A Doxx in Europe: People, places, wine, and cheese.

So much has happened since my last post. It has been a packed few days with so many place seen, people met, wine consumed, and cheese eaten.

I was picked up early morning on the 31st by my friend, Fanny, and her boyfriend, Baptiste, from Gare de Vaise in Lyon. We then road-tripped to Bordeaux, along with Fanny's friend, Hélène. I guess the main purpose of the trip was to party for New Years, but we also ended up seeing so much of Bordeaux and the surrounding region. It pretty much turned out being. French food extravaganza!

The party on the 31st was simply awesome. So many cool people, great food, decent wine tasting, and of course the language.

Obviously the next day was dedicated to our post-New Year recovery, but we still managed to visit one of the greatest wine-producing villages of France, St Emilion. For all you wine drinkers, if you have tasted good French wine, it is probably from here. The village was beautiful, so old, and largely untouched since its prime in the 18th century. I ate my first canelé, which is a baked custard-type cake native and famous to the wider Bordeaux region.

The next two nights we stayed with Fanny and Hélène's friend, Lise, who was very kind to have us to stay, and quickly learnt about my love for vin (wine) and fromage (cheese).. Some of the cheese demolished that night included Bria Saverin, St Nectaire, and Chamoix d'or..

On the 2nd we drove to, and climbed, Europe's highest sand dune, Dune du Pyla! Such a stunning mound of sand on the southern coast of Bordeaux - pictures obviously follow below. The sad thing was to see a large amount of oil washed up on the beach from ship leakages etc.. Reminded me of the Rena disaster and how pristine we must keep our coastline. That afternoon we visited Arcachon which seemed to be the old people capital of the Bordeaux region... Lol yeah and that reminded me of Orewa.. It felt like summer so we had more vin, fromage, pain (bread), and saucisson (sausage), but this time on the beach. We ended the night with dinner at a Bordeaux restaurant with everyone from the New Year's Eve party - duck, French fries, and salad was eaten.. along with champagne. Ahh soo good.

The 3rd consisted of a usual early morning start and a comprehensive tour of Bordeaux, led by Lise! St André Cathedral, the Grand Thèâtre, and the Bourse Maritime were visited (to name a few), and Lise outlined the historical significance of each! So much was subsequently learnt - so if any of you want a run-down of Bordeaux's best historical sights - hit me up!

We then reluctantly left Bordeaux for Lyon.

My plan from there was to catch the overnight train from Dijon to Rome, a journey that I was unable to purchase a ticket for either through the Internet or by phone. So I decided the best way was just to catch the TGV to Dijon and hope I could by a ticket for the Dijon-Rome ticket. It worked out after a bit of arguing, and I was given a bed in a couchette with with a couple of old people who weren't in the slightest happy with my arrival - neither was I with their snoring.. But at the end of the day I was onboard and that's all that mattered. Anyway, 12 hours later I arrived in Rome, caught the metro to Arco di Travertino, where I was met by my friend.

Now just about to go out and check out some Roman sights before pizza.

Churr.