Bordeaux break

Ray and I normally travel carry-on only because we know what it’s like to stand in a deserted baggage claim area, watching an empty luggage carousel, in the faint hope that one more bag will drop: the business trip to Wellington where my bag arrived on the final day of the conference; the kayaking trip where Ray’s luggage awaited him upon his return; the suitcase containing Nick’s stocking stuffers that didn’t make it home for Christmas. So we were pleasantly surprised when my bag was one of the first ones to drop down the luggage carousel…but then “Monsieur Ray Chodura, veuillez vous presenter a la reception de la reclamation des bagages.“ His bag made it from Ottawa to Toronto to Paris, but jumped off in Paris while we went ahead to Bordeaux. Air France loses luggage much more politely than Air Canada though. The bag was delivered to our accommodation later that day, and in the meantime Ray was offered a toiletry kit and told he could claim up to 100 Euros in purchases (we did neither as it was only a matter of hours).

We stayed two nights in Bordeaux (l’appartement Bordelaise – nice room, great location, free parking) to give us time to recover from jet lag before starting our pet sit. We hadn’t heard much about France’s yellow vest protestors recently and didn’t really associate them with Bordeaux, but the protests still take place every Saturday (for the past 21 weeks). Fortunately, we arrived on a Sunday, but the windows of every bank we passed had either been smashed or were boarded up, and police have been warning residents to stay inside during the protests. All was peaceful during our stay and we’re now in the quiet countryside.

From Bordeaux, we drove about two and a half hours to our new temporary home. Ray was quite excited when the snow-capped peaks of the Pyrenees came into view.

We arrived at our pet-sit in time for lunch, and over the next 24 hours, we got to know the owners, Alix and Bob; the cats, Midgy, Honey & Ralfie; the inner workings of the house and barns; and other critical info, like where to buy groceries and how to get to the chocolaterie.

Snakes were mentioned, so given my snake phobia, I’ll avoid the open fields and barns and hang out with the kitties in the “catio”. The weather’s been mixed so far, but we have plenty of time, so we can take advantage of the sunshine when it’s here and chill indoors when it’s grey and raining.