Bord-uh-eaux

Back when we first started dreaming of this trip we had chosen the Dordogne region to make home. This sounds ridiculous, but we fell in love with it after watching an HGTV show about buying and fixing up a house in the Dordogne. I researched several villages for where would be best to settle with a little one and eventually narrowed it down to three. We planned a trip for May of 2020 to visit Ruchir, who by then had, by a twist in fate, purchased a house in the Dordogne. We would meet with a realtor and travel to each of the villages and figure out exactly where we would be calling home come 2021.  

And then came Covid. And as the days of lockdown turned to weeks and months, we slowly realized that our reconnaissance trip was not simply delayed, it was cancelled.  As in permanently.  I don’t know exactly when we it happened, probably sometime after we’d joyfully rung in 2021 only to realize nothing was changing, but we finally accepted that we were going to make this move without ever having visited the area.  

And that’s when I started rethinking Dordogne. I mean, sure it is an absolutely stunning region, but most of the villages that were in contention for calling home were tiny. At least they seemed tiny to people moving from a the 4th largest city in America.  And I had a five year old to think of.  The closer the trip got, the more painfully aware I became of Nora’s needs. Or, now looking back, what I thought would be her needs. The more I rethought it, the more I felt like being in a bigger city would be much better suited to our needs.  I knew that a bigger city would mean much more English speakers.  And don’t get me wrong, I don’t think people of other countries should be required to speak English for my convenience.  Far from it.  But I do think that being surrounded by English speakers, especially when changing everything else about your life, is more convenient. And for a 5 year old making such a big transition, I wanted to make it as convenient as possible. I also wanted to live somewhere with an abundance of children’s activities to keep her busy and to help acclimate her to her new French life.  Don’t get me wrong, I also knew a bigger city would be easier for Paul and me.  So, I filled Paul in on my thoughts and a new plan was made. 

And so, after a few weeks of settling into the nice life at Ruchir’s, we packed our bags for a little exploration trip to Bordeaux.  We hopped on the train for a quick a three-day visit to what we believed would be a our new home.  Before leaving the states I asked a Bordeaux moms group for recommendations on where in Bordeaux we should settle with our five year old.  Overwhelmingly, the response came back that we should look into the Chartrons district.  In the name of finding our new place to be, we booked an AirBnB claiming to be in Chartrons.  **Remember that earlier post I did raving about using AirBnB?  Yeah, well the one downside is that you don’t get to see exactly where the house is located until after you book it.  You can probably see where this is going.  It’s going nowhere good.  Our hearts dropped when we got off the tram near what was supposed our new neighborhood.  It was a silent and sad walk to our apartment.  It’s not exactly that it was a bad area.  It was just an empty area. Not in people, but in ambiance.  It was apartment after office building after apartment after office building.  There were no cafes, no shops, no historical sites, and no views.  There was none of the stuff we were looking for.  All I could think was Bord-uh-eaux!  What had I gotten my family into?  Was Paul regretting all his trust in me and my plans??  It didn’t help that our actual apartment wasn’t all that great?  Again, not bad, just not anywhere we wanted to be.  Things were not looking great.

After dropping off our bags, we headed out to walk the city.  But, without any idea of exactly what we were or what to do, our first impression wasn’t great.  Our lunch wasn’t bad tasting, but we sat outside and sewer odor wafted by our table the whole time.  Again, Bord-uh-eaux.

Luckily, we found our way to The Water Mirror just across from the Place de la Bourse, the absolute highlight of our visit.  The Water Mirror is the world’s largest reflecting pool, but really, think of it as the most beautiful splash pad you’ve ever seen.  Nora and Paul jumped right on in with, what seemed like all of the kids in Bordeaux.  They ran around and played in the water and I sat back taking in just how beautiful the whole scene was.  

I won’t lie, even after a nice time in the heart of the city, I went to bed with that sinking uh-oh feeling.  I laid awake that night feeling really nervous about what I’d gotten my family into 

The next day though we woke up and decided to make the most of our weekend and get acquainted with this new city.  First thing we did was hop on a boat tour with Bordeaux River Cruise.  Look, I’m the first to admit that a boat tour sounds real boring.  But, this was actually a good time.  We were lucky to have a guide who would also translate for us (see above when I mentioned convenience).

Next, after walk through the weekend market (a must see/eat) we headed to the the Jardin Public for a little playground time for our kid **this will be a major theme for this blog.  The park itself is really pretty with beautiful with gorgeous sitting areas, ponds, and surrounding cafes.  It is truly a lovely place.  The playground area was nice and big, complete with a merry-go-round.  While we sat watching Nora play, a mom came over and introduced herself as an English-speaker (native to Germany, but who lived in LA) and she introduced her son to Nora while the adults sat and talked.  It took the kids a little time to warm up, but we put them on the merry-go-round and sent them around over and over until they were fast friends. 

Now, here is where it gets really crazy.  Or at least for me.  Anyone who knows me knows that in spite of how I present myself, I am terribly shy.  I hate meeting new people.  Well, I want to meet new people, I just don’t want to have to talk to them.  Well, somehow during our chit-chat at the park, we agreed to meet this new family for dinner later that night, something I would not normally do.  I had to have a little pep-talk with myself.  I want to teach my daughter how to be open to meeting new friends and I need to model the behavior I want for her.   And to be honest, I’m glad we went.  Very glad.  We had a wonderful dinner while the kids played under the lights of the cathedral.  It was exactly the kind of thing I’d imagined when dreaming of our year abroad.  And now we have new friends who live in Germany!

On our way to dinner with new people.

That finger…

The end of this story ends up much better than it started.  Despite our initial fears, we definitely enjoyed Bordeaux.  It turns out that Chartrons really is a great area (we just weren’t actually in it) and that Bordeaux really is a great town (we just didn’t have a great first impression) and we are open to actually living there.  

The problem is Bordeaux isn’t open to us living there.  A week after our first visit we went back to try to find somewhere to rent.  We met with a few realtors with no luck.  We’ve been told that for every apartment that goes for lease in Bordeaux they receive twenty applications and that preference is always given to a French applicant.  Not the best odds for us.  But, we will keep trying and and we consider Bordeaux as a great place to settle, but it just might not be where we get to settle.