Saturday: We woke up around 11a today and took some time coming around and getting ourselves ready. When we were all up and awake, the three of us left Crystal's to go get some baguette sandwiches. We went to a little pâtisserie/bakery type of place called "Paul" where I bought a sandwich with mustard, chicken, vegetables, and hard-boiled eggs. I also bought a treat that is a Bordeaux specialty called Cannelé and that was very good.
After lunch, we went to a store that Crystal describes as "boot heaven" to check out the Soldes. I bought a pair of very cute brown boots for 19 euros- now I am content. :) We took our shoes and things back to Crystal's after that and then Roshanna and I (Crystal went over to a friend's to plan their spring break in Portugal) headed to the Mussée d'Aquitaine. We sat for 20 minutes or so at a nearby café to drink a little pick me up and then we took a lovely, casual stroll through the museum. The permanent exhibit (which is huge) is free- we had absolutely no hesitations against that.
My Grand Café Crème :)
It was very quiet in the museum and nearly empty of people. We got to see art from Ancient Greece, the Roman Epoque, and more.... and we didn't pay a cent for it! This was such a fantastic way to spend an afternoon and it makes me so excited to see more museums in France.
After our two or three hour stroll through the musée, Roshanna and I met back up with Crystal and two other girls (one of whom was with us at The Houses)- Kelly and Liz. It was getting close to dinner time so we made a plan: we wanted cheeseburgers but didn't want to go out and pay for some at a restaurant, so we decided to split the groceries we would need to make some. We headed to the nearest market place and bought fresh cheese, patties, buns, tomatoes, lettuce, onions, Roshanna bought us some red wine to share, and Kelly bought a cream-cheese-type spread to go with some baguettes as an appetizer. We then headed back to Crystal's and got to cooking! It ended up being a delicious meal and I wasn't at all surprised that it was so good- I hadn't had a cheeseburger in over a month. Crystal fried the buns in a little butter and we topped them with the grilled onions. This, of course, all being consumed after our baguettes and cheese and red wine. For dessert, Crystal and Liz made a very interesting and surprisingly delicious cake: the filling was shredded zucchini, banana, vanilla, and spices and the frosting was cream cheese, a candied walnut spread, vanilla, and sugar. So good!
Our baguettes and wine
The cake. It doesn't look like much but man was it good!
The typical thing to do after dinner on a Saturday night in Bordeaux is to "go out" so that's what we did. We went to an apartment where a bunch of students were having a party, but I found it to be pretty lame. There was a ton of alcohol, a lot of noise, and a lot of cheesy young people who seemed to have reputations to uphold. Oh well; they can't all be amazing experiences. Crystal and Roshanna found it to be kind of lame after an hour or so too so Crystal took the two of us to a club where we could dance for a while. That was more fun than the house party but not great- there were too many yucky boys there for my taste and we were crowded almost to the point of not being able to move at all. Saturday night wasn't epic but I did have a fabulous dinner and a truly great time on Friday. I'm taking everything as it comes and making the most of it.
Sunday: Our half day in Bordeaux today completely made up for last night. We started off the day by taking our time waking up, getting ready and then heading to an English Pub called "Sweeney Todd's" for Sunday Brunch. Sweeney's is one of the few restaurants in the area that stays open on Sunday's and it seems that it does so simply to serve up an English Breakfast of magnificent proportions: you can either get the traditional plate of two pieces of toast, two bacons, two eggs, two sausages, mushrooms, beans, a tomato, and home fries or you could get pork with apple cider gravy, mashed potatoes, cauliflower, broccoli, and cheese. Phew! I got the traditional Full English Breakfast and ate the whole darn thing.... be impressed. :)
YUM
After brunch we had just enough time to take the tram down to the center of town where there's a huge flat, tiled square that is watered every so often so it looks like a mirror. Depending on which side you stand on it, it either reflects the beautiful old architecture of the city side or it reflects the massive expanse of water on the river side. It was terribly foggy and cold today but it was so worth seeing. We took some pictures and then headed back to Crystal's to gather our things and head to the train station.
Rosie and I made it to our train with a few minutes to spare and then it was simply a matter of killing time for the 2 hour ride. We made it back to Pau around 7:00 and Lionel was waiting to pick me up. He offered to drive Rosie to her dorm and then we headed home for dinner. Christine had the soup waiting: a potato and celery cream soup to which we added a little milk. The main course was ham and Gruyère cheese crêpes, and Christine offered to make a second round so I had a sweet Nutella crêpe too. :) There was a half left over at the end so I ate that one as well! With raspberry jam this time. Dessert was a creamy pudding-type thing that kept its shape when I turned the cup over and poured it out. On top it had a raspberry sauce. It was good but I still love the natural yogurt with raspberry jam the best. :)
This was another great weekend and I appreciate you so much for waiting patiently to hear about it! Next, I'll recount my week and my absolutely magnificent weekend in San Sebastián, Spain! Internet will be back up this week so the posts will flow regularly again.
A tout à l'heure!
