposed to snow in the fall, is it?

November 28th-December 1st

The last out-of-Bordeaux trip of the semester turned out to be my weekend in Pair-ee… not exactly a bad way to end my semester travels, that’s for sure.  The weekend started off much the same as in Barcelona… 17:51 train to Paris, eat a lot of food on the way.  This time, however, there were 7 of our friends on the same train (repeat Geneva American obnoxiousness), and when we arrived in Paris at 10pm, we headed to a hostel via Metro, wandering in the right direction… this time, I was smart enough to get directions so we wouldn’t end up on the coast of Normandie.

 

Upon arriving at the hostel, which was in Montmartre (Parisian red-light district), Lauren and I were pleasantly surprised by the proximity to the Metro and the proximity to McDo, probably more important in the long run.  After checking in to our 3-person room (complete with bathroom, one hanger, and TV), we headed out to the Moulin Rouge to meet up with Erin and Jackie.  After taking lots of ridiculous pictures there, we wandered across the street to this bar called The Station… prime attraction? Live music.

 

Said “live music” just happened to be playing Sweet Home Alabama when we walked in… we took this as a sign and plopped our butts in the nearest booth, then proceeded to order food and drinks while singing along and cheering quite loudly… “loudly” probably because we were the only ones cheering and dancing in our seats.  Luckily, the waiter got a kick out of us and did not only point to us and then cup his ear every time the band finished a song (since we were evidently not being loud enough for him), he also came over and started dancing with us, next to our table.  We ordered a bruschetta and continued to sing along to a medley of old-school rock and roll.

 

We left just in time to catch the last Metro, returning to our luxurious hostel chamber to prepare for the next day’s tourist activities.

 

First stop on the Parisian sightseeing tour?  Cimitiere Père Lachaise, a massive 60 acre cemetery where one can find lots of famous dead people, such as Oscar Wilde, Edith Piaf, and Jim Morrison.  The place is so huge that it even has street signs inside, and the newsstands outside the cemetery walls sell maps of the cemetery.

 

After taking sufficient “rock on” pictures with my good friend Jim, it was back to the Metro for the day’s second adventure: searching for Hard Rock and Starbucks.  After walking around in a circle for about 45 minutes (it should have been a 20 minute walk, according to Mr. Office of Tourism) and asking for directions at a pharmacy, we located not only Starbucks, but Hard Rock Café-Paris right next door!  You better believe I got a huge White Chocolate Mocha and batted my eyelashes all the way to a free shot glass. 

 

This is the part where we cue the soundtrack… the song is called, appropriately enough, “Aux Champs-Élysées,” and that’s exactly where we were headed next… find the NoFx version if you can, its quite entertaining…

 

Long lines, tourists, some sightseeing pictures, a marché de Noël, and one very overbearing heater later, Lauren and I had not only spent some more money, but were on our way to St. Michel (that’s near the Notre-Dame area) to meet up with Lauren’s friend Sara, currently studying in Paris via EAP.  She not only took us to a delicious crêpe street stand, but to Angelina’s, a hot chocolate and pastry mecca.  They basically served me a cup of melted chocolate to drink with some unsweetened egg whites as thickener (right, cuz I totally needed thickener)… and of course, I got a delicious berry cake thing to complement it.  Feeling sufficiently stuffed and on the verge of the food coma, we returned to our hostel to drop off our bags and see what the night held.

 

Turns out the night held one very sketchy late-night McDo run and some weird French TV (think American Gladiators, but with only one “gladiator” and mental exercises too, like putting together puzzles), since we wanted to go to bed early in preparation for our day at EuroDisney.

 

The most exciting part of the Disney day started before we even left our creepy Parisian hostel corner.  As we left the hostel and headed for the Metro, we realized that the rain falling from the sky wasn’t quite right… examination of the flakes landing on our hands and jackets revealed that it was definitely not rain… it was SNOW!!!  That’s right, it SNOWED in Paris!! We were like little kids freaking out and running around, aside from the fact that it was melting as soon as it hit the ground and meant that it was cold enough to freeze the rain on the way down.  Nonetheless, it snowed!!  Snow!! In the fall!!  Gah its cold here.  Anyway…

 

As you can imagine, aside from getting up early, having to buy an expensive RER ticket to get home, it raining all day, and me losing a glove before I even got out of the RER station, Disneyland was indeed Disneyland, and therefore quite fun and fantastic. All the Christmas decorations were up and they’re celebrating their 15-year anniversary, so the entire place was decked out.  My favorite part of the day? (Aside from WAY TOO MUCH SHOPPING… I should have had a leash on me or something… too many shiny objects.)  The “souvenir mug, coffee, free refill, and Mickey-shaped brioche stuffed with Nutella” combo.  Delicious, and above all, warm.  Of course, we had to see le Père Noël too… he told us that he was going to give us French fiancés for Christmas.

 

After spending the day as a Mouseketeers, I returned to the hostel loaded down with Disney paraphernalia and a very angry credit card.  Our train was set to leave at 8:10am the next day (I had a 1:30 class), so we set the alarm for a ridiculously early hour (allotting time for the Metro) and drifted off to sleep, with dreams of Tinkerbell and Mickey brioche dancing in our heads.