The distance from our hotel to Place de la Victoire was at least 2 miles, or so it seemed. We found only two Laundromat, about 3 minute walking distance from the Place de la Victoire. That wasn’t going to be an option for us. We may have missed one that would’ve been much closer, so we made note to look for one on the way back to the hotel.
At the shopping strip, we simply walked the street, looking for a place to eat. Out of all the restaurants, we entered Subway. It was like a typical Subway restaurant in the US, and the menu was more or less the same. Following Subway, we had coffee at French Coffee Shop. This coffee shop proved to have much better quality than Starbucks. Unfortunately, it was only available in and around Bordeaux, and some south-western part of France.
We also came across a luggage store that caught our eyes. In fact, it was a particular duffel bag that caught our eyes. It was a medium, black bag that seemed quite sturdy. With our growing amount of stuff we’ve accumulated during our trip, we saw fit that a bag would be needed. The price tag was at 25 €, but the seller knocked it down to 20 €. We tried to bargain, but to no success. But since it was needed anyway, and the price seemed reasonable, and we saw no way that it could be a swindle although that could be possible, we decided to buy it.
For some reason we were really feeling tired and lazy. Initially we were going to wait in this area for Flora. But afterwards we decided to simply go back to the hotel. Maybe we could get a little bit of rest time, and plus we needed to get our laundry even though the ones we found were a bit far. We also decided to cut one day off in Bordeaux and shift Paris earlier by a day in order to gain an extra day in Amsterdam. The thought was that we ought to go to Almere in the Netherlands and meet with Tante Nenny whom Sheilla got the sponsorship from. We wanted to give her a thank you present for what she had done.
On our way back, we ran into Flora. She was already done with her class and had text us that she would come to visit us where we were. Of course, we received her text right then as we met her. We explained to her that we wanted to get our laundry done and that we might use the one we have found already. Then, she insisted that we should bring our laundry to her place as she had washing and drying machines. After making sure that it was really ok with her and that it won’t be too much trouble, we agreed. We walked back to the hotel, which at first was a little confusing because she parked her car near where we met but yet we’re walking to the hotel, and most probably then to her car. However, I recalled how expensive gasoline was and that Flora mentioned it took her up to 60 € to fill up her entire tank for her car. We also explained that we were thinking about cutting a day off in Bordeaux. Of course we’d have to ask the hotel front desk if that’s possible.
First of all, we needed to see if we could cancel the hotel in Paris and re-reserve it. It turned out that it was possible. So we did so and cancelled the last day in Bordeaux, therefore we would take the train to Paris on the 8th of March. Luckily we have not reserved our train seats yet, but we made note to do so tomorrow first thing in the morning.
At last we were ready to leave. We all walked to Flora’s car, which was close to Place de la Victoire. We had our laundry this time, placed inside the new bag. It turned out to be quite useful and convenient.
She lived just on the other side of the river from where we were, about 15-20 minutes by car. Matth, her boyfriend was already there waiting for us. The apartment was a little small, but not too bad for the two of them, even though sometimes Matth’s parents would come over to stay once in a while. They lived in another city, smaller, and quieter. For now, they were in their little city and not with Matth and Flora. They both had a dog, Polen, and two small cats. Amazingly, as I would like hopefully someday, the dog and cats lived together in harmony.
We sorted our laundries and put them into their washing machine. We looked over Flora’s photo album of when she came to LA for EF. There were only two albums, unlike Sandra’s five. Then again, Flora stayed for only 3 weeks in LA, while Sandra stayed for 9 months and occasional visits. After picture-viewing, we took a stroll to a nearby park to walk Polen. From there, we were able to see Bordeaux city center.
We stayed at the park until it was almost dark. Then we headed back to Flora’s apartment. There, we started the second laundry load while the first was moved to the drying machine. Our stomachs signaled us that it was time for dinner. We have planned to have sushi at a Japanese restaurant in the city center. So we left behind the laundry to do work, and we were off.
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We met up with Anaïs and her boyfriend, Nicholas, at the restaurant. We got in and looked at the menu, which to me wasn’t providing as much sushi as other Japanese restaurants I’ve been to. They did have “combos” where you could have sushi and regular meat at decent prices. So we all decided on our own combos. Mine was all sushi, while Sheilla’s was all meat, since we could just share anyway. Matth had a crazy one, where there’s a foot long boat filled with sushi. It was enough for two people, and he was ready to consume all the sushi from the boat. Big guy, big appetite.
After dinner, Sheilla and I planned to pay for everyone, even though the bill came out to around 120 €. But it turned out that the credit card machines used in France require the chip on the credit cards, much like what American Express cards have. Since I didn't have that on any of my cards, I was forced to allow Matth to pay for everyone. So he did, we thanked him, and we were off to an Irish pub.
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At the pub, we had a pitcher of their very own home-brewed beer. Although normally I'm not a big fan of beers, except for Blue Moon and Heifeweissen, their grog was particularly good. With alcohol with us, we played billiard pool, English style, called Blackball. That is, instead of numbered balls there are all of one of two colors. The eight ball is still there along with the cue ball. The link to the Wikipedia is provided for more info.
We played for about an hour or so before it was already getting late, and some of us became tired, myself included. So we called it a night, Flora took us home, and that was that.
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