Meandering With Murphy

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Thursday, April 11, well, we finally did arrive. Because of the snow (yuck!) we had to de-ice causing a one hour delay, which of course backed up everything! The flight went well but a little more turbulence than normal. We hired a car service to pick us up which we were really glad we did. After going through passport control and picking up our luggage we were off to Gare Montparnasse at 9 am. Originally we were to land at 7 am so I thought it safe to make a train reservation for 9:52. Alas, the traffic was horrible and we did not get to the station until 10:45!!! We then had to go and change our ticket for the 11:54 train. This involved asking in French for directions which went better than I expected. The efficiency of the ticket office was like the system for getting a new license (not very). It took us 30 minutes but we did not have to pay to change our ticket! Then I was very pleased with myself for finding the right car and seat!

We arrived in Bordeaux at 2 pm. We used WhatApp to communicate with Megan and Julien, our hosts, about our train delay. Julien met us at the station and we were off to Langdon, about 20 minutes away, to pick up our car. Julien and Megan had arranged for the rental car and it was great having Julien there to facilitate communication and then to set up the GPS in English!

We got to Auros and Rouge Bordeaux, unpacked and then walked around the town to find money and a few groceries for the morning. We couldn’t find la banque but we saw a man and in “my” best French I asked where the banque was. He actually got the gist of what we wanted and he was so gracious that he walked us toward the banque and waited until we signaled we had some money! Very nice man.

Megan and Julien got home about 5:30 the same time we were getting back from shopping. We unpacked our groceries and then visited while they prepared a wonderful spread of oysters, charcuterie, cheese and bread. And of course we had wine! After nodding off at 9 I went to bed and Scott followed about a half hour later.

Today, Friday, we are exploring Langon, a larger town. More about Auros, Rouge Bordeaux and whatever else happens!