© June 2005
Written by Juliet Lac
Edited by Vernita Irvin
As all my regular readers know, my son, Kenny, and I usually
travel to foreign countries during the French school’s holidays.
However, since we had just come back from Vietnam in February,
and since while on that trip my son made a new friend,
Joffrey, a young French boy who lives in the countryside
near Bordeaux with his family, we decided to visit Joffrey.
Joffrey’s parents run a bed & breakfast in Moulis en Medoc.
We became friendly on our trip because Joffrey's grandmother is half
Vietnamese. She lived in Saigon when she was young and left the
country 55 years ago. Her daughter, Joffrey's mother, had been
craving to travel and visit Vietnam ever since her childhood and
the family finally made it back with us. She loves everything
Vietnamese, so much that her bed & breakfast is stylishly
decorated with a touch of Vietnam. She even brought back two
large, beautiful stone statues from our trip. (The manufacturer
sent them to her home by ship and they arrived in perfect
condition.) Joffrey’s father is a wine broker. He likes to talk
about wines with his guests at aperitif time before sitting for
dinner.
When Joffrey’s parents proposed to Kenny to spend one week with
the family, Kenny was very happy. And so, on the last week in
April, I dropped Kenny off at Bordeaux train station. I then
continued to Lourdes for three nights. I had reserved a
hotel room with
Venere.com
via our site. I stayed at the 4-star Hotel Moderne,
located just across from the sanctuaries--a very convenient
location indeed. I paid €58.00 per night for a single room.
There was no prepayment or deposit required until I checked out
of the hotel. When I arrived at the train station in Lourdes, I
did not know that I could take the City Bus (a
small-sized, blue shuttle bus system subsidized by the tourism
office) to the city center and the sanctuaries for the extremely
low fee of €1.20. I learned this only after my five-minute
taxi ride that cost €7.00. Even with this glitch, I was
pleased to see the bus system. It did not exist during my visit
to Lourdes six years ago. It is a great bargain and I highly
recommend it.
On my last visit, I came with Kenny, but as he’s gotten older
and made his own friends, I am often able to venture out on my
own. One thing I’ve noticed that when I travel alone that
people don't treat me as well. When I am not easily
identified as someone’s mother, I am treated like a younger,
single woman, possibly under 25 years of age. This is not always
flattering, as it can lead to some hostile stereotypes about
“roaming, young women.” For example, when I checked into my
hotel, the staff was suspicious. I guess they had a good reason
to be suspicious, since the rate for a single room is so much
lower than a double or triple room. But I also felt they were
expecting me to bring men to my room, or perhaps, do something
illegal. During my entire three day visit, it felt as if they
all had their eyes on me, waiting for me to do something. I
did not like that feeling very much and will remember it the
next time I consider a visit to Lourdes.
go to page 2...
