Taking the Train from the South East all the way to the other Southern part of the country, Cannes to Bordeaux was my journey; despite being 9 hours it wasn’t arduous because of the beauty of the trip; copious amounts of green inserted itself in my view of the train window! Unfortunately I passed fun towns like Toulouse the university city, and Montpellier the music town, and my friend in Biarritz (the surfer town), couldn’t host me unfortunately – until next time I’ll reach these other great places. Nonetheless my time in Bordeaux could not be bettered it truly was a spectacular French experience!
Invited by my vegan Jersey friend, who has been working in a beautiful chateau, which is outside Bordeaux, in a small place called Lussac. Her relaxed employers (who pay her with amazing food and accomodation) are her family friends who own and run this holiday haven. The family friends are a middle aged British gay couple from London, they’ve been together for 28 years, and are still going strong! Yes your typical French holiday, not quite but still this is not unusual as there are thousands upon thousands of Brits who have houses here, who are either retired or are still working. This middle aged couple were the most fun I’ve had with any middle aged couple; from beautifully cooked dishes by the ‘house-husband’ to late night drinking sessions with the ‘bread-winner’ (of the house),where wines varied from a 1997 to 2007 and then your extremely average two euro Rose to top things off! Being a Kiwi I was supposed to join in the ceremonies that started at dinner at 8 pm and finished at 2 am! I was ready for bed at 11 pm but the bread-winner told me there was still wine on the table (represented by three bottles that were currently open), therefore I was obliged to stay and live up to my Kiwi reputation. Well, since he was a bit intoxicated I cleverly funnelled all the wine his way, he must have put away three bottles – in theory I joined him, well he thought so anyway. Nonetheless, he was rekindling some of his favourite drinking sessions he had shared with many-a-old-friend in this region; and with all the wine flowing, the conversation got more thoughtful and interesting with every bottle consumed by he and my friend. This former London corporate accounts manager (who was use to really quizzing business personale) quizzed my friend and me in the most compassionate way possible, with questions like ‘where do we see ourselves in ten years and what are our dreams and desires’. Furthermore he gave us some of his great life-stories, and they got more entertaining as the night went on, and more candid as the wine bottles emptied. After this session we were also his friend!
The day and night before, we spent in Bordeaux, luckily we had accommodation, the couple's semi-adopted son who they had known for nine years had an apartment we could stay in! This guy is a Malaysian who they met in their holiday apartment in Phuket, Thailand, as his family lived next door. Since then, he has been associated with them in Sydney, London, and now he studies at Bordeaux university and is close to them again! This is not unusual for this gay couple, they take in many young people and make them their own; they have 8 god-children from many of their friends! They are just like that, very giving, very hospitable, and I also think the fact they don't have any of their own this is a viable substitute for them.
And Bordeaux what a place; I was totally taken by this small city. Firstly there were loads of young people, who were really divergent, from (well-dressed) African hipsters, to Rasta’s (my friend and I witnessed pot changing hands); subcultures everywhere, with rockers at rock bars in the night and hippies chilling at vegetarian restaurants in the day; Moroccans at shisha tea bars, or simply just regular students at the local pub! This was really refreshing, rather than the extremes of the haves’ and have not’s (I have experienced) in the Cote d’Azur; this was a refreshing change. It just seemed people were more relaxed there wasn’t this tense intensity! My friend and I got a fresh taste of it all! We boogied down to some African beats while being the only white people in the club (she was hit on by an large African dude – what attitude: I wish I could exude such confidence); drinking in a local stylized cabin type bar to start the night; and finishing off having some Mint tea in a Moroccan shisha lounge - was all the perfect atmosphere for each occasion.
On the drive home from Bordeaux (the next day)she noted a characteristic which totally defines the area: “vineyards as far as the eye can see”. This is true, this area is sparsely populated by old lovely country houses, where many of the families have lived and made wine for generations upon generations. This region is famous for this, and the Chateau gay couple had their middle-aged next-door neighbours over for dinner – who do everything in their harvest including picking the grapes, and this process has been run through the family for years. This tradition is changing ever so slightly, one family had their daughter marry an Englishman, yes an Englishman! However he has learnt from his father in law, and now put his own spin on the great wines their vineyard makes!
Nonetheless some 'traditional' things just don't change and shows how the French family is still dominated and favoured by the patriarch. 'The neighbours' wife had a husband who passed years earlier, and now in French law when the first parent dies (statistically it is usually the father of course), half of their assets go to the children. Now this meant the wife had to give her only daughter half-the-estate, the daughter duly accepted and didn't see anything wrong with this (it's cultural and that's all there is to it). Morever with the (25%) government-state tax (on inheritance) the daughter had to have this paid for out by the wife, who in turn took out a mortgage to buy the land back (that was rightfully her's). Now the daughter has much more money, and the wife has her estate back, but due to Government laws I felt this was totally unfair actions taken by the daughter in a cultural aspect I don't agree with! All very complicated but anyway I think that is how the story goes, I had had a few glasses of wine by that point in the night - as you do in this region, as you do! A french friend of mine said before I went, even if you don't like wine you have to try it, that I did my friend, I did indeed!
