The French Dispatches - Part Quatre

In Part 3 of the blogs about our recent trip to France, we indulged our inner 5 year old's by looking at tons of shiny objects at the Musee de l'Armee, and we ate an amazing dinner in Paris at Les Fauves.


Sipping real champagne high atop Bordeaux

After all that food and wine on Friday night, we slept pretty well into Saturday morning, waking up only when our alarm sounded.  We dressed and headed downstairs for our final breakfast at Hotel Le Six; it seems everyone else was still asleep, as we were the only folks there.


All of the food is ours!  Muhahahaha!


I made myself an eggy toasty bacony tomatoy thing,
but I couldn't pass up a true pain au chocolat!

Post-breakfast, it was back up to the room to get ready for spa time!  The voucher we purchased through Travelzoo several months back included a visit to the on-site hammam, and the timing worked best for us to use it the day we'd be checking out of the hotel (we had some time to kill before our train left, and this stopped us from getting to the train station WAY too early).  


All ready for the hammam!
Also, this shot gives you a good idea of the size of our hotel room,
which was rather generous by European standards.

We enjoyed the hammam - it was honestly nice to be warm for a change by this point in the trip - but my favorite part was when we hit the button for "tropical forest," and one of the sprinkler heads misted Chris right in the face.  Good times.  Anywhoo, it was back up to the room once more, this time to shower, change, and pack up our suitcases before heading out for good.


We normally have horrible luck with European showers being the size
of a postage stamp, but this one was huge.
The only issue was this - we took to calling it "God's toiletry shelf."

Bidding adieu to the wonderful staff at the hotel, we ordered an Uber to take us to the train station, the Gare Montparnasse.  Although it wasn't far away (we'd walked there the night before when we attempted to visit La Ciel), it was well worth the 10 Euro fare to ride the distance in a car versus hoofing our bags there on our own.  Paris has several large train stations (gares) around the city, and we got pretty lucky that the high-speed trains that go to the south of the country (like Bordeaux) all leave from the one on the left bank, about five minutes from our hotel.

Per our normal, we were there with plenty of time to kill, so we grabbed another set of coffee/tea, as well as some lunch to eat on the train ride (sandwiches from Eric Kayser and macarons from Laduree).  Before too much longer, it was time to board!


The shopping side of Gare Montparnasse


Sometimes, you just need a chai


All aboard!
We bought our tickets 90 days ahead of time, using the Trainline website,
which is a great option if you're not in Europe.
I think we paid about $100 for both of us, round-trip,
and that included perks like luggage allowances, Wi-Fi, upgraded seats, etc.


Time for lunch

The trip to Bordeaux took just over 2 1/2 hours (it didn't take as long on the way back, for reasons that will be covered in a future blog...dramatic foreshadowing!), and it was super easy.  The TGV train we were on was a high-speed one, and we read and surfed our phones using their reliable WiFi while we zoomed through the countryside.


Some of the blurry, gray scenery from the train ride


Windmills!


Getting closer to Bordeaux and seeing vineyards

We disembarked at the Bordeaux St-Jean station a tiny bit early, and after purchasing some bus/trolley tickets from the helpful ladies at the TBM counter, we met another Uber for the drive to our home for the next three nights, the Chateau Pape Clement (we could have taken the bus to the chateau - and did many times in the coming days - but again, with the luggage, the Uber was easier and quicker).  Making our way to the reception desk, we had a slight wait (the reception staff was upstairs, helping to service rooms), but within a few minutes, we were all checked in, our breakfast preferences were noted, and we were each holding a glass of wine (made onsite, as Chateau Pape Clement is an incredible winery and vineyard) in our enormous room, the Clos des Songes suite ("clos des songes" = "close to dreams").

And I truly mean enormous.  This place was easily the size of our living room at home, and that didn't even include the bathroom, which had a bathtub (with shower attachment), dual vanities, a toilet, AND a bidet.  


For reals, this is about half of the room.  It was gorgeous!


Because of course there's a chandelier

As you might imagine, the view was also lovely:


Looking out toward the vineyards


Vineyards from another window


The reception area and stairway leading to the guest rooms -
that's the same window you saw in the picture above

All settled in and with a change of clothes, we headed out, ready to go back to the city center for the evening - more stories and pictures about that on the next blog!

Au revoir!

Amy

PS - Looks like someone is still palling around with her husky friend:


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