Bordeaux

Bank holiday!! Such a welcoming break. In true Annie military fashion we rose bright and early, took the 730am Eurostar from St Pancras to Paris-Bordeaux. I am so slow! Just realised Eurostar leaves from St Pancras and not from Waterloo anymore, apparently the change happened one year ago ^^;;

The train journey took a good 6 hours to Bordeaux, but given it is summer the night was still young after we checked in at 5pm. First stop was a deserted submarine base near the north west part of Bordeaux. Wondering around the deserted part of the city, we hurdled across many rusted metal baracades, encountered a seemingly contraversially named 'MacDonald's Gym', saw the cutest Pomerian puppy in the world. Walking along side La Garonne, we soon reached Antoine - the best patisserie in Bordeaux which sold canneles, macaroons and other delights. As I gaped at my housemates satisfyingly chomping down the coffee macaroons they purchased, we soon arrived at La Place de la Bourse and Miroire D'eau, a large square with a layer of water overlooking the Pont de Pierre. We splashed and ran in the water in true juvenile fashion till later, before heading for dinner, where yummy foi gras and giant sized scallops awaits..

Second day was a day at the seaside. Early train to Acachon, followed by ferry to Cape Ferret. We deliberately missed the first line of restaurants as we arrived at the Cape, knowing they are more likely to be tourist traps than not. As we head deep into the bay, the number of restaurants became scarce. Mr Mak started to worry that there are no oysters being served in the area until at last, the true definition of heaven decended upon as we encountered a fresh fisherie that sold all types of seafood. We purchased 3 dozen oysters for a mere 15euros and ate on the sandy beach. After spending the afternoon sunbathing we headed towards La Dune de Pyla, Europe's biggest sand dune. It's an amazing formation, and the feeling of pure sand under one's feet; without shells or gritty bits, the feel of coarse and fine at the same time; is a truely interesting sensation to experience.

On the last day we visited St Emilion. UNESCO heritage for its wine and vinyard, as well as hosting Europe's largest monolithic church. The tourist info is a truely useless one, first giving us

incorrect info on an opening of a vineyard, then told us the wrong duration for the underground tour. This caused large grief due to our likelihood of missing the train, and was most comical to see when Yifei literally overid JJ's politeness with the French information centre guy and shouted, 'I want a taxi, and I wanted NOW!!!' St Emilion was the birth place of macaroons, which started from the people staying with St Emilion wanting to earn a living. Unlike the commercialised macaroons, these are made of flour and almond and tastes very different, but very yummy indeed! After sampling the wine of St Emilion, we purchased three bottles of very nice sweet white Sautern wine (if only I could carry more). Annie was in true snappy happy form and took lots of photos of fluffy clouds, vineyards, grapes, wine etc.