Bordeaux, take two!

Dana and Lauren

the Cathedral and passing tram

at the Christmas market

Steve and Lauren

Lauren, Dana, and Steve in Bordeaux

Us at the water mirror

Lauren and Dana at the sweet shop

Oh Christmas tree!

For the weekend we headed back to Bordeaux to actually see the city and Lauren. On Friday Lauren had invited us to her churches young adults Christmas party. They were going to be playing white elephant and so if we wanted to participate we were welcome to. So our plan was to pick something up when we arrived in Bordeaux. Our train was a little late getting in, so we had to quickly rush to find something and make it to Lauren's on time. Everything worked out fine and we made it to Lauren's pretty much on time. Again she made us feel welcome and glad to be there. Within a few minutes we were out the door and heading to the church. It was a very fun evening. We got to meet many of Lauren's friends there and had a nice meal together. There was salad, veggies, meat and potatoes with melted cheese, and pop. After supper we heard a message and sang Christmas songs all in French! It was awesome! Next was white elephant. Everyone chose a number to see the order in which we would go. There was no limited for how many times something could be stolen but' there was a time limit. It was really fun. Dana ended up with a box of chocolates, Lauren, a calendar, and Steve, a beach mat. We then hung out for the rest of the evening and had some tea and dessert. Sometime during this Steve noticed one of the boxes of chocolates we brought was still under the tree so, he swiped it! Lauren gave her calendar away, Steve gave Laurn his beach mat so, it all worked out in the end. We walked back to Laruen's after the event was over and hung out for a while. Then Lauren went over to her friend's place for the night. The next morning Lauren came back after she was done teaching English; she teaches some children and families English two times a week. We had some breakfast and then headed out to explore Bordeaux. We ran into some of Lauren's friends during the day and had a wonderful tour of the city from Lauren. We stopped at a known bakery in Bordeaux and purchased some macarons (raspberry, pistaschio, and black currant passion fruit) and canelles. We spent some time walking around a cute Christmas market and then Lauren treated us to some yummy raisin and nut bread and then a coffee at a cute little cafe. We ate our desserts with our coffee because that is the only way to do it! Chloe, another one of Lauren's frineds joined us for coffee as well. We spent the evening in Bordeaux taking pictures and walking around and then headed back to Lauren's for supper. We enjoyed some yummy pasta together and then went to Lauren's friend's for her birthday! We had a very fun evening there and met lots of people from Winnipeg (as well as other places)! Then we all went back and had a slumber together! In the morning we said goodbye to Lauren and headed to the train station to make our way to Evian les Bains for our next help exchange!