My room mate from the previous night was a lady from Rouen, who I had a bit of a chat with in the morning, and she kindly gave me her contact details and said I could stay with her if I ever want to go there. Very generous offer! She also tipped me off about the trams. Turns out you could get an hourly or day pass for cheap, and pretty much just sit on them and be carried around the city. Sweet! That suddenly became my day plan.
But, first, tried out my phone card and rang Ma and Pa. First convo since their second visit to Saint Gaudens (ie 2-3 weeks), so nice to talk instead of texting... might have used up the whole phone card in one go...
So, for about NZ$8, I tootled all around Bordeaux in the trams, and quietly wished I'd tried to find out more about them on the wet days... Oh well. Didn't quite get to do all of the lines, but went way out to the suburbs in some directions, which was interesting to see (but not nearly as pretty as central Bordeaux). Check out this cool feature which allows the trams to twist around bends...
One thing I really enjoyed visiting was the public gardens. When I first walked in, I wasn't too impressed, as it was pretty much a big grassy area. However, as I wandered through, I discovered lots of pretty areas and, once again, took lots of photos.
Lunch was not exactly the pinnacle of French food, but it certainly made me happy at the time.
Started to panic a bit at end of the day, as hadn't left myself as much time as I'd have liked to get back to hostel and train station. Ooops. Turned out I was ok, and had about 10mins of sitting on the train before it took off.
Felt quite pleased with myself, as I wandered past an uncertain-looking person on the platform, and he was like "Do you know where you're going? Do you speak English?" Why, yes! Guessing he didn't speak French at all, as he couldn't understand the bits on his ticket which told him which carriage he was in, and what his seat number was. Yay... I'm finally getting familiar enough with something French that I can help someone else!
Lots of camo-clad soldiers (a few with rifles) wandering around at Toulouse Matabiau station, and a few in civvies but with a giveaway issue pack. Not sure why. Think some were going back to base, but the rifle ones were apparently patrolling. Hm. Wonder what the latest threat is?
Last hour on the train seemed much longer, but eventually got back to chez moi (my place). First time I'd travelled away from St Go (except for a day trip to Toulouse) so kinda nice to come back and realise that it's become familiar, and more like home!
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