Bordeaux, Friday Night: Couchsurfing and Homemade Soup
This was originally more of a stay-over for practicality (so as to get to Carcassonne early the next morning), but it turned out to be AWESOME, because it was the first time I have ever couchsurfed!
At Buddy#1's strong and persistent recommendation, I had made an account on the couchsurfing website a few weeks ago - but originally intended to use it to meet locals/travellers on more neutral ground, rather than staying in some stranger's house for free (I either have trust issues or a general suspicion of that level of kindness from a stranger; or both).
Anyway, I'd been waiting for the reopening of the Bordeaux youth hostel near the train station, which was due for April but eventually postponed till May. Since I would only really be there for 7-8 hours between trains, I didn't reeeeally want to pay a minimum of 43 euros for a room (based on when I got stranded in Bordeaux; this turned out to be the cheapest room even after I searched for places a bit further from the train station) - so in the end I crumbled and hunted for a host.
Luckily I got a last-minute response (to a last-minute request, to be fair) from an AWESOME chick who I will dub ArtyHost, who:
- is a big fan of Wong Kar Wai (she turned down my offer to bring a copy of Chung King Express because she already has the DVD!) and passionate about art;
- is a fellow political science student who manipulates her studies to do philosophy, but still wants to do something fairly unrelated;
- is an interesting and bright conversationalist;
- makes adorable impressions and doesn't take herself too seriously;
- studied on exchange in Mexico not too long ago, so also speaks Spanish as well as English (she had a pretty good accent too);
- is super super super nice!
She met me at Place de la Victoire (apparently the cool hangout place with where lots of bars are; I'd bussed there from the train station), and we walked from there to her friend's flat, where she'd been having dinner with her also-French student friends:
- the Couple, Part I: the talkative host boyfriend, who had made delicious pumpkin soup with bits of smoked pork sausage, and who is part of a History Master's student project to make a cartoon on the history of Bordeaux (for which a Pink Floyd gig was very important) - apparently this historical cartoon thing has been done on another city in France too;
- the Couple, Part II: the tiny cute girlfriend who didn't seem to like me very much, particularly from the point where I said that her name reminded me of a character from Gilmore Girls (Lorelai), when it wasn't really that similar...
- the Talker - who, after a fierce battle, managed to subdue the host boyfriend into silence and vague nodding, and had ridiculously long, loud and gesture-filled stories ["Huh, that sounds familiar," said the exchange girls when I returned];
- the Comedian - who looked like Hugh Laurie during the younger horse-faced days, with a hint of Groucho Marx, BUT wrapped in wit and French charm, with an effective use of varied facial expressions and hand gestures.
Also, it turns out that in France, mustard in a glass is a thing. Like with Nutella in NZ, but with mustard.
Anyway, we got back to her place at 2am, where she apologised and said she wasn't likely to be up early enough to see me off in the morning, and left at my disposal her couch, a couple blankets, a LOT of pillows, and the contents of her bathroom and kitchen.
Somehow got up shortly after 4am, showered, tidied up, left her a little thank you note and a little paper crane - then went to catch the taxi to the station (still much cheaper than the hotel). Hopefully I'll see her again!!
Carcasonne, Saturday Morning: Jam and a Castle
Modern city:
Cute park across the river from the train station, token shops (thank god most hadn't opened yet; Etam Lingerie was having a sale), big awesome market (the only reason for Saturday mornings) where I bought a jar of chocolate pear jam. To my relief a lady at the info stand informed me of a nearby hotel that would store my big bagpack for just a couple euros; passed a tiny bakery where I got a ham and cheese baguette, a strawberry tart and amusing small-talk.
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| Also, a deliciously aromatic rotisserie stand. |
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| About a 20min dawdling walk from the centre of the modern city. Near the end you cross this cool bridge over the river (wider here). Also n'aww these guys were cute. |
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| Due to dawdling I didn't have time to go around the whole thing, but seeing as I was also running on two lots of about two hours of sleep (on a couch then on the train), I didn't really want to. It was still PRETTY AWESOME and I briefly considered buying a sword or shuriken. I opted for a touristy Carcassonne shot glass and a peach-apricot slushie. |
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| I took a slightly different route back to the modern part, and passed this awesome mural. In retrospect I'm guessing it spells CARCASSONNE but I only got the first three letters. |
Narbonne, Saturday Afternoon: Epic Fail but a Nice Lunch
Narbonne is a town a couple of train-stops away from Carcassonne - in the opposite direction from Toulouse, because I got on the wrong train. Ahaha. Hah.
Once I sorted out a new ticket I had about an hour to kill, which turned out to be just the amount of time I needed to eat, and have old people watch me put on makeup.
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| Chicken pasta salad; the little white things are DELICIOUS CHEESE, of which there was a good amount - I'd already eaten a few bits before I thought to take a photo. |
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| I had a bit of a laugh in the bookstore - I don't know if you can zoom in, but the third column (from left) of the top and middle rows are pretty much porn. Just casually. |
Grandpère met me at the station and proceeded to mock my touristy ditzyness as we went to pick up his group birthday present etc - I didn't know the BirthdayBoy (guys can still be boys at 30), so had just bought him a pack of kinder surprises, to remind him not to grow up too much.
Went to CoolChick's place to leave my stuff and get ready; I'm somehow even MORE of a fan now. Also I really really wish I had her wardrobe and shoe collection. More importantly she's going to be in Dublin when I am!! So WOOO PARTY.
Anyway the whole Toulousian gang was there except for Nondescript Guy, as well as:
- BirthdayBoy's LovelyLady (they have a baby together, presumably elsewhere for the night);
- Tunisian-Italian guy who Grandpère and I had harrassed at work last time, and who was less charming and more douchey than first impressions had me believe;
- Grandpère's amusing friend the Florist who I'd briefly met during errands;- the Cousin's friend BabySpaniard who was a DJ (albeit in training) that night alongside BirthdayBoy and some OtherDJGuy;
- LatinaChick who was badarse and hugged me when I said she was my favourite after CoolChick; and
- DancyChick who pretty much lived on the dancefloor with me for most of the party.
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| Had three pieces. Strawberry SOOOO GOOOD. |
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