Back the other week when it came time to look for and book our Bordeaux hostel, a small problem began to emerge. Apparently finding an affordable hostel in Bordeaux (that's not 45 minutes out of town) is not the easiest task to accomplish. HostelWorld totally failed us for the first time ever. But my guidebook recommended a small budget hotel, so I emailed them and waited for a reply. As the time until Bordeaux grew shorter and shorter, I began looking with increased desperation and found a youth hostel that wasn't on HostelWorld. They had availability, but I wasn't able to confirm that they didn't have an age cap, because sadly Eve and I are no longer exactly youths. I did more googling and found housetrip.com, a site that facilitates the temporary rental of private apartments. I found one I thought looked good, in the center, with a balcony! I was nervous about using a brand-new site but felt we were running out of options and didn't want us to be left with nothing. So I booked it. And with housetrip, once you click "Confirm Booking", they go ahead and take ALL the payment. And their cancellation policy blows. We were, basically, committed.
So Eve and I went out to enjoy our amazing day on Chateau d'If and Pomègues, and come home to find that BOTH the youth hostel and the budget hotel have finally gotten back to me. In just a few hours, we'd gone from nowhere to stay to triple booked. Of all these, the apartment was both the most expensive and (to my mind) the sketchiest, so I was extremely pissed at myself for not waiting just a little bit longer. But housetrip had my money so the apartment was going to be it.
Eve spent a lot of time over the next couple of days reassuring me that everything was going to be fine. Which was a bit of a role-reversal.
It's a six-hour train ride from Marseille to Bordeaux, so we got up at 6:15 in order to make our 8:15 train. All went smooth though, luckily. We were able to navigate the tram from the station to the center with no problem, and found the address where the apartment was. Only... our host was nowhere to be found, and without wireless, we had no way to reach her. Bummer and balls.
So off I went to see if I could pirate some free French wireless while Eve stayed put in case our host showed up. I actually was able to find wireless pretty quickly, and headed back to give Eve the good news and bad news I'd just read in our host's latest email. But lo and behold, when I rounded the corner, there was Eve standing and chatting with a very pretty French lady, who in fact was our host. Hallelujah!
Our host's apartment was amazing. Tiny adorable studio, with a long balcony that ran the entire length of the apartment. Our host gave us the keys and left us, wishing us a pleasant stay. I just absolutely love it when things work out.
Eve took a nap, I did laundry. (See above.) It was really quite wonderful to be able to have our space and privacy for these last few days in France! For dinner I convinced Eve to try a Turkish place because I was so very, very tired of baguettes. It turned out to be great. Yummy food and a very entertaining waiter. We got hummus as an app! Our pitcher of white house wine was the pits though. Eve said it tasted like mayonnaise to her!! Yucks.
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The next day was our only full day in Bordeaux and also our last day in France together. So sad. Strictly impossible that three weeks could be over so quickly. We started the day with coffee and chocolate croissants and then hit the town to get our fill of museums and churches.
I really wanted to see this Contemporary Art Museum that had been highly recommended by my guidebook. So we walked a ways up the river and found it... but it was closed!!! :( So disappointed. Next we decided that we'd finally try to rent bicycles, something we'd both wanted to do since Paris. We found a bike rental stand, but our American credit cards don't have chips in them (this has been a huge inconvenient problem when it comes to buying train tickets), and the machine couldn't read the card. So no bikes for us. The day was not shaping up to be our best yet, so far.
We checked out the public gardens, because they at least were open.
Then it was seriously time for lunch. We were planning on doing a Room Picnic on our balcony for dinner, so this would be the last meal we'd eat in France together. I really wanted to get more mussels since they were so good last time, so we wandered around for a good while before finding a restaurant that served them. The very second we sat down outside, it began to rain!!! I mean, of course it did. We took shelter inside and watched our waiter go around to every other table before he finally came around to us. I ordered my mussels and was informed "Mussels finished." I mean, of course they were. We tried to just order a glass of wine and then go find food elsewhere, but were then very coldly told "We are not a bar. It is not possible just to drink, no food." We left, and I didn't even say "Merci" on our way out the door.
But the very next restaurant down the road also had mussels, and we could sit outside again since it was under cover. (The rain had stopped by then anyway.) Our waitress at the new restaurant was ever so much nicer, and we ordered a salads, a big pot of mussels to share, and a bottle of wine. Splurging a little for our last meal!!
Our moods slowly lifted as we sipped our not-mayonnaise wine and ate these incredible salads. Day was looking up. Then our mussels came. They looked and smelled amazing.
... But my very first mussel had something unexpected and hard inside... I spit it out, and it was a tiny crab! Little gross, but no big deal. I named him Pierre and put him on the table to keep us company for the rest of the meal.
But then we found a crab in another mussel... and another, and another. Fully two-thirds of our mussels had these little crabs inside, in various stages of being hoovered up by the mussel before its untimely boiled end.
We tried to be brave eaters and good sports, but the fact is that it was seriously pretty gross. One or two would have been fine, but so many of them just made it impossible to enjoy the meal. We did not finish our pot of crab mussels.
We told our waitress, but she just sort of shrugged. Ah, French Service. Oh well. We ordered a dessert to share and a second bottle of wine. For our nerves. Seriously people, this was one of the ickier meals I've had, and I spent 13 months in Georgia.
Well, safe to say that neither of us will ever forget our last meal out together in France!!!
The day was getting on and we really hadn't done much sightseeing, so we walked down to check out Saint Andre Cathedral. Very gothic and cool looking.
Then I wanted to go to the Musee d'Aquitaine, that had artifacts from the region dating back to prehistoric times. Eve had on her brave patient face when I suggested this, and when I asked her to rate her desire to see the museum on a scale of one to ten, she smiled and said "Zero." So, we did not go. No way I was going to force my sister to do something else unenjoyable on one of her last days in France.
Instead, we walked around a little, found a bakery that sold macarons, and then took a seat outside a cute little wine bar overlooking a busy square. And had ourselves another bottle of wine while we ate our second dessert of the day. :)
Then we just went ahead with our plans for the evening and headed home, stopping at a market for necessary supplies such as cheese, charcuterie, bread, pistachios, fruit, and more wine. Sat outside on our very own little balcony, listened to music on my iPhone, and watched Bordeaux pass by.
And that, my friends, was Eve's and my final day in France together. No museums (and only a couple churches), but a lot of laughter and a lot of truly unforgettable memories. So grateful I got to have this time with my sister and share this incredible country with her. I think we created more inside jokes and crazy insane moments between us this past three weeks than in the past five years!
"Grandma is here with the potots."
Miss you Evie! Already can't wait until the next time. You are Le Awesome.
So Eve and I went out to enjoy our amazing day on Chateau d'If and Pomègues, and come home to find that BOTH the youth hostel and the budget hotel have finally gotten back to me. In just a few hours, we'd gone from nowhere to stay to triple booked. Of all these, the apartment was both the most expensive and (to my mind) the sketchiest, so I was extremely pissed at myself for not waiting just a little bit longer. But housetrip had my money so the apartment was going to be it.
Eve spent a lot of time over the next couple of days reassuring me that everything was going to be fine. Which was a bit of a role-reversal.
It's a six-hour train ride from Marseille to Bordeaux, so we got up at 6:15 in order to make our 8:15 train. All went smooth though, luckily. We were able to navigate the tram from the station to the center with no problem, and found the address where the apartment was. Only... our host was nowhere to be found, and without wireless, we had no way to reach her. Bummer and balls.
So off I went to see if I could pirate some free French wireless while Eve stayed put in case our host showed up. I actually was able to find wireless pretty quickly, and headed back to give Eve the good news and bad news I'd just read in our host's latest email. But lo and behold, when I rounded the corner, there was Eve standing and chatting with a very pretty French lady, who in fact was our host. Hallelujah!
Our host's apartment was amazing. Tiny adorable studio, with a long balcony that ran the entire length of the apartment. Our host gave us the keys and left us, wishing us a pleasant stay. I just absolutely love it when things work out.
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| Only picture I took inside unfortunately, with our stuff everywhere and my laundry handing all shantytown. |
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| So happy to not be eating another baguette sandwich |
I really wanted to see this Contemporary Art Museum that had been highly recommended by my guidebook. So we walked a ways up the river and found it... but it was closed!!! :( So disappointed. Next we decided that we'd finally try to rent bicycles, something we'd both wanted to do since Paris. We found a bike rental stand, but our American credit cards don't have chips in them (this has been a huge inconvenient problem when it comes to buying train tickets), and the machine couldn't read the card. So no bikes for us. The day was not shaping up to be our best yet, so far.
We checked out the public gardens, because they at least were open.
But the very next restaurant down the road also had mussels, and we could sit outside again since it was under cover. (The rain had stopped by then anyway.) Our waitress at the new restaurant was ever so much nicer, and we ordered a salads, a big pot of mussels to share, and a bottle of wine. Splurging a little for our last meal!!
... But my very first mussel had something unexpected and hard inside... I spit it out, and it was a tiny crab! Little gross, but no big deal. I named him Pierre and put him on the table to keep us company for the rest of the meal.
But then we found a crab in another mussel... and another, and another. Fully two-thirds of our mussels had these little crabs inside, in various stages of being hoovered up by the mussel before its untimely boiled end.
We tried to be brave eaters and good sports, but the fact is that it was seriously pretty gross. One or two would have been fine, but so many of them just made it impossible to enjoy the meal. We did not finish our pot of crab mussels.
 |
| Will probably never eat mussels again. |
Well, safe to say that neither of us will ever forget our last meal out together in France!!!
The day was getting on and we really hadn't done much sightseeing, so we walked down to check out Saint Andre Cathedral. Very gothic and cool looking.
Then I wanted to go to the Musee d'Aquitaine, that had artifacts from the region dating back to prehistoric times. Eve had on her brave patient face when I suggested this, and when I asked her to rate her desire to see the museum on a scale of one to ten, she smiled and said "Zero." So, we did not go. No way I was going to force my sister to do something else unenjoyable on one of her last days in France.
Instead, we walked around a little, found a bakery that sold macarons, and then took a seat outside a cute little wine bar overlooking a busy square. And had ourselves another bottle of wine while we ate our second dessert of the day. :)
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| SO much better than a museum. |
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| View from our balcony |
"Grandma is here with the potots."
Miss you Evie! Already can't wait until the next time. You are Le Awesome.
Ahhh laughing and crying at the same time! You are Le Awesomest. I miss you so freaking much and would eat a baguette everyday if it meant I could still be with you! Potots. Haha!
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