Bordeaux

TJ and I (together with our friend James - and his wife Susan and baby Ian who lead our cheering squad) ran the Medoc marathon. While the pictures from this race are hysterical (we wore costumes,) they will have to wait for another post. It was a race that combined a full marathon with many stops at various Chateaux for wine tasting.

Great articles describing it are here:

and here


Our rule was that we had to run the entire race and stop and enjoy every wine stop. We enjoyed tasty snacks including steak and oysters along the way and got to see many Chateaux close up. It would have taken us at least a week to visit so many if we were sight-seeing. We gleefully completed the marathon in 6 hours.


While in Bordeaux we stayed at a the St. James in Bouillauc. We were celebrating not only our race, but sweet baby Ian's first stamp in his passport.

He traveled on the Eurostar with barely a peep. He took the entire trip with an air of calm and collection. I can't say the same for the rest of us. Our trip included what started as a smooth 40 minutes on the Paris Metro and quickly become a mad dash between train stations in Paris. The four of us looked like a comedy troupe of clowns as we scaled escalators, squeezed suitcases and daintily shoved pram between bars, sprinting for the train.

We pushed and heaved our way on as the whistle blew and doors closed.


But alas, we had this waiting for us.

There was plenty of enjoyment of the last days of summer and a long soak for tired legs.

TJ and I had a full day and subsequent morning to ramble around the town of Bordeaux. (Some of us were very disappointed that a renowned cheese shop was closed. Hint - not who you think. I have the photos to prove it.)



It is a glorious city made up of old money from the large wine brokers whose houses ring the harbor. Sort of like a similar in chicness to Paris, with a bit of modernity and a lot of history and grandeur.



The perfect ending to an adventurous experience.