Have to catch a train to Bordeaux at 9:11am, so no time to waste. Turns out we were there an hour early and had plenty of time to waste.
The local metropolitan line (Abesses) goes straight to the main regional link station (Montparnasse), so after allowing an hour and a half for travel, we were there in 30 minutes, even allowing for lugging our suitcases a kilometre up and down stairs.
Not sure how many people were travelling on that train but it has 28 double-decker carriages, so a lot. It gets into Bordeaux at 11:14am. 2 hours and 3 minutes to cover 584 kms is fairly snappy (285 km/h average). The French do know how to run a fast train, quite unlike any railway in Australia…
We rolled off the train in Bordeaux along with about 10,000 Springbok supporters (South Africa were playing Romania at 3pm) and wandered out the front, wondering how to get to our accommodation. We were greeted by three RWC volunteers who helped out – pretty sure they would have come with us if we’d asked – “just get a tram C or D, then change to an A at Porte de Bourgogne and get off at Hotel deVille”. That’s simple enough, can’t cock that up. But we did.
That A we got on wasn’t an A, it was another C, and was heading for the stadium. Seriously, the town is infested with South Africans and most of them were on this tram. Anyway, we realised our mistake after a few stops and got off, then found a B tram which also went to Hotel deVille. All good after that. And on the plus side we worked out the entire tram system in about an hour. That wouldn’t have happened if we’d done what we were told.
Spent the afternoon watching the Rugby at a sidewalk cafe, until it started to pour, whence we retreated inside. This spooked the waitress a bit as we’d racked up a tab of €55 ($100) up to this point and I think she thought we’d done a runner.
And that was the end of Sunday. Hardly a photo to be had, except for these.
Stephen and Michelle
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