As I said, my extended stay in Bordeaux happened by accident, but it wound up being quite a happy three day layover before the journey to Barcelona. I briefly mentioned Ulisses in the Paris post, figuring I'd explain more here. Ulisses was one of a handful of really friendly, cool backpackers I met at St Christopher's in Paris. We wound up hanging out a few times in Paris for food and the two walking tours, and the Musee d'Orsay. He's from Brazil, where he worked before quitting to do a one-year round the world trip - he's already about six months in, and has been all over the place. Whether or not you read Portuguese, his blog is worth checking out just for the pictures

Anyway we hit it off in Paris, and figured we'd hang out for the night I was on layover in Bordeaux. I arrived and found the screwed up train situation, but it worked out for the best as Bordeaux was a nicer place than I'd assumed, and Ulisses and I were able to spend a few days working our way through the city and having a couple adventures along the way. We parted ways as he went on to Nice and Cannes and I to Barcelona, but hopefully we'll run into each other again later on

Good

Bordeaux was simply a great place to be. The weather was generally good, the public transportation (trams) are cheap and efficient, and the central area of the city is pedestrian only, and has an excellent variety of shops and endless assortment of places selling delicious and reasonably priced food. Even the typical French unpleasantness seemed lessened compared to the awful Parisians - we ran into a number of helpful locals

We bought and drank copious amounts of the local Bordeaux wine, which was cheap and delicious, and of course more cheese. At one point I accidently bought some super-processed cheese from the market and felt almost sick eating it, it was so poor in comparison to the real thing

Bad

Being away from the coast, Bordeaux got uncomfortably hot during the day, but there were good areas to cool down around the lake or by the estuary (not a river, I looked this up)

Ugly

Not much - Bordeaux was a great little city. Some of the areas close to the train station were a little run-down and unpleasant compared to the central area, but I never felt unsafe

Places

We didn't do too much traditional sight-seeing around Bordeaux, choosing instead to soak up the atmosphere and stuff ourselves silly on the local cuisine

Rue Sainte-Catherine

It's well worth walking the length of this street and the surrounding pedestrian-only areas in the central city - be sure to stop and sample some food every 50 feet or so, or until you burst

Baud et Millet

A cheese-lover's paradise, I found the recommendation for this restaurant from my tourist guide, and it was an amazing experience. Upon entering the place seems fancy and decorative, but otherwise fairly typical. But the real treat is the food, specifically the buffet, which you can order with or without a main course (I recommend with). You won't notice the buffet as you walk in because it isn't near the upstairs seating

Instead downstairs, in an atmospheric stone cellar, is the most amazing collection of cheeses you've ever seen. And you can take as many and as much as you can possibly eat - and believe me, I tested the limits of the possible that night. With the meal comes a glass of wine and as much bread and water as you need to accompany the cheese - i.e., a lot. The variety and quality of the cheese was far beyond what I'd imagined, and easily worth the somewhat steep price of admission

Lacanau-Ocean

This was a tangent on a tangent, an unexpected visit to the ocean during an unexpected stay in Bordeaux. It started when Ulisses and I were walking along the estuary and found an impromptu outdoor restaurant serving a decently priced meal of raw oysters and white wine. The raw part freaked me out a bit, but I was eventually convinced to just go with it. The oysters and wine were both delicious, and our server was kind enough to give us free extra glasses of wine, I think in part because they were packing up to leave

Shortly afterwards, a young French woman (Lynn) who apparently knew the restaurant owners came over to chat a little, and offer us even more of the white wine. We chatted for a little while by the river with her and her friend (Alex), who was visiting from Toulouse (if I remember correctly). Then, on a whim, Lynn mentioned that they'd been planning a quick trip to the ocean, and asked whether we'd like to come along. I was confused on the geography, not realizing how close Bordeaux was to the coast

Alex drove like a mad woman, I guess because she'd spent most of her time in Paris. At speeds up to 145 km/hr we got the ocean pretty quickly. The weather at the ocean wasn't great, and the water was freezing, but I loved the spontaineity of the whole excursion, and somehow wound up taking a very brief swim in the large, cold waves (Lacanau is a surfer's haven), to everyone else's shock

It turned out Lynn & Alex were old childhood friends who hadn't seen each other in three years, and wanted some time to catch up before the weekend ended, so Ulisses and I got ditched back in Bordeaux after returning from the ocean. Nonetheless, it was quite the spontaneous, hilarious adventure

Accomodations - Barbey Hostel

The hostel was probably the worst aspect of the city - the interior decor was like something from Soviet Russia, they had all sorts of odd and spottily-enforced rules, and some of the staff were downright rude. They also kept putting "full" signs on the door even though the hostel seemed deserted, and two out of three nights even our room wasn't full. Still, it was mainly just a place to stay, and the computers and kitchen were decent