Bordeaux.

My Sandals on the SAND DUNES

Bordeaux was one of the sketchiest places we had ever stayed. We walked off the train to find our hotel and walk down our street, boasting strip clubs and escort services. The men are appalling- rude, disgusting. And the homeless people created a little slum in the park across our street. Full on slum, stolen cardboard and tin. So initially, Robyn and I are absolutely, thoroughly disgusted. And the constant harassing is making us feel incredibly unsafe. First impression? I hate Bordeaux. Appalling.

A vineyard we visited

And our hotel? Nothing to brag about. Since it was a suite, there was no maid services. By the end of our stay the garbage inside our room was actually starting to pile, and we had run out of toilet paper. We may as well have gone to join the pleasant fellows in the park slum. And probably one of the most disappointing breakfasts- for €7, at that. Coffee made from a machine. Cereal. And the worst jam I have ever tasted (really? How do you mess up jam?).
Second day there we do our usual wander through the city. Down town is actually quite pleasant- lots of cafes and endearing little shops. Some of the most beautiful Catholic churches as well, and many of them! The walk down the river was nice, and there are many families residing in Bordeaux. If it weren't for going back to the place we were staying, this may be a decent place.
The Wednesday we arranged to go to E'cole du Vin, and learn about wine. Bordeaux is incredibly famous for it's wine, on a world scale. I really enjoyed learning about the wine, the process of creating it, and of course sampling some wines from the area. Particularly I enjoyed the Cabernet Sauvignon we tried, as well as the sweet white wine. The rest of the day we wandered- all over the city. By the end of our time in Bordeaux we had probably walked every street in the downtown core 15 times.

Jess having some fun with wine barrels

Thursday Robyn and I decide we would like to spend some time at the beach, so we hop on a train to Arachon, on the Atlantic coast. We had heard from someone that the surrounding area hosts the largest sand dune in Europe. We find our way there, and are utterly amazed. Honestly it felt as if we were in Egypt. Only in this one area can you get a conifer forest, a massive sand dune, and beach all within 10 minutes of walking. We spend the day tanning, swimming, and playing in the sand like little kids. As we had walked down the the beach, however, on our way back at the end of the day we had to walk up the dunes. I understand now why people ride camels. Got a nice tan, both of us. Golden brown (especially out of the ordinary for me- yay!).
Friday we arranged for a vineyard tour. We visited two estates in the area, tasting two sweet white wines and two reds. The first vineyard was very small, and run by a spirited French man who didn't speak any english. This was where the sweet white was made. Learned about the 'noble rot' that it takes to produce a sweet white wine, a certain type of fungus that alters the grapes and actually causes them to rot. This creates a grape, when fully ripened, that is withered and very, very concentrated- which is where the wine gets it's sweetness. The second vineyard was much larger, definitely less intimate. I found the reds to be slightly metallic, and preferred the Cab-Sauv from the previous day. Overall, however, a lovely way to spend a day.

Looks all pretty- Bordeaux

Our vineyard tour guide was an eccentric French woman. She provided us with knowledge about French wine, and how it is so superior in almost every manner. Yes. She is incredibly pretentious- it's almost humorous. Until the very end, when she gave the bus a lecture about the demise of civilization. The cause? Youth. The means? The fact that we're not drinking wine. Shame on us guys. We are screwing up royally. Drink French wine, or we will all fall into hellish anarchy- just saying.
The weekend we spend walking walking walking, around and around. Nothing overly eventful. By this point I'm getting sick of this place and just want to get to Paris.
The walk to the train station this morning at 5:45am was interesting. You know you're in a bad area when you rush to walk to the train station because there are cops outside of your door- extra protection? Nope. Just stopping some kids in a car.
Anyhow, now we are on the train to Paris!

stolen goods market wheu

Only 10 more days left in our trip. Pretty crazy how long it's been. Can't wait for Paris. Or the cleanliness of my environment when I return home.
-Jess

'I didn't know pigeons could fly that high. Good for them.'

After quiet time in Tuscany Robyn and I were quite excited to again be in a large city. It was wonderful to be able to relax in such a beautiful place, but we had become quite restless- and Milano was the perfect remedy for this!
Before we left for Milan we were visiting with the receptionist in Tuscany, and he asked where we were going next. We told him, and his reaction was quite strong. Something like 'Aiyyee, no no Milano!' (or so it goes in my mind). So while on the train we were already quite nervous for what we would find there, seeing as every other large city in Italy has been rather disgusting. Needless to say, we were pleasantly surprised.
Milan was beautiful. I do believe one of the cleanest cities we have been to yet, and people pick up their pets' fecal matter (yay!). The most astonishing feature was how quiet the city was. I really hate loud noises. We find our hotel and are also quite pleased, very clean and with two English channels, BBC and CNN. It is kind of silly how much you miss little things like that, just hearing your own language spoken on a television show. The first night there we wander around the city, have some dinner (nothing special), and head off to bed.
The second day we spend, again, wandering. We find ourselves in the downtown core, where all the designers are. Milan is one of the most amazing places for shopping, seeing as it is a fashion capital of the world. Everywhere you turn there is a Prada, Fendi, or such other beautiful stores. We were in heaven.
One of the best parts of Milan was the people. Well, the men. And just the way they looked really...heheheh. I am a sucker for men in suits, and they were everywhere. So beautiful. I wish I was a man so I could wear suits. Yes Barney Stinson, you are right. Words of wisdom.
The Duomo was yet another church. But honestly absolutely amazing- the outside was so ornate I couldn't believe it. It's incredible the detail work the Catholics put into their cathedrals! We also saw our first gargoyles- yay!
In the centre of downtown there is a street of shops covered by an intricate dome. So it's kind of like an outdoor mall, but with murals on the roof and beautiful detailing. Inside there were expensive little restaurants and more designers. Prada, Louis Vuitton, BMW and...McDonald's? Yes. Right next to Prada was a McDonald's. Good job Milan. Way to keep things classy.
Our last supper in Italy was on Tuesday. Food in Italy had been rather disappointing up to this point, so I wasn't expecting much. But hoping, for my last meal, for something delicious. So I ordered pasta, naturally. Gnocchi in a cream salmon sauce. So good! Finally. Robyn was rather disappointed in her dish- it was quite salty. Oh well. We tried. So we had our last supper in the city that holds da Vinci's painting of the Last Supper. Wheuuu. We left the next day for Aix en Provence, France. One day I will return to Milan, again, when I have more money. And when I am not too intimidated to go into Prada and such because I feel like poor poor scum. One day, one day Jess.
Arrivederci, Italia!

Tuscany

Tuscany: well I cannot even describe the beauty of Tuscany. We've all seen pictures of the vineyards, the olive groves and the rustic buildings, but I only expected to find these things in isolated areas! But this was not the case, I am not sure if it was because we were in the right spot, for we did not travel around the whole Tuscan area, but where we were staying had all the things that I expected to find in Tuscany. The first day we arrived to a very rainy day in Florence and basically everywhere. We had to take a bus to our small town, Pass dei Pecorai, between Florence and Greve in Chianti, which took around 2 hours with traffic. If you have any sort of motion sickness problems, aka tante and mom, I suggest never taking buses anywhere but especially here in Tuscany. It is a rather hilly area, so you can imagine the winding roads up, down and around the hills with the Italian driving, not a great combination. Anyways, from this rainy drive we saw the most gorgeous views. The whole area is like a postcard. Villas on hills, small and large vineyards, olive groves, golf courses, and forests. absolutely no huge resorts in sight, no high rise buildings, no large hotels.
We eventually get to our small hotel after transferring mid drive in the middle of the road to another bus, and find it quite charming. Very laid back, we basically told the man at reception our name and he gave us a key. Simple. We settle in (around 6:30) and start to feel hungry, so Kevin and I go venturing in the town. Well apparently everything is closed on Wednesdays, so we end up having to buy supplies to make dinner at the restaurant connected to the place we are staying. I am pretty sure the entire complex was run by one family so this wasn't a problem.
The next day we discover the major drawback of being backpackers in Tuscany: no car. The bus schedule is a general time, we were given a schedule from the man at the desk, and there was one at the stop, they were both different and neither was ever right so we basically had to wait for an hour or two at a random time and hope that a bus would show up to take us anywhere. The town we were staying in had one general store, one restaurant, and possibly two small hotels. Not much for us to do there. So we eventually catch a bus into Greve in Chianti, and find ourselves in one of the most charming towns I have ever laid my eyes on. Clean, quaint, small and situated in a valley surrounded by vineyards, Greve was the ideal location. All the buildings were either in the Tuscan/slightly Mediterranean villa style, stucco on the walls with colorful shutters (the Italians favored the green shutters we noticed-in France they are mainly blue) and planters hanging off of the balconies, or the stone buildings with cute shutters, archways and terra cotta rooftops. Either way it was the shutters that added the character. We walk around and find a square with local shops, mainly wine, meat, and cheese (heaven!) then venture up a hill that had a magnificent view. We stop by a storefront window advertising houses for sale, and see none under €900,000, so we now know we are in a super nice area of Italy.
That night we decide to take a walk up the road that is directly beside our hotel. Forgetting our cameras we find ourselves with the most amazing view I have ever seen, and might possibly ever see in my life. Vineyards scattered on numerous hills, mixed in with forests and villas. Right at sunset. To make things more amazing, we see a pack of over 30 wild boars in the rows of trees about 40 feet from us. We also see many rabbits and a deer on this walk. Sometimes it is just amazing to see things through your own eyes, and not spend the moment trying to capture it on camera.
Okay I feel like I need to talk about the awesomeness of the man at reception. This man is probably about 40-50, happy Italian, clearly loves his food and wine (if you know what I mean) and is full of information. We discover this on the second day when we inquire about touring a vineyard in the general area. A simple question turns into a half hour speech about wine in the area. he is one of those older men who says 'oi yoi yoi' a lot. Jess and I got a kick out of this. He also taught us to swear in Italian, and told us the same story about Chianti wine twice. His wife/sister/possible other relation had a fascination with me and would stroke my face or back or hair or anything every time she saw me, not creepy but in a motherly way. So you can imagine this place is very homey and open.
We spent a whole day just relaxing and tanning by the pool, well I tanned and Jesska got her burn on (she should be done burning now so hopefully the french sun will treat her well), which was really what we needed after a whole month of sightseeing. The only bad thing about this day was while I was walking to the pool i stepped on a bee/hornet so my foot was not a happy camper for a few days. Speaking of bees. The bugs in Tuscany are huge. We saw at least 5 bees that were (not exaggerating) 5 times bigger than normal bees. Yes we have the big bees back home but these were huge. I almost died a few times.
The room we were staying in had a small kitchen, so we spent the majority of our dinners at home which was a nice change from eating out at restaurants every night (and bad food-come on Italy you did not represent well). We had steaks, pork chops, rice, potatoes, carrots, and cauliflower. All things that we would eat back home. We also saved a lot of money doing this. And I loved just cooking, it's been a while. We were going to take a cooking class while we were there but we ran out of time- all things to add to my travel to do list.
We wanted to go and see Florence, and the day we chose to go was Sunday. I do not know if this was because it was Sunday or the public transportation sucks, but no busses came in the 2 hours we waited. The schedule said that two should have came, but none showed up. So we did not get a chance to see Florence, so I must go back one day.
Anyways to sum up Tuscany: do not go unless you have a car rental. It is gorgeous but extremely frustrating to wait on busses which don't really take you anywhere but major towns. And they do not have wide margins on the roads or paths near the roads so it is also impossible to walk from town to town. I will be returning later in my lifetime for sure, and will probably enjoy it much more!