Saint Malo by foot and a return to Paris - 6-8 November 2019

We are once again faced with returning a rental car at a train station. Armed with an email from EuropCar I felt well prepared to head to the right spot; this was clearly a folly on my part! This time around, we found the rental office at Gare St. Malo straight off - but no indication of where to put the car. So we circled the station only two times and found a parking spot near the office. As soon as we walked up to the door, we found a sign instructing us to park in the train station parking lot and return the keys to the office. Back to the car, another rounding of the train station, and the car was parked and returned. Main lesson from this trip seems to be call the rental car agency directly to find out where the car return is actually located; don't trust the website.

We decided to walk back to the heart of the walled city. The seawall separating the city from the beach is massive and it was interesting to see that they've driven massive pylons along and in front of this wall, presumably to break-up the waves as they crash in from the ocean. I can only imagine what this area must look like in the heart of the winter when a huge storm rolls in. It must be amazing to witness.

We headed to Le Bistro Autour du Beurre for lunch. Basically, this is the restaurant associated with Andre Bordier, who is the master of butter. He supplies butters to some of the best tables in the world and all of the dishes here showcase his work. I had a lamb dish that featured sheep from the Mont Saint Michel area that graze on the salt marshes. This lamb is the best that I've had outside of Hokaido. Simply a fantastic lunch!

Mushroom mille feuille

Mont St. Michel Lamb

After lunch we opted to waddle around the ramparts that wrap the city and take in the ocean views. Because of the storms in the area, the winds have been pretty constant so we were treated to many sailboats practicing in the bay. St. Malo was a stronghold for privateers and as such, was heavily fortified against attack. It was interesting to read about the pirates based out of this city and to learn their fates.

Tonight, we pack and prepare to head to Paris in the morning.

7 November

Fortunately the train strike ended shortly after our car trip from Paris so our tickets for this leg of the journey have been preserved. I'm reminded at how enjoyable train travel is and how much I regret our having to drive from Paris to Bordeaux at the beginning of the trip. I seem to have picked up a cold somewhere in our rainy travels, but since we've been to Paris previously and our only set agenda is dinner tonight, it's not a bad time to be sick.

We checked into our hotel, Le Burgandy, and decided to take advantage of the spa. A soak in the pool and several trips to the hammam helped with my cold tremendously. We headed back to the room and cleaned up for our dinner at Arpege. For whatever reason, we've struggled to get enough vegetables on this trip, so dinner at a premiere vegetarian focused Michelin starred restaurant is just the ticket. Kris opted for the full vegetarian menu and I went for the semi-veggie menu. The food was absolutely beautiful and a wonderful experience overall. Ironically, at the end of the meal, we were presented with picnic knives - something that would have come in handy earlier in the trip.

A vegetarian 'tartare' made from beets

A carpaccio of scallops and radishes

Happily sated and full of veggies, we wandered back to our hotel through the rainy Parisian streets. Tomorrow is our last full day in France although we're currently without plans.

8 November

I am once again fully sick in Paris. Today promises to be a quiet day, but we don't want to miss out on seeing some of the city. We opted to walk (slowly...) down to Notre Dame to see the devastation in person. I had seen pictures of the aftermath, but wasn't really prepared for the emotional impact of seeing it in person. The pictures don't really do it justice. While it's hopeful to see the stone towers still standing.

We grabbed lunch from one of the gyro shops in the Latin quarter and grab space on one of the steps on the river. I was feeling fully crummy by this point so we dragged ourselves back to the hotel (With a Monoprix stop for water and juice.) We ensconced ourselves in the room where we watched movies and slept for the remainder of the afternoon. Perhaps not the usual itinerary for Paris, but it worked for us.

We opted for drinks in the hotel and had the concierge book us into a nearby brasserie. The hotel bar was excellent. They had a drink wheel reminiscent of the one at Ray's to help you choose (although their offerings were a bit classier than those at Ray's. No Sex on the Beach or Buttery Nipples here!) I love a good bar snack and they offered truffled cashews, spicy almonds, and kalamata olives. Not too shabby!

We headed to Flottes, admittedly expecting it to be pretty average. While it wasn't the standout meal of the trip (That would have been rough, all things considered...) it was perfectly serviceable. Kris had a braised lamb shank that was really tasty and my cod hit the spot. The only bummer was that they were out of the Cuban Havana Club rum that Kris wanted to try since we can't get it in the States.

We head home tomorrow. Being sick makes it a little less sad to leave (I'm looking forward to my own bed,) but this has been a fabulous trip. Bordeaux was a lot of fun, but Brittany was an unexpected and delightful surprise. I'm really glad we decided to explore this somewhat overlooked region. Until next trip...

Heading to the north - 5 November 2019

We left the west cost of Brittany to head to the north today. First, we stopped off in Douarmenez, the birthplace of kouign amann. Boulangerie des Plomarc'h is argued to be at the top of the pile here, so we stopped off for breakfast. I gotta say, if someone in the city is doing it better I'd be amazed. We both had an almost religious experience at first bite and things only got better from there. Needless to day, it's a good thing these aren't available in Cinci (Although Kris is already bugging me to figure out how to make them. Breton bakery any one?)

It may not look like much, but holy crow!

We headed into the national park for a big portion of the drive. The countryside was amazing. I was expecting more forest, but this was mostly craggy rocks and heather and rolling hills. At one point we crested a hill and through the omnipresent cloud cover a burst of sunshine created a rainbow that arched delicately over a glistening lake and ended in a copse of birch trees with shimmering orange gold leaves. I can understand how the legends of knights and mages started here!

We headed to Mont Saint Michel (where castle meets mage's towers.) Looking at the overabundance of parking, we were both very glad that we're here in the off season, as I'm imagining it is neigh unbearable in summer's high season. We opted to walk out to the mount instead of taking the tram (Still crowded, even though it's 'quiet'.) It's a lovely approach although it's a bit deceptive. You feel like you walk for a long time without getting any closer...

The main walkway of the keep is under construction at the moment, so we ended up taking an even more circuitous route to the top. However, the view was definitely worth the climb! Gorgeous architecture, breathtaking views!

The abby tour came at an auspicious time. St Michael is Kris' (middle) name sake and on the drive over, we received word that his dad fell, breaking his hip. We don't know much at the moment, but the chapel of St. Michael was a perfect place to light a candle. We would ask for though who are inclined to keep Kris parents in your thoughts and prayers.

Three towns on the ocean - 4 November 19

This morning we started out with a rough plan but no real idea of how the day would go exactly. We head back south a tiny bit and towards the ocean to Pont Aven. Gauguin spent a lot of time here and apparently some of the scenes he painted are much the same. Dodging waves of rain and reveling in the sunlight when it came, we wandered the city for a bit. I can see why painters were and are enamored with this city.

We then headed up the coast to Trevignon. This is clearly a summer town as many of the homes appear to be battened down for the winter and most of the businesses appeared closed (to be fair, they may also have been closed because it was a Monday.) We headed to the breakwater and watched the waves of storms and sun play over the ocean. The wind was so strong it felt like it was stealing breath from my lungs. The sea was wild and angry and beautiful all at once.

After taking in the sights and sounds for spiritual nourishment, we decided we needed some physical sustenance as well. Since most of Trevignon appeared closed, we decided to head to our loosely planned third city - Concarneau.

Since this is a fishing port city, we decided fish was in order. Lunch at Le Chantier was fabulous! We then headed to the walled portion of the city and wandered the quiet streets. I can imagine in summer this place is a madhouse!

Night seems to fall quickly here, so rather than get caught on winding back country roads, we decided to pick our way back to Quimper. Shortly after leaving Concarneau, I spied a small sign indicating a scenic overlook. After a short hike in which we past a crew of men with leaf blowers and rakes clearing the trail, we were rewarded with a breathtaking view.

While we were tempted to set up camp here for good, a new storm was brewing (You can see it there on the horizon!) We headed back to the car and resumed our trip back to the city. We will head to St. Malo tomorrow.

Steampunk, Carnac, and crepes - 3 November 19

First stop this morning was Les Machines de I'lle. Basically, it's Jules Verne's notebooks and ideas, come to life. This includes a 3 story tall steampunk elephant that carries up to 50 people for a stroll around the shipping yards. It's a weird combination of engineering and puppetry. Most the exhibit/show is in French so we didn't understand a ton, but it's still worth a visit.

Around the corner we stopped off for a coffee and the local Breton pastry, kouign amann a sort of sugary, buttery, laminated bread/croissant thing. This one was pretty pale but very tasty. My understanding is that they are supposed to be fairly dark - almost burnt looking.

Breakfast complete, we started on our trip to Carnac and ultimately on to Quimper. We picked our way to the seaside and drove through Porchinet. This sea side resort reminded me of a very cold looking Miami Beach from the 40s and 50s. We saw many kite and sail boarders taking advantage of the winds left over from the tropical storm that apparently blew through just south of us.

We arrived in Carnac just in time for the sprinkles to start again. We headed into the monolith visitors center to learn more about this area. Carnac is the largest monolithic collection in the world and pre-dates the pyramids. It's an amazing collection of stones and experts still aren't sure why it was built.

We spent the rest of the afternoon traipsing through the country side, taking in the amazing number and precision of these stone markers. We headed back to the car and were less than 800M from safety when the heavens opened and winds started howling. The winds were strong enough that at one point, Kris fully leaned into it and was almost blown over backwards. Amazingly, although the storm was intense, it had abated by the time we closed the distance to our car.

Breton sheep

A bit worse for wear, we piled into our trusty Pugeot and headed to Quimper. We checked into our hotel just outside the city limits and we're pretty sure we're the only ones here (Which is only a tiny bit creepy.) On the plus side, we did score the upgrade to the Junior Suite which is huge, so assuming we aren't murdered in our sleep, it's a steal!

We headed into the city for dinner at Creperie An Diskuiz. Breton is known for their buckwheat crepes and cider and we enjoyed both tonight. A humble little restaurant, but everything was amazing. Especially that they were able to turn out everything from this tiny little kitchen!

A galley style kitchen

Tomorrow we explore the seaside in all it's autumnal glory.

Market/Travel day - 2 November 19

We're headed to Nantes today. We packed up our room last night so we could get an early start. Our intermediate destination is the Marche des Capuchins in Bordeaux. I had planned this stop for today well before we left for France, but when we accidentally ended up here last weekend I was determined to come back for the seafood and the caneles.

Incidentally, I finally decided to pick up a set of canele tins in Saint Emilion last night. We walked past many stores in Bordeaux and St. Emilion selling the copper tins needed to make this pastry, but a macaron store, of all places, had the best prices I've seen anywhere (including online.) Macarons Ferlion makes macarons (the almond pastry, not the coconut haystacks) using a recipe that dates to the 1600s. The Grand Barrail puts a packet of two of these cookies on your bed every night and they are divine. Anyway, six of these tins are coming home with me and as soon as I can source the beeswax, well, the office should prepare for pastry overload.

Back back to the Bordeaux Market. We decided that since today would be a bit of a haul, we'd grab stuff for a picnic of sorts in our room in Nantes. Fresh fruits, baguettes, a couple of cheeses, and a saucisson. Really, all of this was just killing time until Chez Jean Mi started serving seafood. For a real introduction to the seaside, we got the Admiral's plate and feasted on crab, whelks, shrimp, and oysters. Washed down with a glass of house white, all I can say is YUM!

Having checked all of the market experience boxes, we sadly bid adieu to Bordeaux and started for Nantes. Fortunately, the drive was uneventful. Unfortunately, it rained, sometimes lightly, sometimes very heavily, almost the whole way. We managed to pick our way to the center of town and found a parking spot just in the nick of time. Apparently, there's a HUGE sci fi convention going on tonight, so downtown is bananas. We're going to settle in for a quiet picnic in our room and prepare for our trip to Carnac and beyond tomorrow. I'm really looking forward to exploring the wilder, woolier side of France on this leg, but I have a feeling we're going to spend much of our time in the rain from now on. Finger crossed for a break in the weather!

Laundry and catch-up - 1 November

Today is All Saints Day and it's a national holiday in France. While a few places are still open, we've decided to take this as an opportunity to do laundry and catch up. This doesn't mean a day without wine however!

We started our day by gathering up all our dirty laundry and the Ariel pods we picked up at Carrefour the other night. We then headed out to Chateau de La Riviere. Kris picked this chateau to gain a better understanding of the wines from Fronsac because this is the biggest winery of that region. The rains must have run off the other visitors, because we had the tour to ourselves. Our guide gave us the history of the cellars and how many of the townspeople hid from the Germans in those cellars during WWII. We learned as much about the stone masons who worked this area as we did about the wines! We tasted a wine made with a varietal I had never heard of before - a Sauvignon Gris. It made for a very nice blend. It turns out that our guide's boyfriend is from Brittany so she provided us with some insider tips for the next leg of journey.

We headed to Libourne and to a laundromat that Chase concierge scoped out as being open on holidays. Added bonus points for a location that has a huge strip mall (closed for the holiday) with ample parking *and* a boulangerie so we could grab lunch while we wash. After figuring out the central payment system and separating our lights and darks, we settled in for the spin cycle and a baguette. I was a bit concerned about the dryers; a strong wet-dog odor permeated the building. Fortunately, everything came out Ariel fresh. That's Ariel pods, available at a Courefour or Auchan near you!

Since we spent much of the day before in the car and much of today running errands (I also had a run in with a gas pump. Turns out self-service pumps prefer it when you put the magnetic strip on your card in the reader the correct way...) we decided to head back to St. Emilion for a pre-dinner stroll. Holy crowds batman! Since we've really only seen the city first thing in the morning on the first day or after 7pm on the subsequent days, we had no idea how freaking crowded it was. People shoulder to shoulder everywhere. And this is the low season! It makes me feel even more lucky to have had the streets to ourselves two nights ago. Today, however, we did get the chance to climb to the top of the Kings Keep (the tower in the foreground of the picture.)

After that we stopped off at the Maison du Vin for Saint Emilion. They had a scent identification kit that I couldn't resist snagging a pic of. Who says wine's no fun!?

Tonight, we spend our last night in the tower of the Grand Barrail. We've really enjoyed our time in Saint Emilion and will be sad to go. However, we're both really excited to see Brittany and switch from wine to cider! :)

Dinner was at Table 38. The woman who ran the front of house was so friendly and welcoming! We felt like regulars by the time we left. I jumped at the opportunity to try duck tartare and it was fabulous. For a tiny little village, Saint Emilion punches WAAAAY above its weight on restaurants.

Sauternes aka sweet wines 31 October 19

Quick side note before we start on today. Lard et Buchon was really good. The restaurant sits below street level in a tunnel/cave formed when they pulled limestone blocks out to build the city. Once I got over that feeling of 'the ceiling is going to fall on us at any moment!' it was a nice meal. When we popped back above ground, we found that it had started misting/raining and we had the entire village to ourselves. We walked along the convent road and circled the town. The rain and the lighting made for a really beautiful night and I feel lucky to have seen the city in a way that I'm guessing few outsiders do.

La Tour du Roy in the foreground and the bell tower of the Monolith in the back.

I've really been looking forward to today! We're headed to the Sauternes district, famous for it's sweet, white wines. While I enjoy these wines, I really don't know much about them other than they are dependent on the 'Noble Rot.' My hope for this visit it to start to understand why I like some wines from this area and others not so much.

Our first stop today was at Chateau Coutet in Barsac. I picked this a bit at random although I specifically wanted something from the Barsac region. This turned out to be a really happy surprise! The property was, at one point owned by the same family that owned d'Yquem due to some of the events in the French Revolution. Some of the architecture dates to the 13th century. Our guide was fantastic and patiently answered my many questions about the Sauternes wine making process. We also happened to cross paths with the current owner, which is always a happy chance.

One of the things that really struck me on this tour was how different the smells were for this wine. We're lucky to be here during the primary fermentation phase of the process, which has a very special aroma. The chateaus doing red wines have a smell that is very familiar from our trips to California. On the rare instances that we've ended up at wineries predominately making white wines, the fermentation smell is still fairly similar. Not so Sauternes! I can't begin to explain the differences; suffice to say that all are delicious.

All of the 'How it's made stuff' now out of the way, we got to taste the wine! We had the opportunity to do a vertical tasting, which simply means we tasted the same wine, just from three different years. In this case, we had the 2016, the 2010, and the 1989. Literally the only thing that was different between these three wines was the age and the growing conditions for the grapes. The wine maker here keeps the percentage of grapes in the blend the same from year to year. The youngest wine was thick and sweet like really good pineapple - enough acid to keep things from getting too cloying. The middle wine was starting to get some notes of spices and the fruits had more of a caramel-cooked note. The last wine was completely different from the first two! All of the syrupy-ness was gone. The mouth feel was still elegant and smooth and the taste was still sweet, but it had thinned somehow. Deep caramel flavors were dominant with spices in the background. The fruit flavors have now changed into more floral notes. What an amazing journey! And these wines are a steal! We loaded up on three bottles (That's a quarter of our carrying capacity!)

We then headed to our first Maison du Vin (We've tried, repeatedly, to visit the maison du vin in Pomerol, but apparently they are never open.) The owners are a lovely couple who gave us a grand map tour of the region and explained that while the house (store) is owned by a collective of vineyards, the owner gets to pick and choose which wines they'll sell at any time. Tasting fees are a steal here (3 euro for 3 wines) and the bottle prices are, by law, the same as what you'll pay at a vineyard. We ended up tasting 4 wines here and bought another bottle.

Our guide at Coutet gave us two recommendations for lunch - Kris picked La Chapelle because it's on a road that shared a name with a white Bordeaux that was on the list at Piccolo for a while - Guiraud. Somehow, until we drove up, the penny never dropped for us that a white wine from Bordeaux could be related to a Sauternes. Sure enough same winery and it turns out they are predominately known for their sweet wine. The restaurant also turned out to be owned by the same group that runs La Terrasse Rouge where we ate yesterday. The food was excellent and we thoroughly enjoyed the pairing with Guiraud wines!

Our final stop for the day was at the famous Chateau d'Yquem. The visitor's center certainly shows the LVMH influence. The various years and bottle sizes are displayed on pillars in front of panels that seem to invoke the shoulders of bottles or the legs of a Sauternes trailing down the sides of a glass after a good swirl. The bathrooms (Well, at least the ladies) are completely gold, including the lighting. Clearly invoking the colors of the wines. Everything here is hushed and reverent and there is absolutely no interacting with the barrels, the messy harvesting areas, or anything that might speak to work or labor. We did a vertical tasting here as well - The '16, the '11, and the '06.

Similar story as with Coutet, except after 2006, the amount of time the wine is aged in oak was shortened. All three wines are delicious and very different from each other. I have to say though, I struggle with the cost of d'Yquem even more after this visit. I get that they are the only vineyard to receive the premier grand cru in all of Bordeaux. These wines sell for easily 10x their neighbors up the road though. And while part of what you pay for is the ability to age the wine (supposedly) 100+ years, that isn't really a factor for me. I'd prefer something I can enjoy now (Or even age for 20 years and be able to enjoy then) rather than worrying if the occasion is 'special' enough for the pricey wine.

All in all, a very successful day with lots of 'learnings'. Since tonight is Halloween I hope we've actually figured out how to turn our porch lights off remotely so we don't end up with any tricks!

Settling into Bordeaux - 27 October 19

Our first day in Bordeaux and we spent much of it sleeping. After rolling back to the hotel at 8:30pm (full disclosure, it would have been 8, but Bordeaux Marathon Relay cut us off from our hotel until we found an alternate route. I felt even more jet lagged at the site of hundreds people, decked out in lights running the streets at well past dark. Looks like a HUGE race though and really well organized so for anyone looking for an international race for their bucket list, you could do worse!) we tumbled into bed and slept the sleep of the worn. 11+ hours later (Legit. My Fitbit told me so.) we were up and ready to face...Well, what was left of the day.

We were supposed to spend the morning exploring the city then pick up the rental car (remember the train? Yeah, this was supposed to be the only rental on this trip) and make a leisurely drive to our base camp hotel in Saint Emilion. Instead, we had to hurry up and pack and I realized I had mistakenly set the rental pick-up to 10am so I had to hustle back to Gare Saint Jean to wrestle with yet another rental agency and then figure out where to stash the car for the day since adjusting the pick-up time would have more than doubled the cost of the rental. Fortunately, I was familiar with the train station layout, having circled it so many times yesterday, so the pickup was uneventful. I managed to navigate the 5 blocks to the hotel w/o incident and even learned that due to it being Sunday, on-street parking in front of the hotel was free. Huzzah!

By the time I had parked, Kris had been kicked out of the hotel room, so we hucked our bags to the car and prepared to explore the city on foot. We first headed towards the city gate that we had seen the night before. We then headed towards Chocher Saint-Michele (the spire is pictured below) where we found ourselves in the midst of a huge flea market.

Following my gut and the crowds, we ended up at the city marche. In the tradition of European markets, this puts even the West Side market to shame. Amazing fruits, veggies, meats, seafoods, and cheeses, I could have spent all day here. And in fact, we have a morning planned here later in the week - Specifically to dine on one of the seafood platters from a stall in the heart of the market. We settled for some window shopping and 2 of the best caneles I've had ever. Which led us to decide that we would say yes to every canele we saw in Bordeaux. I mean, it would be rude not to sample the local tradition, no?

Realizing that the day was slipping away from us, we hopped on a tram (Dear Cincinnati, if you want the streetcar to be successful, it needs to go more than 1 mile. And connect things. XOXO, EMS) and headed to the Cite du Vin. It turns out there's a fantastic food hall next to the museum, so we stopped for a light lunch of sardines and gravlax. Thus sated we headed to what I was worried was going to be a complete bust - a museum devoted to the history and making of wine in Bordeaux.

Turns out this place is amazing. They have used technology in a fabulous way to create interactive exhibits in 9 languages that don't feel overwhelming or confusing. We learned about everything from varietals to pests to soil types to pairings. And the whole experience is capped off with a glass of wine on their 8th floor observation deck. Really a great experience!

We ended up cutting our visit a bit shorter than I would have liked, because it was it was getting dark and we had an hour drive to the hotel. We walked along the river for a bit, then hopped a tram back to the train station. We saw a little shop selling caneles, so we picked up a couple for later. We found the car where we left it, unmolested no less. We threaded our way through Bordeaux and headed in to the pitch black vineyards. We fairly collapsed at the desk of the hotel and politely listened to the introduction from the receptionist. Kris did a phenomenal job booking us into an actual castle! Our room in the Hotel Grand Barrail (https://grand-barrail.com/en/) is in the tower of the castle! We found two caneles waiting for us in the room (are you sensing a theme?) which were good although not quite as good as the ones from the Marche. 

Tomorrow, we head into Saint Emilion to start the wine tasting! 

Cancelled train, a rental car adventure, and caneles - 25 Oct 19

We decided to return to France for our first vacation of 2019. Instead of Paris though, we decided to get out into the countryside a bit. Week 1 will be wine tasting in Bordeaux and week two will be spent in Brittany. It should be a good break for a year with a lot of change.

We left for France today. We decided to take extra precautions before we left this time, so we shut the water off to the house. Since this was the first time we've tried this, I of course had a 'Aw crud' moment halfway to the airport when I realized that I hadn't also shut off the gas to water heater. So, back to the house we went. Fortunately, we had planned on getting the to the airport fairly early so the unexpected detour didn't create a panic.

Check in at CVG was smooth and enjoyed an uneventful flight to Atlanta. Once we arrived, we headed to concourse E for a leisurely lunch at One Flew South in concourse E. We then picked our way to concourse F and prepared to board for Paris. While standing in line, I decided to check my email and found, much to my dismay, a notification from SNCF France letting me know that they'd cancelled our train tickets for CDG to Bordeaux. A little quick Googling uncovered that the maintenance workers were on strike.

So, cue standing in line to board a trans-continental flight, knowing that we're supposed to be in Bordeaux the next evening and having no way to actually get there. I pull out my Sapphire card and call the Chase travel concierge, hoping they could help. My first clue that this was going to go poorly was when my 'travel specialist' asked several times what a bore-ducks was and then where it was. He found a single flight with 2 tickets available, but at 900 euro each, that seemed like the last case offer. We had boarded the plane and were sitting in our seats when I was exclaimed 'So, you're telling me there are absolutely NO cars available to rent in ALL of Paris tomorrow?'

Fortunately, Kris pulled out his phone at this stage and started searching. With in 2 minutes he found a car for a one-way rental and reserved it shortly before they closed the boarding doors. So now all we had to worry about was whether or not the rental agency would honor the pre-paid reservation. Just what you want to think about during an 8 hour flight!

When we land in Paris, we decided to skip the arrivals lounge for a shower and change of clothes and head straight for the rental counter. After collecting our wine bag (now featuring a brand new 2" cut on the front pocket,) we headed to the Budget counter. The counter agent couldn't have been nicer; not only did he have our car, but he also offered us a life saving cafe.

We loaded our bags into our grey Peugeot 200S, and after a scant few hours of sleep on the plane, headed off in the pre-dawn dark for our 5.5 hour drive to Bordeaux. I had a bit of trouble figuring out how to get out of CDG. We ended up circling the rental lot twice before we figured out the correct turns (And this is with GPS.) Once on the highway though, it was smooth sailing.

We stopped at a rest area about 3.5 hours in for a snack and a quick nap and still managed to arrive in Bordeaux proper earlier than we would have had we taken the train. The downside was that finding the car drop off was 10x harder than getting out of CDG. I'm pretty sure I drove us around the Saint Jean train station 6 times (again with the help of GPS) before Kris spotted a sign no bigger than a sheet of A4 that pointed to the car return. We ended up on a gutted stone warehouse 2 blocks from the train station with a less than amused lot agent. Apparently he did not find comments about how difficult the lot was to find and that the GPS directed one to the wrong spot 'helpful.' Ah well.

Kris brilliantly booked a hotel mere blocks from the train station. So once we handed over the keys and collected our belongings, we stumbled to our hotel and collapsed for an hour of quiet relaxation. Realizing if we went to bed at 5pm, we'd be really screwed up time-wise, we decided to walk into downtown. It turns out that Bordeaux is the birthplace of one of my favorite confections - caneles. We stopped by Auguste K and picked up an assortment of flavors to try later.

We headed down the back streets to a square ringed in restaurants. A couple looked okay, but I spied a bistro down a side road that looked promising. We arrived at Le Michele a little early for dinner. So in the French style, we grabbed a table and a glass of wine each and collected ourselves. The people watching was excellent and despite our fatigue, time flew. We split a lovely onion soup; Kris had an entrecote and I had a duck confit. All three were excellent!

While it wasn't the first day in France that we had anticipated, everything ended up just fine. Hopefully tonight, we'll both sleep well so we can quickly get on local time. Tomorrow, we pick up another car and head for Saint Emilion.