We flew to London via Seattle on Monday/Tuesday, arriving about half 7. We had a 3p train to Paris, so with a few hours to kill, we took a train to central London (from Gatwick) and made our way to the Charles Dickens museum. It’s located in the first residence he had with his wife. We learned about his life, which included going to work in a factory at age 12 when his father was jailed in debtor’s prison. He only revealed this to a few close friends during his lifetime, but his works are full of his insights from the experience.
The train to Paris went through the Chunnel, which was pretty cool in theory. In practice, it’s just a long dark tunnel. But knowing you’re going under the North Sea to reach mainland Europe is alright. I believe France is now country #23 on my list of countries visited. Upon arriving at the train station, we bought another train ticket for a local train to the place we’d booked. We met our friends Keith & Naomi (they flew in from JFK and arrived a few hours before us) and headed out for dinner and drinks.
Day 2 in Paris was a LOT of walking. We went up a tower for a panoramic view of the city, crossed the river Seine multiple times, and enjoyed the Jardin du Luxembourg. Dinner wasn’t as good as the first night.
On Thursday, we caught the bullet train to Bordeaux, hitting speeds around 200 mph. We like Bordeaux. It has amazing architecture, many pedestrian-friendly streets, people out and about everywhere, and plenty of places to pause for food and/or drink.
Today, Friday, we drove our car out to Saint-Émilion – the heart of wine country. It’s a bit touristy, but what a postcard-perfect town! We (I) may have driven the rental car into a ditch (very obscured by weeds!) while trying to park on the side of the road. The front passenger side wheel may have dropped off the road, and the rear driver-side tire may have been a couple of feet off the ground. A friendly and helpful Frenchman may have stopped to give some assistance. I allegedly had Leena sit in the rear passenger side seat to help stabilize the car while the Frenchman pushed from the passenger side. A turn of the wheel while gunning it in reverse may have pulled it back out of the ditch.
This may have happened. Allegedly.
We did some tasting in town, mixing in a couple of cave tours. We had another great meal in Bordeaux tonight and are enjoying a Blanc de Noir we tasted and purchased in Saint-Émilion earlier today. We’re off to San Sebastián tomorrow.
