i went with my friend from swimming, Jean-Nicolas (aka the one that gave me a concussion!) who went to university in Bordeaux and swam there as well and has a bunch of friends there too! So he invited me along for the weekend.
We took the train early on Saturday morning and got to Bordeaux around 11:30am -- he had rented a car, so we picked that up and then drove to his friend's house! After dropping off our stuff, we headed to the pool for practice with his old team! it was actually a really fun practice -- nice to have a different rhythm to it and see what another French team is like! After practice, Jean-Nicolas and i drove into the city center of Bordeaux and basically just wandered around!
He had forgotten our return train tickets and 12-25 discount cards on the train that morning, so we also had to return to the train station to see if they had found them (they hadn't), and then get new cards printed....From the train station, we walked down the quai next to the river which was absolutely gorgeous, which then led us back into the city.
We were getting a bit tired, so we made our way back to the parking garage and headed back to Yann (his friend)'s apartment. We had a really fun night with a bunch of his friends just hanging out and playing some games and having a few drinks!
Sunday, we (Jean-Nicolas, Yann & Amandine - Yann's girlfriend, and i) went to the BEACH! No -- not an April Fool's joke. Well, first we went to La Dune du Pilat which was incredible. it's literally just this enormous pile (or dune...) of sand that you can climb up. And it's hard work!! They put stairs on it during the summer, but they weren't there yet, so we climbed up the sand itself to the top -- absolutely gorgeous view. Then we went down the other side to the ocean! And then again back up and over the top. So cool.
After an hour or so there, we drove a little ways to Arcachon, which is a small town on the coast, and found a nice spot on the beach to have our picnic lunch of bread, ham, country pate, cheese, etc. Does it get any better than that? i think that after that -- we all took naps for a bit before it got a little too chilly and we decided to pack up and leave.
The pictures don't really do the dune justice at all -- but this might help a little bit -- http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dune_de_Pilat
We took the train back to Paris late Sunday night -- and unfortunately, now it's back to reality after an incredible weekend.
A bientot!
That was awesome :)
ReplyDelete