St. Emilion

We took a regional train from Bordeaux to St. Emilion. St. Emilion is a medieval village about 40 km east of Bordeaux. The trip was a beautiful view of the countryside, passing out of the city and into the vineyards that surround Bordeaux. The train stops at a tiny station in the country, downhill from the town. The walk up to town passes between vineyards.

You can see the steeple of the monolithic eglise as you walk up the narrow streets into town. The church is amazing. We took a tour of the grotto where St. Emilion lived in or around the 8th century, then the subterranean church. The church is monolithic, excavated out of a single block of stone from the 12th to the 14th century. Between the grotto and the church was a chamber of the catacombs, with depressions for bodies of adults laid to rest in the floor, and for infants in the wall.

After the tour, we lunched.

The best part of the day by far was exploring the town. The boys loved finding little streets and passageways.

Getting settled

We celebrated New Year's eve with oysters and wine and a fire.

Last week we drove to Dune Pyla with friends. It was rainy and windy, but the hike up the dune gives a beautiful view of the forest behind. The trails to the dune is flat completely flat through the woods, then the hike up the dune is straight up. The winds kept us from going up to the top or staying long; it was hard even to stand upright. We plan to go back when we can spend more time up there. On the drive back, we stopped at some of the oyster shacks along the Arcachon Bay.

After a few weeks here, we're feeling a little more rooted. We have a park to play in (Park Bordelais) and we have library cards now. The library downtown is big, with a large children's section, CDs and movies, and a huge section of bandes dessinées (comic books and graphic novels). Several American comics are translated into French as well, including Calvin and Hobbes, Bone, and Peanuts. The library sends around a book mobile that visits Park Bordelais every Friday afternoon.

Flowers in the park really stand out right now: it's a rainy season, cool and cloudy much of the time, but the garden has beds that are filled with pansies and other bright annuals. There are running trails, places to rent pedal-cars, a zoo, and lots of space to run around. The park is close to our apartment, and we go regularly.