Bordeaux – Wine Country (Our 2nd City)

     We headed to Barcelona airport for our flight on Vueling Airlines to Bordeaux. We weren’t sure how big the aircraft would be but apparently many people go to Bordeaux so we were pleasantly surprised to see it was jet not a propeller driven aircraft.  It was a short flight around 35 minutes, which was obviously faster but also cheaper than the train.

     As soon as we arrived and picked up our bags we got a cab to our VRBO apartment.  As in Barcelona very few people spoke fluent English but they spoke enough to get by.  The smart phones were a lifesaver and I had loaded all the addresses on my calendar, which I could show the driver.  All the cabs had GPS so finding your way was easy, plus I had GPS on my phone as well so this was comforting.

     Bordeaux is a small town in comparison to Barcelona, which was welcomed.  Many of the streets were blocked from auto traffic by cylinders that were in the middle of the road to prevent traffic (except for scooters and motorcycles).  Our apartment was on one of these streets but at the beginning of the street there was a call box, which the cab driver used to call in order to have the cylinder temporarily lowered so he could take us to our apartment. 

     After settling in our apartment we went for a walk around town, this being a 35-minute flight there was no jet lag so we were fresh.  The streets were narrow; we were in the town center so there were many restaurants (street dining) and shops, which made it a pleasant walk.  The streets were randomly laid out which is to say there was no pattern you just roamed around taking in the sites.  I know unconsciously we would look down occasionally expecting to find more euros floating around the street as we did in Barcelona but that was just a one-time find.  If we got too lost to find our way back we would pull out the phone and use the GPS to get back to the apartment.

     We walked over to the tourist information center and passed the metro (above ground) along the way, which was sleek and quite and seemed to fit into the city without disturbing the surroundings.  We would be taking that metro to the train station in a few days for our trip to Paris.  Arriving at the Tourist Info center we were fortunate to be able to book a wine tour to Saint Emilion for the 21^st (last day in Bordeaux + Ann’s birthday).

    We continued to take in the sites but by now it was getting near European dinner time so stopped at a restaurant call Le Garage.  I’m not sure why we choose this place but the name should have been a warning.  I ordered lamb chops but they were dry and tasteless, Mimi ordered a roasted half chicken (remember Christmas Vacation Dinner when they cut into the turkey, Yeh! just like that), anyway nobody enjoyed their meal but the waitress was very nice. We then bought a bottle of wine and headed back to the apartment.  I sat on the partial balcony that looked out on the street (see photo) while sipping some wine.

     The apartment was nice but not comparable to the one in Barcelona.  We only had one bathroom here so Tom and I usually took showers at night.  The next day (Saturday) we walked around town seeing the sites and there was a lot of activity, we saw a sculpting class for kids, many bands, a few churches and many carousels.  As we were watching a marching band in a square a young girl (college age) with a group of students came up to me speaking French and holding a piece of paper, I ask her if she spoke English which she did and she restated her request saying they were on a scavenger hunt and looking for a person with a red shirt (that was me), she ask to take a picture with me which I agreed.  Unexpected but fun even though my companions were laughing, sometimes goofy things just happen to me.

    Still roaming around the city we stumbled into the Bordeaux Classic Car show.  I want to say foreign cars but this is France so I guess that would be incorrect since these were all European cars (see photo).  That night we ate dinner at the La Petite Savoie, which was a much better meal.  We then headed home to relax. 

    The next morning Tom and I went out to buy some croissants for breakfast, which had become our normal routine.  The croissants were very good, many were infused with chocolate, the French like their chocolate. This was the day of our wine tour and we had an excellent driver (Marc) who was very knowledgeable about the wine district.  We visited 2 great wineries and enjoyed the company of 2 other couples on the tour Dianne & John from Portland, Oregon and Juan & Mia from San Francisco (see photo of our group).  Later that night we ran into Dianne & John while walking around Bordeaux (we exchanged emails) and sent a few pictures.  It's always fun meeting new people and when you're on vacation it almost seems easy because there is a commonality that exist between you, which is enjoying life.

    Monday morning we packed up and took the metro (bought tickets the night before) to the train station, which was only a 15-minute ride.  We already had train tickets so we just needed to figure out what track and train we needed to take to Paris. Surprisingly I met Juan & Mia at the train station they were leaving for San Sebastian, Spain.  We wished each other the best and parted ways.  We had a great time in Bordeaux, the people were friendly plus the food (with a few exceptions) and wine were good. This is definitely a place we would visit again.  Now just waiting for our 3-hour train ride to Paris.