.7th Chapter – Bordeaux

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Chapter Two – Aix en Provence.

Chapter Seven – Bordeaux

Bordeaux, Thursday July 21, 2022

Today was sidewalk sale day in Bordeaux. It was fun wandering around the streets for bargains.

We leave tomorrow for a month in Florence. It is a short flight.

Bordeaux, Tuesday July 19, 2022

In the evening, as the day cooled down, Rebecca suggested that we go for a walk in a new area near our Air BnB.

We discovered several interesting things.

First was a marker commemorating Charlemagne’s visit in 778 where he buried the Horn of Roland.

Roland’s ivory horn was a point of contention between Roland and Oliver during the Battle of Ronceveaux. Despite Oliver’s requests, Roland refused to blow his horn and alert Charlemagne to the threat the Saracen host posed to the French rearguard. In the end, he does blow the horn three times, though it is by then too late to save any of the Twelve Peers or their knights.

Before death, Turpin attempted to take the horn to retrieve water for Roland, but was too wounded to walk.

The horn is finally broken when Roland used it to smash a pagan who attempted to seize him.

It is unclear whether this horn is the one Charles placed upon the altar of St. Severin in Bordeaux following his victory over Baligant.

Later as we wandered further, we chanced by the remains of a Roman colosseum ‘Le Palais Gallien’ built 1,800 years ago.

The ruins are known locally as ‘Le Palais Gallien’ – and there are two suggested reasons for this. One is that the arena was built for Emperor Gallienus, who reigned with his father between 253 and 260, and then on his own between 260 and 268 AD. The architectural style and certain artefcats recovered from recent excavations indicates the arena was built before Gallienus’s reign. There are Medieval sources that seems to suggest that the ruins are the remains of a palace built by Charlemagne for his wife Galiene.

At the end of the day we were greeted with a nice sunset as we left for home just a 15 minute walk away.

Bordeaux, Monday July 18, 2022

We have not heard back from the Bordeaux Prefecture regarding our meeting to pick up our Visa extension and pay the fee so I sent them a note today.

Unless they respond quickly (not likely) we will have to fly back from Florence for a day to make the appointment in Bordeaux. Not a big deal as flights are rather inexpensive.

Bordeaux, Sunday July 17, 2022

It is going to be quite hot the next two days. I went our early for a walk to the flea market just to get a few steps in and returned early.

We have to make some plans for October with the Paris option gone.

We leave for Italy on Friday as our summer travel plans begin.

Florence July 22-Aug 22,

Cinque Terre Aug 22-26,

Lake Garda Aug 26 to Sept 1,

Ortisei Sept 1-4,

Venice Sept 4-Oct 5

Paris, Saturday July 16, 2022

We had a 11 AM checkout and stored our bags in the office as our return train to Bordeaux wasn’t until 7:44 PM.

The weather was quite warm, as it was all week, so Rebecca and I set out on foot to explore the area along the Seine and Notre Dame. We visited the Archaeological Crypt on Île de la Cité and did a virtual tour of Notre Dame. Both were very interesting.

The Archaeological Crypt on Île de la Cité is one of the biggest in Europe and retraces the development of the city. Vestiges date back from antiquity to the Middle Ages, the work of Haussmann and the Paris of today. This underground museum, attached to the Musée Carnavalet, promises a journey through time. A fun and interactive tour will take you to the port of Lutetia, the Gallo-Roman public baths, and Notre-Dame during its construction.

In 2021, the Crypt is paying tribute to the cathedral which overlooks it in an exhibition with videos and 3D models. An ideal opportunity to learn about the making of a legend thanks to Victor Hugo!

After we were both hungry and had an unremarkable lunch at a local eatery in the area.

We were feeling rather tired after all the activity so we headed back to the Air BnB office to retrieve our bags and take the Metro to the train station Gare Montparnasse.

We arrived at the station a few hours early for our 7:44PM train and caught another unremarkable bite at the station. The train was packed and we arrive back in Bordeaux a bit after 10 PM. We took the #1 bus back home arriving around 10:30 PM.

Paris, Friday July 15, 2022

Today was Sarah’s birthday.

She treated herself to a sauna and defoliation at noon.

I met up with her for an early dinner before Rebecca joined us for our 6:30 PM tickets to visit the Louvre. We stayed there until close at 9:30 PM. We spent much of our time with the Egypt stuff, visited the Mona Lisa and ended up in Napoléon’s apartment. We barely scratched the surface of rooms there.

The Louvre was originally built as a fortress in 1190, but was reconstructed in the 16th century to serve as a royal palace. “Like many buildings, it was built and rebuilt over the years,” said Tea Gudek Snajdar, an Amsterdam-based art historian, museum docent.

During its time as a royal residence, the Louvre saw tremendous growth. Nearly every monarch expanded it, according to History.com. Today, it covers a total area of 652,300 square feet (60,600 square meters). In 1682, Louis XIV moved the royal residence to Versailles, and the Louvre became home to various art academies, offering regular exhibitions of its members’ works.

During the French Revolution, Louis XVI and his wife, Marie Antoinette, were forcibly removed from Versailles and imprisoned in Tuilleries Palace, which was then adjacent to the Louvre, according to the Louvre’s official website. They were beheaded there in 1793.

The National Assembly opened the Louvre as a museum in August 1793 with a collection of 537 paintings. The museum closed in 1796 because of structural problems with the building. Napoleon reopened the museum and expanded the collection in 1801, and the museum was renamed Musée Napoléon.

We had discussed seeing the movie Elvis but at that time we were all rather tired. We chatted for a while on a beautiful summer night and then headed home after saying goodbyes as Sarah had a early flight to Italy the next morning.

Paris, Thursday July 14, 2022

July 14th is Fête Nationale Française or French National Day aka Bastille Day. We decided to skip the 11 AM parade and Sarah and I visited musée d’Orsay, one of my favorite places in Paris.

Housed in a train station built for the 1900 World’s Fair, the Musée d’Orsay is known throughout the world for its rich collection of Impressionist paintings including masterpieces as iconic as the Bal au Moulin de la galette from Renoir or The room at Arles de Van Gogh. Its collections include works of architecture, decorative arts and photography in addition to traditional artistic fields (painting, sculpture, graphic arts). They thus draw a broad panorama of French and European art from 1848 to 1914.

Rebecca relaxed a bit and did a bit of shopping.

We regrouped to explore Paris a bit and ended up at Galeries Lafayette a amazing department store. We ended up on the roof for a great view of Paris. After we walked around a bit and came across some people Tango dancing in a square.

After a mid day break we reconvened for dinner and headed off to watch the fireworks staking our a spot in the Jardin des Tuileries for the 11 PM fireworks. It was a great evening in Paris.

We walked home on a beautiful Summer evening in Paris arriving home around 12:30 AM.

Bordeaux/Paris, Wednesday July 13, 2022

The original plan was to take a suitcase of winter clothes to Paris with us and store them for our return to Paris after our two months in Italy. But the day before we were to leave we were notified by our Air BnB host that our October booking in Paris was being cancelled. We decided to leave our winter suitcase in Bordeaux.

We had a bit of a slow start on our trip to the train station. We finally caught the #1 bus to Bordeaux St James for our 8:50 AM train to Paris and made it to the station. The train left on time and we arrive in Paris at 11:38 AM.

We checked in at the Air Bnb a bit early and had a bit of time to kill before meeting my daughter Sarah for a 3:30 PM two hour boat ride on the Seine so we caught lunch first.

This is Sarah’s first trip to Europe, she began in Barcelona Spain, spent a few days incliding her birthday with us in Paris and then will fly off to Italy.

The boat ride was interesting as it took us through the Canal Saint-Martin half of of which is underground and uses locks to accommodate the different water levels. .

The Canal Saint-Martin was designed by Napoleon‘s engineers in the XIXth century to bring drinking water in Paris. The Canal connects the Bassin de la Villette to the Seine upstream with a drop of twenty-five meters. Canal Saint-Martin has nine locks and two swing bridges and it measures 4.5 km long, more than 2 km of which is underground.

After the boat we walked around Paris and visited Basilique du Sacré Cœur in Montmartre for a great view of the city, we wandered around Montmartre for a while and later caught dinner at Wild & Moon a vegan juice and burger joint.

The Sacré-Coeur, consecrated in 1919, is one of the most iconic monuments in Paris. At the top of the Butte Montmarte, it has one of the most beautiful panoramic views of the capital, from 130 metres above ground. In a Roman-Byzantine style, the Sacré Coeur is recognizable by its white colour. Inside the building, the ceiling is decorated with the largest mosaic in France measuring about 480 m². The crypt is also worth a visit. And to go even higher up, visitors can access the dome where the 360° view of Paris is magnificent.

Bordeaux, Sunday July 10, 2022

I took an early stroll to the Sunday flea market to find my guy who sell pistachios but he was not there. On the way home I notices doe interesting umbrellas hanging over the St Catherine shopping area.

Our original plan was to return to Arcachon but we were both a bit tired and the day was to hit the 90’s so we opted instead to visit Cité du Vin in Bordeaux.

The iconic Cité du Vin in Bordeaux provides an immersive, fun and gently educational tour through the world of wine, from 6,000BC to today. Aimed at those who want to learn more (and that includes families), it has some pretty nifty high tech devices and works very well indeed. It’s been some years in the making and is the result of unparalleled co-operation between Bordeaux wine makers and those from around the world. Over 100 advisors from over 40 countries have made this a truly international museum. There is also a fabulous Belvedere wine bar on the top floor, giving a panoramic view over Bordeaux.

It’s been designed by the French architectural company, XTO, with the exhibitions designed by the British firm Casson Mann whose credits include work at the Victoria & Albert Museum, Design Museum, Natural History Museum and Imperial War Museum.

It was a long walk along the river to the Museum but well worth it. The design and exhibits were spectacular and very informative.

We spent several hours there and took the tram back to our Air BnB after a brief stop at Woof Dog.

Bordeaux, Friday July 8, 2022

Today we finalized our French bank account.

We also made a visit to the Apple store to address a storage issue with Rebecca phone.

We stopped into a hardware store and to our surprise discovered that there were some Roman ruins under the store floor visible via a glass window. Pretty wild.

It was a warm and beautiful day in Bordeaux.

Arcachon, Thursday July 7, 2022

Our third trip.

We headed back to Arcachon via the 11:06 train.

We arrived just before noon and made a beeline to the Tourist bureau for a good map and info on bike rentals.

After getting the requested information we decided to return to our favorite pizza place for lunch – La Pizzaria. Rebecca ordered a salad and I ordered a calzone.

We then set off to find a bike rental place. Several were closed for lunch but we finally found one near the beach. Two bikes with baskets 11 Eu each at DingoVelos.

We saddled up and headed West. It was a nice ride along a dedicated bike path with the sea on one side and a pine forest on the other. We made it to Le Moulleau a quaint seaside village with an attractive church several upscale shops. We rode by many beautiful summer homes along the sea.

Le Moulleau, with its sandy beaches on the Atlantic coast, is a popular summer destination. Ice cream parlours, shops, and trendy bars line the pedestrian path between the neo-Byzantine Notre-Dame-des-Passes Church and Moulleau Pier, a premier spot for sunset selfies. An ancient bronze cannon and stately old villas — including those where Italian writer Gabriele d’Annunzio lived — add to the area’s historic charm.

As we returned we noticed that the tide was out and people were exploring the newly expose sandbars. There is a 6 foot difference between high an low tides in the Arcachron basin.

Bordeaux, Wednesday July 6, 2022

Today we applied for a French bank account at Crédit Agricole. Our account executive was efficient and spoke English.

This will be helpful as we apply for health insurance and other French services. We expect approval on Friday.

After our bank meeting we headed off to catch a brief lunch at Dumas Cafe. Rebecca struck up a conversation with a young lady at the table next to us who made a lunch menu recommendation. She was very nice and mentioned that she works two jobs. As she went to pay her bill Rebecca picked up her lunch check. The lady was surprised and thankful.

Arcachon/Cape Ferret , Tuesday July 5, 2022

Return to Arcachon with a surprise ending.

We took the #1 bus to the Bordeaux train station to catch a 11:10 train to Arcachon (6 Eu each). We arrived around noon time. I made a quick stop at the casino to get some smaller bills for change.

We walked to the dock for a 20 minute boat ride to Cap Ferret (19 Eu round trip). Cap Ferret is the oyster capital of France.

Cap Ferret is a long lick of land, like a lolling tongue, located on the coast about an hour’s drive due west of Bordeaux. The road grows slower and lazier as you move further along it, and when it turns south into the peninsula, you know you’ve arrived. The cape is exposed on its western side to the Atlantic, while its eastern shore looks out on the Bassin d’Arcachon, a vast, shallow lagoon that is tailor-made for the business of ostréiculture. The cape supplies all of France with oysters, and so this is a working stretch of coastline. It is, in other words, a real place rather than a holiday resort. You might say it is a kind of European Martha’s Vineyard: exclusive, isolated, rather fine. Source: https://www.cntraveller.com/gallery/cap-ferret-seaside-break

After a brief visit to the tourist office and a stop for lunch we decided to rent bicycles (12 Eu’/each for 4 hours) to get around. Having no idea where we were going and no desire to race there we headed in the general direction toward La Pointe, the tip of Cap Ferret. On the way we noticed the light house and made a brief stop, passing on the opportunity to climb its 258 steps.

From there we meandered to the La Pointe du Cap Ferret , a large sand dune with a great view.

And there it is – spectacular!
A panoramic view of the Dune du Pilat, the Banc d’Arguin, the ‘passes’ or access channels to the bay, and the Atlantic Ocean.

After a mandatory stop for some Ice cream, we slogged our way back to the bike rental ahead of our 5:30 PM return boat ride to Arcachon. Dropping off the bikes was a snap and we headed to the dock to discover that our 5:30 ride was leaving at 5:20 for some reason. We made it just in time for a lovely boat ride on a bright sunny day. As it was low tide we had a great view of the oyster beds which submerged on our arrival were now exposed. Pretty cool to see.

Returning to the mainland we strolled to the evening market in advance of dinner. Restaurants seem to open around 7 PM so we had some time to kill. At the market, Rebecca discovered a photo jigsaw puzzle vendor that caught her fancy and I shot a few photos.

We returned to our favorite pizza place in Arcachon for a bite.

One strike and you’re … get on the bus, Gus, make a new plan, Stan.

While at the restaurant, waiting for our food, I casually opened my train app to book seats for our return to Bordeaux a 45 minute train ride.

WTF- Looks like all the returning trains to Bordeaux are cancelled. All of them.

So we scarfed down our food and quickly headed to the nearby train station to find out why. At the station we were told there was another train strike, which it turns out is a regular occurrence in France.

What are the options when one is 65 Km from home without a ride? First thought – Uber. Well that would have been a $110 EU ride, a bit steep.

Then I overheard someone talking about a bus. A nice young lady helped us use the ticket machine at the bus station to get two ticket for the 8 PM bus (12 Eu each). We bordered the bus at 7:45 PM which was smart as it quickly filled up as all the other people who had expected to return by train that evening were now scrambling for the bus alternative. According to the schedule, the normal bus ride should take about an hour. But as we discovered, this was not going to be an ordinary bus ride.

Our first clue was that the bus did not head to the highway but rather took a local road to the next train station. Keep in mind that his is a big regional bus and not a smaller local bus. The driver strained to weave though the local streets navigating local speed bumps and narrow streets to make it to the station. This was to be repeated over a half dozen times as he recreated the train route to drop people off and pick them up.

Our 45 minute ride became a 3+ hour ordeal. No fun for the driver either as it was obvious that he was unfamiliar with the route and the passengers often had to offer help on navigating. I was watching his progress on Google maps and groaned each time he deviated from Googles suggested car route to drive to another train station. Gare after Gare after Gare.

We finally arrived back in Bordeaux after 11 pm at the St Jean train station, to catch the #1 bus back home. Fortunately the bus was still running.

We finally walked into our apartment just before midnight with another adventure in France for our books. All in all it was a good story to look back on.

Bordeaux, Monday July 4, 2022

Great news today!

We were approved for our long term visa renewal. Good for another year in France. Getting the proper documents in order was a challenge but we made it.

On a side note I noticed that this Independence Day received little notice on Facebook by my friends. My guess is that the political climate and SCOTUS anti abortion rights rulings had dampened peoples spirits. There was also yet another mass shooting just outside of Chicago that day.

Bordeaux, Friday July 1, 2022

I pulled some documents together for our July 6 meeting with a banker to try to set up a bank account. It is no easy task in France for an American with no fixed address

Bordeaux, Thursday June 30, 2022

I’ve been nursing another virus bug all week. What a drag. There is a fair amount of dust in our Air BnB and we are wondering if there might be a connection between our runny noses and our apartment.

Arcachon, Friday June 24, 2022

We did a day trip to Arcachon and totally loved the area.

Arcachon is a seaside resort town in southwest France that’s known for oyster harvesting. Its 4 districts are named after the seasons. The Ville d’Été (summer) quarter is home to shopping streets, the town’s sandy main beach and a casino in the 19th-century Château Deganne. Ville d’Hiver (winter quarter) has extravagant 19th-century villas. South of the town is the Dune du Pilat, a 2.7-km natural sand dune

We booked a 10 AM train to Arcachon and headed off to the #1 bus for a lift to the train station (Gare St. Jean) This is the same bus that gave us a hard time on Monday due to blocked stops. Same problem again. Bus blew by us at the stop. We walked for a while looking for another bus and finally caught the #6 a mile away. Bad start for the day.

But we did make the train with a few minutes to spare so all was good.

Arriving in Arcachon, we walked down to the pier. WOW. We quickly fell in live with the place. Clean, sunny and well maintained. We booked a two boat ride for 3PM and headed off for lunch. Ended up at a nice pizza place.

At the end of lunch we asked the waiter for directions on how to get to the old part of town. after struggling a bit with the language a local lady with her husband at the table next to us offered to help in French. Rebecca and her conferred for a while and we stepped outside the restaurant to continue their conversations. We walked over to a near by park to talk further. There a lady sitting nearby offered to translate for both of us. She lived in Arcachon part of the year and Canada (near by Quebec) for part of the year. She was delightful helping us converse in French and English.

The restaurant couple then offered to walk us to an interesting part of town to see some old houses in a park. We went together, and left in time for our boat tour.

After exploring the park we exchanged contact info and we will reconnect when we return to Arcachon, probably next week.

We may have found a place to settle down in France. Stay tuned.

St Emilion, Monday June 21, 2022

One of the joys of living in Europe is the ability to take a day trip on the spur of the moment.

Today was no exception, we awoke a bit earlier than usual and decided to take a day trip to nearby St. Emilion.

The medieval village of St-Émilion perches above vineyards renowned for producing full-bodied, deeply coloured red wines and is easily the most alluring of all the region’s wine towns. Named after Émilion, a miracle-working Benedictine monk who lived in a cave here between AD 750 and 767, it soon became a stop on pilgrimage routes, and the village and its vineyards are now Unesco-listed.

To get there planned to hop on the #1 bus to Gare St Jean train station and then catch the 10:15 AM train to St Emilion. Well that was the plan. When we arrived at the bus stop we noticed a sign that stated the #1 bus was not stopping there.

Off to plan B, take an UBER. Unfortunately Uber was at least 20 minutes away, plus another 20 minutes to the train station. Just them we noticed that a #1 bus was coming after all so we hopped on running late for our train. The minutes ticked by as we slowly made it thorough traffic.

Finally we arrive at the train statin about 3 minutes before the train was to leave. After frantically searching for the correct train we made it on with abut 30 seconds to spare. I purchased the tickets on my phone and we were off

We arrived at St Emilion after a short 25 minute ride (about 4 eu each). The town is abut a 20 minute walk from the station so we opted for a Tuk-Tuk ride (4Eu each) which we shared with a couple from Chicago who were traveling with some friends. We had a nice chat on the way to town.

We were dropped off at the tourist bureau so I picked up a map and had a few questions. One of the highlights of the city is a Neolithic church carved into the hillside so we purchased tickets for the 2 PM English tour. It was getting near lunch time as we explored this quaint midlevel town including visiting a wine cave.

We we walked about we ran into our new friends from the Tuk-Tuk ride so we sat down and met their friends. It turns out that one of their party was a bouncer at IU when Rebecca went there back in the day.

We were invited to share a coffee with the group and had a nice conversation regarding travel and other things. One of the ladies was very knowledgeable regarding France so Rebecca and her exchanged contact information.

Afterward we continued to explore and caught a sandwich in town. We finished up in time for the 2 PM tour of the underground church. It is privately owned and is only visited by tour. No services are currently held there.

The monolithic church is an underground church dugged in the early 12th century of gigantic proportions (38 metres long and 12 metres high). At the heart of the city, the monolithic church reminds the religious activity of the city in the Middle Ages and intrigues by its unusual design. If it shows itself in the eyes of the visitor by the position of a 68-meter-high bell tower, then it hides itself behind the elegance of three openings on the front and a Gothic portal often closed. Is that the church is as well surprising as fragile!
From the ancient Greek « mono » meant « single » and « lithos », « stone », its name refers to a building dug into the limestone plateau and whose current structure still forms a single block. The goal of its realization is probably the development of the city around a pilgrim activity on the tomb of the patron saint St. Emilion. In memory of the Breton hermit who had settled in a nearby cave during the 8th century, and in order to edify the faithful, the ambition to achieve a sufficiently large reliquary church to host hundreds of pilgrims, was born.

Carved in the 12th century, painted in the 14th, devastated in the 16th, battered in the 18th during the Revolution and restored in the 20th.

While touring the church we met a husband and wife from Puerto Ric0 and we joined them afterwards for conversation. They headed off for a nearby vineyard tour.

Later we completed our town tour and returned to Bordeaux via Tuk-Tuk, train and bus.

London/Bordeaux, Saturday June 18, 2022

Today was return to Bordeaux day. It was a bit easier than arriving because our Eurostar leg was first.

We took the tube (Baker Station) to London St. Pancras station. There we cleared customs for both England and France and headed off to Paris for our second connection. Same drill taking the Paris Metro between Paris stations.

The one rub was that Bordeaux was having a heat wave with a high of 106 F temps. We took a taxi from the Bordeaux station to our Air BnB.

London, Friday June 17, 2022

Today we each went off to explore on our own. Rebecca and Kathleen went to the Tower of London, Kevin was off to the Churchill War Rooms and I visited the British Museum.

The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence.^[3] It documents the story of human culture from its beginnings to the present.^[a] The British Museum was the first public national museum in the world.^[4]

The Museum was established in 1753, largely based on the collections of the Anglo-Irish physician and scientist Sir Hans Sloane.^[5] It first opened to the public in 1759, in Montagu House, on the site of the current building. The museum’s expansion over the following 250 years was largely a result of British colonisation and has resulted in the creation of several branch institutions, or independent spin-offs, the first being the Natural History Museum in 1881.

In 1973, the British Library Act 1972 detached the library department from the British Museum, but it continued to host the now separated British Library in the same Reading Room and building as the museum until 1997. The museum is a non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, and as with all national museums in the UK it charges no admission fee, except for loan exhibitions.^[6]

The British Museum was very impressive and I spent several hours there.

After my visit I returned to a sushi place I had lunch at yesterday (ITSU) for a rematch of Salmon sushi (8.69 BP)

We all met up in the Borough Market area for dinner and a walk afterward along the river. Rebecca and I decided to walk home and our friends took an Uber. They ran into us on the way home and we hopped in.

London, Thursday June 16, 2022

We booked tickets to Westminster Abbey for 10 AM. We arrived about 20 minutes early and raced around trying to find the entrance. It turns out we were across the street at Parliament. A gent from the BBC was kind enough to point out our directional error.

Westminster Abbey, London church that is the site of coronations and other ceremonies of national significance. It stands just west of the Houses of Parliament in the Greater London borough of Westminster. Situated on the grounds of a former Benedictine monastery, it was refounded as the Collegiate Church of St. Peter in Westminster by Queen E. lizabeth I in 1560.

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Westminster-Abbey

It was very impressive. I didn’t realize how many people are buried there (over 3000).

After a few hours there we caught lunch nearby and took a boat ride down the Tames.

After we took the Tube back to the hotel to prepare for our play later that night – The Mousetrap, the longest running play in London.

Looking for a light bite we chanced into a nice French restaurant and had a very nice dinner at La Escargot the pre theater menu offered a very good value.

The play was enjoyable and we walked the theater area a bit afterward.

London, Wednesday June 15, 2022

Today we transferred from the Air BnB to the downtown London Hotel – La Place. 17 Nottingham Pl, London .It was an unassuming hotel but offered a nice hot breakfast as part of the fare.

We took the train to a London Victoria station and then a taxi to the hotel near Baker St Station, (think 221B Baker St. )

Once unpacked we caught a quick lunch and then took the hop on hop off bus for a tour of the city sights. A short tube ride returned us to our hotel.

After a brief rest at the hotel we had dinner at a local Italian place- Ristorante Anacapri.

London, Tuesday June 14, 2022

Off to the races…

The ladies donned their fancy clothes/hats and us gents our suits and headed the short walk to the Ascot racetrack from our Air BnB.

The track was very impressive, Kevin reported that it was the best track he had ever seen. We made it in plenty of time for the Royal procession who arrived via carriage, Charles et all. the Queen did not make it as she has been quite ill as of late.

We enjoyed trackside table which Kathleen and Kevin arraigned. It was a lovely warm day and quite an adventure to participate in. .

Bordeaux – London, Monday June 13, 2022

Off to London for a few days to visit with some Chicago friends and attend the Royal Ascot races.

One of Britain’s most well-known racecourses, Ascot holds a special week of races in June each year called Royal Ascot, attended by The Queen, who has had an interest in horses since childhood. This week has become Britain’s most popular race meeting, welcoming around 300,000 visitors over five days, all dressed up in their finest clothes and hats.

We left our Bordeaux Air BnB around 11 AM to catch a #1 bus to the Bordeaux (St. Jean) train station. We arrived in plenty of time and waited outside on a beautiful sunny day. The first leg of the trip was a 12:45 train (SCNF 8508) Bordeaux to Paris Montparnasse. We had a bit over an hour to connect to a different Paris train station.

We arrived on time and took the Paris Metro from Paris Gare Montparnasse to Paris Gare du Nord. The metro took abut 20 minutes. Upon arrival we discovered that the Paris Gare du Nord station is huge and we have to clear customs there before boarding the EuroStar to London via the Chunnel. This required a bit a racing around like chickens with our heads cut off and a some line cutting to make our train. We boarded the train about 6 minutes before the departure time.

Having made it, we buzzed along along at 180 MPH to London.

When we arrived at 5:30 PM we then had to navigate to our Air BnB in Ascot which took a train, taxi between stations and another train ride to arrive about 2 hours later.

The Air BnB was arraigned by our Chicago friends Kathleen and Kevin. The place was a home owned by a British actor –Matt Lapinskas

Matthew William Lapinskas is an English actor, known for portraying the role of Anthony Moon in the BBC soap opera EastEnders from 2011 to 2012. He was a contestant in the eighth series of Dancing on Ice, finishing as the runner-up with skating partner Brianne Delcourt.

We freshened up a bit and caught a quick bite at home that night.

Bordeaux – Sunday June 6, 2022

I have been under the weather with a cold virus all week so not much to report. Feeling better today and looking forward to London in a week.

Bordeaux – Sunday May 29, 2022

It is Sunday so it is Les Puces de Saint Michel. Basically they sell everything that you would have thrown away. I didn’t make any purchases but it is always interesting to shoot.

After I returned home Rebecca and I went for a Sunday stroll around town.

Later she cooked up a nice salmon dinner for us.

Bordeaux – Friday May 27, 2022

It was a beautiful day for a stroll and a few shots.

I also worked out travel arraignments for my daughter’s visit next month in Paris and Rebecca bought a fancy hat for the Royal Ascot races in London.

Bordeaux – Thursday May 26, 2022

A word on shopping in Bordeaux …

It seems that Bordeaux has the longest shopping street in Europe – Rue Sainte-Catherine

The Rue Sainte-Catherine pedestrians only street is brimfull of boutiques of all kinds but it will probably scare away the timid or the agoraphobes. Nestled in the heart of Bordeaux, stretching between Place de la Comédie and Place de la Victoire, it is the longest shopping street in Europe with its 1,250 km and more than 60,000 visitors per day.

Long Street Long History

Long ago, some 2000 years roughly speaking, Bordeaux was founded by the Roman Empire under the name of Burdigala. At that time, Rue Sainte-Catherine was already an essential street in the city since it represented the cardo, a north-south axis allowing the grid of a Roman settlement to be established. The intersection of two axes defined the center of the city. The first axis going from east to west, called the decumanus, corresponds to the current Rue Saint-Rémi and the second axis going from north to south being Rue Sainte-Catherine.

It was not until 1977 that Rue Sainte-Catherine became a pedestrian street. For a long time, it hosted shops of its own with names that made the city unique and that were specific to the city of Bordeaux, such as Dewatcher, Grand Quartier, Yolba, Reporter Photo, but which have now disappeared, just like the trees bordering it. The street now has more than 230 businesses lining it. In addition to the few small independent shops that have resisted the pressure from the big brands, you will find the usual ones like Mango, Zara, Courir and Stradivarius.

Recently the streets have become quite busy with the beginning of the Summer travel season.

Bordeaux – Tuesday May 24, 2022

I went for a walk on this overcast cool day and paused in front of an art gallery (Espace 57). An artist (Eric Besson) whose work was inside came out and struck up a conversation. He was a delightful fellow.

He invited me inside to see his work then we stepped outside and talked about a variety of life topics including the medicinal benefits of vinegar, his former girlfriend and the happiness of just being oneself and enjoying life.

This is a another great example of how so many French people we have met have been welcoming and open.

After our chat I wandered around taking a few shots and then headed home when some light rain began to fall.

It was a lovely day in Bordeaux.

Bordeaux – Sunday May 22, 2022

I arose early to visit the Les Puces de Saint Michel, a Sunday flea market.

Set in the shadows of the majestic 14th-century Saint-Michel basilica and its bell tower, Les Puces de St Michel buzzes four times a week with dealers, collectors and enthusiasts.

I was looking for an inexpensive desk for the bedroom. There was not many good items at the market, much junk.

Rebecca and I set out mid day for a walk. Fortunately the heat was not too bad. We ended up buying me a suit which is requires for the Royal Ascot in London later. Later we did a bit more wandering and decided to visit the Musée des Beaux–Arts de Bordeaux.

The Musee des Beaux Arts Bordeaux is the oldest of Bordeaux’s museums and was created in 1801. The art works are spread over two wings and consist of works of art from the fifteenth to the twentieth century.

In the South Wing the exhibition starts with Renaissance art from Italie and Northern Europe in the 15th and 16th centuries with Titien amongst the paintings. The 17th century exhibition includes Baroque art and notably the Martyr of Saint Georges by Paul Rubens and a section of Dutch painters including Jan van Goyen.

Finally in the south wing there is an exhibition of 18th century paintings including a painting of the port and quais of Bordeaux by Pierre Lacour.

The north wing starts with the 19th century and includes the romantic period and the impressionnist and naturalism periods. Two paintings by Renoir are included in the collection.

The 20th century exhibition includes an excellent cubism section with a few works by Andre Lhote. The 20th century exhibits also feature Odilon Redon and a painting of nearby Arcachon by Albert Marguet. There is also a rather magnificent large statue of a reclining nude woman by Joseph Riviere.

Bordeaux – Friday May 20, 2022

I set out during the day to do a bit of exploring. I chanced across an indoor market, a flea market, some outdoor art and crossed the river on the Pont de pierre (1822) to explore the other side.

Saturday and Sunday are supposed to be very warm, so Rebecca and I took an evening walk around town.

Bordeaux – Tuesday May 17, 2022

Two cathedrals and a medical anthropologist.

We slept well after our journey yesterday and set out to do a bit of exploring. Our walk took us to several interesting Bordeaux sights.

There are several gated city entrances which were very interesting, also many fountains.

Rebecca discovered a new favorite place Books & Coffee, a combination bookstore and coffee shop, if they had added a dog petting area it would have been 100% heaven for her.

Cathedral One– Basilica of Saint-Michel.

The Basilica of Saint-Michel is a Catholic church located on Place Canteloup, a historic square close to the Pont de Pierre bridge. It was built at the turn of the 15th century in the Gothic Flamboyant style. A highly unusual design, it features a cruciform church building and a separate bell tower. The tower, which tapers to form an elegant, ornately decorated spire, is 114 meters tall and was built after the church building, sometime in the 15th century. It makes the Basilica of Saint-Michel the city’s tallest building, and the second tallest church in all of France.

The dizzying height of the tower makes it visible across much of Bordeaux, a flat city with relatively few tall buildings. It is worthwhile heading towards this landmark wherever you are in the city, as the church itself houses a number of interesting artifacts. The church pulpit depicts St Michael slaying a dragon, whilst the central stained glass window was designed by Couturat. Beneath the church lies a cemetery and catacombs from the city’s Roman era, which lay undiscovered until 1881.

Cathedral two , La Cathedrale de Saint Andre

One of Bordeaux’s more ancient edifices, this UNESCO World Heritage site features a Romanesque wall from as far back as 1096. It’s also where 13-year-old Eleanor of Aquitaine married her first husband, King Louis VII, in 1137, and where fodder was stored during the French Revolution.

The Roman Catholic church was first constructed in the 11th century, though little of the original structure remains. While the Royal Gate dates to the 13th century, the cathedral that stands today wasn’t built until the 14th and 15th centuries. Visit this Gothic-style masterpiece to admire the exquisite masonry and important art collection, which features everything from paintings and statues to silver objects, ornaments, and liturgical vestments.

And a medical anthropologist at the department store.

We were looking for a few household items so we stopped into a large department store at a mall. There we asked a security guard for directions and started up a conversation with him in English. We discovered that he is a PhD from Cameroon studying Medical Anthropology. We had a very interesting conversation with him and exchanged contact information.

We returned to the Airbnb around seven quite exhausted after our day of exploration.

Nice to Bordeaux -Monday May 16, 2022

We awoke around 6:30 to get ready for our 8:20 AM from Nice Ville to Marseille (St Charles). We then changed trains and left for Bordeaux at 111:23 AM for a 17:32 arrival. We booked the second leg in first class for a bit more space for the 6 hour ride. The trip took us through several interesting cities including Montpellier, Narbonne, Toulouse, Arles, and others. The scenery was very nice. We were zipping along at around 90 MPH much of the way.

From the Bordeaux train station it was a short 20 minute ride via local tram ride to our Airbnb. https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/36310808

After dropping our bags we went out for diner and found a great burger joint in the center of town.

This is an important trip for us as several people have recommended Bordeaux as a great place to live and we wish to check it out before deciding on a final French landing area. Currently we would be very comfortable living in Paris or Nice. We may add Bordeaux to that list after our next two month journey. Stay tuned