So yesterday was Christmas. It was my first Christmas ever away from my family and our first Christmas ever just us. It wasn't really much of a day to be honest. We spent the entire day (well until about 6pm) in the hotel room watching movies and allowing my legs to fix themselves from the previous 4 days of walking the streets of Paris as I had grown a limp and was walking like an 80 year old man with back problems. We ate lunch, watched movies etc etc. In the evening we headed out for some dinner and found a tiny little restaurant which served the most French food we had since coming to France. You think it would be easy to find French food in France, it's not. There is a lot of Italian food, but a distinct lack of French food (strange I know). Anyways, back to dinner. They had an option for 20euro where you chose 3 courses, so we did that. Jesse tired Frogs legs for entrée, salmon for mains and some sort of chocolate cake for desert. I had a prawn and avocado entrée, duck main and profiterole desert. So as you can see, it was a good value for money and quite 'French'. We were impressed.
A Christmas just Jesse and I was different, but I liked it. We didn't have to drive to 3 locations and sit for endless hours with family and do all that stuff. It was nice, in some cases lonely but most of all was different and could possibly start a tradition of our own. We spoke about this, the idea of in future spending Christmas each year with our families in the morning and then from lunch onwards we do our own thing (which we decided should be a sea food lunch...yuuuuum). But next Christmas is a whole 12 months away! We are a little strange, we like being alone in our bubble.
Early this morning we left Paris and got on a train to Bordeaux which is a completely different experience of France. Firstly, it is sunny here. That's right, blue sky and sun which obviously makes the temperature bearable. Secondly, it's quite here. Paris had a continual buzz about it, a distinct charm which you can't exactly put your finger on. Opera was always busy and cold. It was authentic and rustic and the type of place within Paris I could see myself moving too. In contrast, Bordeaux is quiet, clean and a little fancy. The obvious down side to this, though it is beautiful (it truly is breath taking) it is a lot more expensive than Opera. But I would love to live here also. Being boxing day today, everything was closed so we are yet to explore but thats what tomorrow is for.
I love France, I truly do. I would love to live here. Jesse and I have discussed this at length since being here, maybe in a few years moving here for a year or so. Something different. It would be an amazing experience to be a 'local'. We even decided if we did we would ship Archer over with us, he wouldn't love the cold but he loves us so he would get over it (he is a dog so really he has no choice). I think this is a country where you can't experience it fully unless you know the language and fully integrate yourself in to the culture, so thats what we plan on doing one day.
So finally, we still haven't found our luggage or had time to make a claim (plus our phone in Paris was difficult to work so we couldn't call to make the insurance claim). It's kinda funny you pack so much when you travel and then if you lose it all it makes it so ironic how much crap you brought and really how little you need. It would be nice to wear something different though haha. Our hotel in Bordeaux is a lot less modern than Paris, but it has charm. Our window is straight out on to a quiet street, so thats lovely. No pictures of this beautiful city as of yet, but I will keep you updated.
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