With the forecast for last Friday being sunshine and 28 degrees, I decided to do what any professional, career-driven woman would do – take the afternoon off and go to the park. This seemed like something the French would approve of.
Given my (albeit limited) understanding of French people so far, working does not seem to be something that’s high on their list of priorities. However, from what I can tell, walking around – generally looking fabulous – and sitting around, eating and drinking, are things that they are very much on board with.
You get the idea.
Anyway, according to Google Maps, Parc Bordelais was an easy 20-minute walk from my flat – in a pretty much straight line so even I couldn’t get lost. There’s also a petit train touristique that does a lap of the park, which I definitely wanted to do; if petit train drivers in France work on Friday afternoons… unlikely.
After spending the morning arsing around working hard, I set off and, miraculously, actually ended up in the park 20 minutes later. I had done it – me, in nature, on a beautiful Friday afternoon in Bordeaux. This sure beat the crap out of working.
The park is absolutely stunning, a 28-hectare green space in the heart of the city, with around 3,000 trees, many of which are more than 100 years old.
However, as I suspected, the petit train was not running – it only operates on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays, which seemed a bit random but the French work in mysterious ways.
Anyway, after strolling around for a very pleasant hour or so, I eventually adjourned to the sunny terrace of the park cafe.
Bonjour, I would like a glass of (butchers name of wine), please.
Your French is excellent.
Hmm.
Non, non, madame! It is enough – in France, you only need to be able to order wine. And maybe bread.
And perhaps a pain au chocolat.
The barman raised an eyebrow.
No, wait! It’s not called a pain au chocolat in Bordeaux, it’s a chocolatine! See? I’m learning!
The barman beamed at me.
Slightly aglow after wresting victory from the jaws of defeat, I inserted my card into the machine.
Urgh, you’re German!
My card had betrayed me. Whenever I insert it, the language on the machine switches to German – which in this case, clearly, was not in my favour.
He took the card out of the machine like it was scorching his fingers, then handed it back to me as if fearful that being German might be contagious.
No, no, no, I’m Irish! I just live in Germany! Look! I also have an Irish card!
His expression transformed.
Irish!? I love the Irish – sláinte, what’s the craic, póg mo thóin!
Bah ha ha! This is the best service I’ve had so far in Bordeaux!
OK, I may have thrown the Germans under the bus a bit but it’s not every day you get a Frenchman telling you to kiss his arse in Gaelic.
Well worth it.
Expat Eye on Germany 
Clearly he’s started with the most important parts of the language. The rest he can pick up later. I respect a language-learned like that.
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Same – I’m mainly communicating with uhhhhhhhhhhhh, alorrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrs, and putain 😀
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A very nice afternoon indeed. Really, you only need to know a few key words in French to get good service. You say “bonjour” when you enter any shops or restaurants even if you think there is no one to talk to. You say “au revoir” when you leave to anyone and no one in particular…And obviously “merci”. Also, it is myth that French people don’t work hard; they do but more efficiently then most so they can take more time off and they do enjoy their time outside of work. Work doesn’t always define them like it is the case in the US or maybe even in Germany!
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Yes, it’s very obvious – a completely different way of life, even in a big city like Bordeaux! I can only speak to the service / hospitality industry so far, but I’ve honestly been really, really impressed. Even when the queue in a supermarket is massive, or a terrace is rammed, everyone gets served quickly, politely and with a bit of banter. It’s so nice! Even young people – in Germany, they look and act like they just want to be somewhere else 😀 I did want to post more photos of the park but I’m pretty much out of storage space on WP so will have to delete old media or come up with a new (cunning) plan 😉 Really nice to get the French perspective on what I’m writing by the way, thanks!
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I understand the feeling of running out of space. I have had to delete a bunch of posts and photos recently though I am also thinking of paying the basic annual fees to get more and to get ride of the annoying ads.
As for th French, I am far from an expert as the French culture is quite different from the one in Quebec though we had some experiences of it from living in Paris for almost 3 years.
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I think three years is more than enough to get a good feel for a country or culture! Although it’s also a lifelong learning experience, which I love 🙂 The book I’m reading is set in Quebec actually – I’m not very far in but she’s just described the transition from winter to spring and how the city just explodes into life – sounds great!
The next upgrade I found is $50 a month, which seems a bit much for a personal blog…
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Yes, the transition from winter to spring is amazing and we all very much look forward to it. Though something there is a short return to winter like last week snow storm (30cm) that covered my crocuses and other plants that were trying to get out of the ground but the snow is now gone and my plants seem to have survived.
As for the plan, we are still on the free one so for us to subscribe would be 60CA$ a year so that is quite reasonable…
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Yeah, it can be like that in Germany too! You get all excited one day and then it snows for a week 😀
Looks like the cheapest add-on I can buy is $50 a month for 50GB of storage… will do a bit more research 🙂
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Hmm, OK, there’s the starter pack for $4 a month with 6GB – is that the one you’re looking at? I want to keep the domain name I have though 🙂
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Sorry for the delay…we were busy with the total eclipse that came over Montreal yesterday. An amazing event!
Yes, I was referring to the starter pack. I don’t know about your domain name but I would assume you would be able to keep it as you have already paid for it.
You could also consider reducing the size of your photos to save on storage. We resize all of the photos we post on our blog and save them in lower resolution. It makes them faster to load when people are looking at our posts and it takes up a lot less space for storage…
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