I travelled to Bordeaux to meet two friends of mine from Alexandria who were taking a Silverseas cruise and were stopping on Bordeaux for two days. I went up the day before so I would be sure to be in time to meet the ship when it docked on Sunday morning.

The trip up was by bus as there must have been some issue on the train line between Toulouse and Bordeaux. I think this was proven as the TGV (fast train) did not meet any of the fast speeds on the way back from Bordeaux on Monday. Both trips were nice and uneventful.

Once I got to Bordeaux, I went to the Airbnb I was staying in. It was an attic room (studio) but was very nice. It was in a very old building and the stairs up/down were interesting.

I did some wandering around Bordeaux and just enjoyed the sights. I had been to Bordeaux on my last trip to Toulouse so I had seem most of the important sites so just enjoyed wandering the streets and seeing what was going on in the city.

That night I had dinner on the large esplanade that borders the river. I had chosen a seafood place as I love the seafood towers that are available in France with all the unusual shellfish. I had a one person tower which was very good but was not quite enough to satisfy my shellfish craving so I had a dozen oysters on top of the seafood platter. It was a great dinner washed down with a half bottle of Bordeaux white wine.

The UEFA League Championship final match was being played that night and Paris St. Germain was one of the teams. So there was a lots of excitement around the city and many bars where showing the match live. There were two couples sitting next to me and one of the men kept trying to get the score (as our restaurant did not have the match playing – it was very small and did not have a TV). He could not get reception but I could so I was giving him the score as we ate. He was very appreciative of my cell reception. It was funny that an American could get reception but a Frenchman could not. Paris St. Germain won and there were fireworks and lots of celebrations. It was only the second time a French team had won and the first since 1993. It was also PSG’s first win!

Sunday I got up and found a nice little coffee shop to have breakfast. The poor young lady was alone in working and it was crowded. I had a wait a little while but it was done with lots of apologies and much friendliness.

I meet Emily and Barbara at the ship dock. The Silverseas is quite a ship and it was impressive to see it dock.

Barbara, Emily and I walked around for a while and then found a cafe to sit and enjoy the afternoon. They are not as energetic and mobile as I am so I had to make sure we did not walk as much as I would normally do but they were game for the adventure.

We had a fantastic dinner a Le 1925. Emily, our server, was fantastic. The food was very good. I had escargots which I had not had previously on this trip. It was a really fun evening. It was the first time in 2.5 months that I had real conversations and did not feel a lack of communication ability. It was the most I had spoken English in this entire time. It was nice to be we long time friends and just be able to relax and enjoy the company!

The next day it was sort a repeat of the same activities. I went to the same coffee shop for breakfast – I call it a coffee shop as that it how it advertises and not as a cafe. Then met Emily and Barbara. This time we were joined by Barbara’s sister who is also on the cruise. Since it was Monday, few things were open so we wandered around. We stopped for a Spritz as Bunny, Barbara’s sister cannot walk long distances without a rest. After a little more walking, we had lunch on the esplanade. I had Steak Frites which I had not eaten much in this trip. It was very good. Again, it was nice not to have to think all in French. I still did as much as I could in French with the staff but in Bordeaux because it is such a large tourist destination almost everyone will speak English to you. We had a break bottle of wine (Graves) with lunch.

After chatting with Emily a little more, I think she needed a slight break from being with Barbara and her family, I headed to the train station and back to Toulouse for my final day in Toulouse before I head back to Alexandria. I am both happy and sad at the moment. It will be nice to be back in familiar places with my friends but I will definitely miss Toulouse and the community I have built here. Tomorrow is last lunch at Le Panache and the last run with Run in Toulouse.

Need to get packed and do the final clean up of the apartment!