Le Tour, part 1 Oxford - Barcelona

Le grande tour of Europe began three weeks ago, late at night after a chocolate tasting in the cyptic quarters of Magdalen College. After a frenzy of packing and errands, Caroline and Jessica made elderberry pastry while i unloaded the contents of my kitchen cupboard onto Jessica´s bedroom floor. Thank goodness she´s staying in Oxford, otherwise i would have had no such luck. Anyway, we tasted chocolate and by the time we said goodbyes it was already 1 am. Jessica and i had to catch a 3 am bus, so we decided just to stay awake, since Jessica had to pack anyway. We walked out of Magdalen´s Holywell Ford at 2.45 am, and thus the journey began.

The bus brought us, bedraggled, to a cabon-neutral cab, the cab brought us to the train. The train took us through the chunnel to Paris, and oooh la la! Nick W and Sandra met us at the station, and about fell over laughing when they saw how much luggage i had. Nick sherpa´d us to his sister´s flat. Dazed and confused, we walked past the Moulin Rouge and then to the storefront where Amelie buys her groceries in that film of the same name. We walked to Montmarte, and the Basilique du Sacre Coeur which is the most amazing view of the entire city. It was like walking into a dream, with Paris laid out at our fingertips. Gorgeous. Then Nick played tour guide, and we drank coffee and we went to Notre Dame and the Louvre and the Seine and it was all very nice and Parisian. We ogled the bread, the pastries, the shops. There was a shop that only sold pots of mustard and vinegar. You can bring your own jar, and theres a tap that pours out different kinds of mustard. Plenty of entertainment in Paris, for the foodies certainly.

After some eating and interesting car packing, we sqaushed into Nick´s vauxhall, risked our lives driving round the Arc de Triomphe (good driving Nico!), and drove out of the city past the Eiffel Tower. Au revior to Paris, bon jour to Cognac! We drove to Sam´s family house which is on the north coast, about halfway between Bordeaux and La Rochelle. Its in cognac country, vineyards everywhere and fields of spent sunflowers. Little villages, dotting the landscape between rolling fields. All very picturesque and lovely, until then you have to try to find some house address and none of the roads have street signs or names apparent. After some searching and additional direction from Sam, we made it to the hostel of heaven. The house was amazing, with lavender growing out front, fig and plum and pear trees in the back and vineyards all around. A swimming pool in the back convinced us we shouldn´t ever need to leave. However, we were fortunately next to the beach, so we went there too. The beach was full of people, and good size waves. I wasn´t aware that clothing is optional on a french beach, but apparently, it is.

We made a big feast and told stories and said goodbyes - one last class goodbye, even though many were already missing. Then at 6 am on a misty morning, Nick and Jessica shepherded me off to the train station, where i met my first all day train trip, from Bordeaux to Barcelona (via Toulouse, Narbonne and the coast). No views of the Pyrenees as i had hoped - they were still too far away and tucked in the haze. But amazingly, i was able to muddle my way through with only 5 words of french and some euros. It turns out that one of the most important words to know for me is the word for "meat", so i can point and ask for "food without meat". Sin carne, por favor. If you just try all the languages you know usually you can communicate something, or at least you end up laughing together if nothing gets through.

This all delivered me safely to Barcelona, in the late of the night, 11 pm. And Nuria was there, at the train station to catch me! My saving grace. We hauled my baggage through the stiflingly hot metro to her flat in Barcelona, and flopped into bed after cranking up the air conditioning so we could sleep a while. Then the next chapter began...the Pyrenees.