Ah, the TGV, France’s wonderful, fast, smooth train system! So smooth, in fact, that I fell asleep shortly after boarding at Gare Montparnasse (Paris), slept much of the way to Bordeaux, and discovered when I got there that someone had made off with my jacket, which had my passport in the pocket. Of course, it was 5:00 on Friday afternoon, so there was no chance of remedying the situation before Monday. After allowing myself two minutes of panic and what-ifs, I made plans to return to Paris and show up at the Embassy, proofs of citizenship in hand, first thing Monday morning.
That left me the weekend in Bordeaux, which is a vibrant and attractive city of narrow, cobblestoned lanes, timeworn (in a good way) limestone buildings, lively parks, and roughly one car for every wine bottle consumed in the city’s many dining establishments and bars.
I had already arranged – once again through Tours by Locals – an all-day e-bike tour on Saturday of the Saint-Émilion region, known for spectacular wines. On a day of sporadic heavy downpours, we managed to spend a dry couple of hours in the morning cycling past expansive (not to mention expensive!) vineyards, centuries-old chateaux, and millennium-old churches.
Next came lunch and a tasting of some Saint-Émilion grand cru vintages. The lunch alone made the tour worth it: perfectly crusty and stretchy baguettes, garlic-laden olives, farm-fresh butter, comte cheese, grape tomatoes that exploded with sweetness, and tapenades of olives, eggplant, and sun-dried tomatoes. (For the meat-eaters, there were also sausages). The wines were fantastic, though I don’t have a particularly educated palate for such things. The rain pelted down all through lunch and suddenly ended when we were ready to get back on the bikes. I’d like to think that karma is at work after Friday’s fiasco.
After a short ride, we arrived in the town of Saint-Émilion, an ancient village of fewer than 300 residents which receives two million visitors annually. It had been almost an hour since our first wine-tasting, so we promptly commenced with our second, which included one grand cru clasé vintage (bottles of which can go for well above 1000 Euros!) and other “lesser,” but still remarkable, wines.
Tasting over, we meandered gingerly over the wet cobblestones along tiny lanes lined with wine shops, chocolateries, bakeries, bistros, and art galleries. In fact, the only store I saw that was not related to wine, food, or art was a pharmacy, which I assume keeps an ample supply of headache and heartburn remedies.
Following another deluge (spent under an awning with a half-dozen drenched fellow travelers), we biked back to the place where we ate lunch and took a van back to Bordeaux. There was even a photography store across from our drop-off point, still open at 6:30 on a Saturday night, where I got new passport pictures taken. Karma again!
Which brings me to today (Sunday). I took an early train from Bordeaux to Paris, had a delicious egg/cheese/mushroom crepe for lunch, and checked into the Hotel Queen Mary, a short walk from the Embassy. It’s a lovely three-star property with an exceptionally helpful and friendly staff. In my next post I’ll let you know how the passport saga ends. In the meantime, be well, be happy, and enjoy some wine ….
PuffinlessTravel 