Bordeaux

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  Bordeaux, France
Thursday, July 5, 2007

25-07-06

Bonjour a tous,

On a quitte Bordeaux hier pr aller sur Montpellier visiter ma famille.
Les 3 semaines sont passees tres rapidement. Ce fut la course aux vaccins, assurance voyage ect.. On est un peu sonne car en 1 semaine on a eu 5 vaccins et on a du tester des medicaments contre le palu avec des effets secondaires a la con : hallucinations, insomnies, cauchmars, depression... idees sucidaires. On a eu que les cauchemars et les insomnies: heureusement.
J ai realise apres coup que j etais super vaccinee contre l hepatite B : 6 fois / ca devrais aller.  
Nos sacs pesent 10/11 kilos chacun

So long, farewell, aufwierdersehen, goodbye!

. C est pas mal sachant que l on part pr 5 mois et que l on va dans des pays chauds et froids.

Lorsque j etais en Irlande j avais prevu de faire 1 heure de sport a Bordeaux, tous les jours pour me preparer physiquement au voyage. Bien sur cela ne c est pas du tout passer comme cela. Tout d abord je suis tombee malade pendant une semaine. Ensuite a cause de la bonne cuisine de ma maman et de ma soeur , j ai bien pris 1.5 kilos de gras sur chaque jambe. Et non de muscle . Bah c est pas grave , on c est bien fait plaisir : vin, fromage, dessert; legumes du jardin ect.... On a qd meme fait 33 kilometres a velo avec Virginie et Gwen. Et grace a ma grande forme , je pouvais a peine marcher le lendemain.
Mais l air de la campagne, la famille et les amis nous ont fait du bien.

C etait etrange de partir de Bordeaux sachant que je laissais derriere moi ma famille et mes amis pour partir m installer en Australie pour 5 ans minimum. Pour l instant je suis encore triste. C est rassurant de savoir que mon frere est a Sydney et que ma soeur a fait le choix tres difficile de vivre 6 mois en France et 6 en Australie. Donc je ne m en fais pas trop et je sais que les reverrais tous tres vite. Mais c est la sensation etrange et angoissante que cette fois ci je quitte la France et la famille pour de bon et pour les 5 prochaines annnees

Gare St Jean, Bordeaux

. Ca prend un peu de temps a accepter.  Et ce n est pas exclu que ds quleques annees si la situation economique est meilleure on revienne s installer en France.
On est chez mes cousins a Montpellier qui ont un bebe de 16 mois appele Malko. Il a la tete super dure, il se cogne partout , mais ne pleure jamais et a deja une nette prefrence pour les filles. Il pleure qd Tim l approche et gazouille qd c est moi :-) C est cool on vit au rythme du bebe et du raeggae. Car le bebe adore danser sur du raeggae. Il fait plutot chaud sur Montpellier.Cet apres-midi on part en direction de Marseilles; voir mon autre cousin.

Merci a la famille et aux amis pour leur aide et leur accueil. Je serais bien rester une semaine de plus afin de pouvoir profiter de tous le monde!

Laura


Hello All,

We just left Bordeaux after 3 weeks of eating, sleeping and eating and sleeping.  We must've seemed like a couple of sloths

Andrea, Celine & Matthew

.  But the eating was good (too good) and I couldn't help myself.  After what seemd like a 10 course meal every time we had lunch and dinner I was always bloated and tired but never able to manage to sleep off the side effects of good food.  But I suppose sleeping after eating is never a good remedy for getting fat.  I must've gained one kilo for each of the three weeks we spent in Chateau La Gontrie.  And it's strange, three weeks of resting and sleeping (& eating) and I still feel tired.

Our other activities for the time we spent there included getting vaccinated (yay!  Let's go get diseases injected into our bodies), visiting doctors, taking our almost daily stroll in the grape vines, visiting friends & relatives, restaurants (more food), surfing, teaching plastering, cycling (tour de France), and a little bit of cooking.

Laura's father in constantly in the process of renovating the old buildings on the property and it seems like it's difficult to get good tradesmen in France so for couple of days I showed Jean-Louis how to do taping and jointing (plastering).  I've never had an apprentice who picked up the basics so quickly.  In return, he showed me how to divine for water and underground cavities, pipes, electricity, etc.  And believe me, it works

Stephanie & Guillaume

!  I was skeptical at first as well (you only see that kind of thing in the movies) but when I actually got the hang of it I couldn't believe it!  I think the basic principal is that there is energy or some kind of magnetism that gets channeled in these underground pipes, whether it's electrical or whatever.  Similar to the principal of using a compass except on a different scale.  Like a compass is sensitive to the polarity of the earth, a coathanger bent at 90° and held loosely in your hand is sensitive to the immediate polarities at your feet.  It can be very accurate once you get the hang of it.  So, if you're looking for things underground, give me a call and we'll see what I can do.

The couple of days I spent surfing with Andrea (Laura's sister) were not too bad.  Although a little small and messy, it was nice to be back amongst the waves after such a long hiatus.  You could really see the potential for some nice waves if the conditions were right.  Unfortunately, the winds were mostly onshore.  But the last day we went surfing was at Lacano about 1hour north of Bordeaux, the swell was about 1 metre and the wind was very light and almost offshore.  I caught a coupla nice ones then the tide went out and I got caught in the rip.  Took alot of energy to get back in.  I was quite tired afterwards and keen to keep on going but unfortunately Andrea had to get back to the office

Bordeaux

.  As we were leaving a chopper had to come and rescue a couple of people that were caught in the rip that I was fighting against just 15 minutes previously.  Hopefully, next time I come back to France we can go to Biarritz, which Andrea assures me is a top surf spot.  Otherwise, I'm really looking foreward to coming home and catching the Easter swell down at Jan Juc (next to Bells Beach).

Anyway, it was a nice time in Bordeaux, but as always we must move on.  After an emotional goodbye, Laura is flying the roost (actually, training, bussing & boating to be more exact). 

Thanks for your hospitality Jean-Louis, Nola & Andrea.  We hope to see you again soon.

For now we are off to Montpellier, Marsellies & Nice to visit the relatives of Laura (I'm actually in Montpellier now but I'll write about it later).


Tim.

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Building in Bordeaux	Departure	Blue flowers	Chateau La Gontrie 1
Chateau La Gontrie 2	Chateau La Gontrie 3	Crazy Brittany Folk	French Drivers
Grapes, the finest in the world!	Johanne and Myriam	Lunch @ the Riveses	Lunch With...
Sunflowers

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