So, Almost a week into my French travels... and so much good has happened. I can even get people to almost understand whatever the hell it is I am saying when I speak the language.
For the past couple of days, the Rugby fans have made hotels so scarce that Evan and I had to backtrack to the Suburb of Merignac, near the airoport (and nothing else) to find a hotel. This looked to be a serious problem for us- the first day after we checked in, we tried to find our way to some sort of recogizable civilization- and somewhere to eat.... We easily walked 3 miles until we got to the Merignac centre-ville. We choose the first restaurant- which was a semi-creepy pizza place, where we split a pizza, which was really quite good.
(as an aside, and because I have made worse gaffes already, I need to explain the situation surrounding our bill)
After eating, the waiter approaches us and asks us If we are ready for "l'addition" the bill. Thinking that it had something to do with ordering more food, Evan says "no, merci", because I suppose in all honesty it would be better if we didn't have to pay. As Steve Martin said... Its like the French have a different word for everything.
Refreshed, we depart and continue trying to find something to do, so far from the city. It apeared that we would have to find out what the hell is up with the city's public transport. A ways down the road was the first stop in the tram line streaching from Merignac to Bordeaux proper. After fumbling around for a bit with the machine we finally unlocked its secrets--- for 1,30 E. you can get a ticket that allows you unlimited access to both trams and buses for one hour. For more money you can go longer, and so on and so forth.
It is at about this point we realize that there is a bus stop at the corner by the hotel. Damn.
For the past two days I have been traveling by bus and tram all over Bordeaux. Seeing new sites, and sometimes just going places already traversed just because its more fun when you arn't walking it. If only I had a bit more boldness in me I would have found out about this marvelous system earlier. Ah well.
On a more international note, I watched my first rugby match last night. Ireland (the Irish more or less own the city at the moment) vs Georgia. Not the state, but the cetral asian country--- at first I rooted for Georgia as the underdog, until I realized that the hotel I'm at would be filled with drunk angry Irish--- I quickly changed my allegences out of fear.
Rugby seems to be a very interesting sport, but since it was announced in French, which I can only slightly understand when spoken at normal speeds, and am hopeless with at sportscaster speed- it took a while for me to figure out what was going on.
From what I could tell, it was a good, close match and a bit of a defensive struggle. Kind of like the FSU game, because it would apperantly be imposible for the Noles to break 20 against the likes of Colorado. In both games, the good guys won- and the Irish are happy drunks today.
Next up... I've got to figure out the train situation since I am off to La Reole on Tuesday. Here's hoping that my next post will be from a permenant situation, since living out of my suitcase is starting to become a bit expensive. Cheers.
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4 comments:
very amusing, Miche! Can't wait to hear about La Reole!
You could just stay on the bus or tram, see how the area looks day and night, and save the room money. Probably a hassle with the luggage, though, and maybe other accommodations are missing.
I ate at a pizza place called La Mama, tonight!
La Mama? Tres appropriate!
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