See The World

with BILL'S EYES

Lee beginning to enjoy a cycle to the tram stop.

Who wouldn't want to be connected to their neighbors across the street.

One of the many views of St Emilion and a great way to enjoy them.

And this.

Day 21 begins with Lee and I having croissants again and finishing the 'confit' and since today is Saturday we will need to restock since on Sunday almost every food store will be closed.

Our caravan park is about 8 kilometers from center of Bordeaux so we need to use more than one form of transportation getting there and back. Last evening I went for a ride and worked out the first part of the route and the forms of transport we might use. This morning was a matter of getting Lee to agree to ride the 800 meters to the tram stop using community bikes (as we did not want to leave our bikes chained up all day), instead of waiting for a bus that was due in 20 minutes just a few meters away.

Well Lee was willing, so the next trick is working out how to rent the bikes. You use a credit card in a kiosk that is designed to be simple to use and provides English instructions. Not so much for me but thankfully I recorded on my phone the various codes provided by the kiosk and although we were initially unsuccessful getting the bikes out of their receptacles a French speaking couple were doing the same thing and showed us what to do.

Lee quickly adapted to this strange form of transport and we were soon on the tram headed for the city. Tram travel in a city is always full of interest - the different street scapes, the different types of housing along the route, the people that get on and off and that are waiting at the tram stops- all adds to the colour and life of traveling.

We were not sure where to get off the tram but thankfully the trams ran at street level all the way (as opposed to being largely underground when within other city precincts) so we just kept an eye out for the landmarks indicated on a city map and alighted near the major bridge across the Garrone River which eventually joins the Atlantic Ocean.

Picture taking begins as we walk part way across the bridge and does not stop until we have walked about a kilometer into the old part of city. The opera building and surrounding square seems to be the beginning point for the major shopping street of Bordeaux, and the street is thick with people the full kilometer of its length. 

We want to do a guided bus or similar tour so we find the Tourist Information Office and find out that many of the tours are booked out. However, one of those multiple carriage fake train tours is available at 3:15 pm so we book it. This leaves some time to do some more exploration and to sit down for a late lunch - baguettes and filling.

We get to the tour bus and although we were 10 minutes early there are only two side-by-side seats available and we hurriedly jump into them. The audio commentary is provided in English and an hour later we are only a little more wiser about the history and landmarks of Bordeaux, which in short has structures which were added by this or that king/emperor/artist/architect, etc. However, having said that, the main architectural feature of this city is the four story terrace houses that boarder the river for over two kilometers, all much the same in style and set back from the river about 200 meters. 

That 200 meter wide boundary is public space and used for trams and roads which run close to the buildings and mostly a broad walkway adjacent the river. This open space is for promenading and enjoying the sculpture, food stalls, casual dinning, playing games and one particularly popular feature is flat water covered (2 cms deep) surface of about 3,500 square meters in a rectangular shape, on which children and adults who act like children, can take off their shoes to run and jump in the very shallow water and await the fog that rises upwards when active (but not today). It is the largest mirror pool in the world. 

Our final task for the afternoon is walking about trying to find a shop that sells a Bordeaux edible specialty called Kouignettes (after passing the shop on the tour but not knowing exactly where on the tour). Eventually and thankfully we do find it and purchase two of each of the orange Cointreau, caramel, rum and raisin and almond Kouignettes for sharing in the days to come with our mid-morning coffee. 

We also sought out and found a shop that sells another local delicacy called Canellés, which are a small crown shaped dough seeped in rum and caramelized crust. Just as well we are walking and now cycling everywhere we can.

We did our grocery shopping as well and the shop assistant was extra helpful and told us where two of the Canellé shops are located and we eventually had coffee and one Canellé each before returning to the camper van with a dozen more for treats in the coming days. We decide to stay at the caravan park overnight and to head Northwards tomorrow.

One of the roads between St Emilion and Bordeau

Getting closer but not quite to Bordeaux so the country is dairy and grain fields.

One side of the Opera building.

The cut peices of Canellés were soon gone and finger licking good they were.

The bridge over the Garrone River.

Hard not to be attracted to this type of scenery.

Greg the Aussie wine guy. Who would have thought he knew one of my partners at work.

Just out of town but interesting anyway.

Lee and I passed on scaling the heights. More likely because there were more stairs.

Watching the visitors to and citizens of Bordeaux go by while some of them are looking at us. Note when you order coffee you get a separate bowl of steamed milk and hot water.

Four different Kouignettes.

The bell in this tower weighs 11 tonne and is rung only at 11 am on certain days in certain months. We missed out by a day.

There were more of these chocolate creations selling for about A$50 each.

A small portion of the terrace houses and cycling is well catered for in Bordeaux.

Day 20 Waking up in a small town next to a river with a patisserie shop is a magnet to get up and walk to the shop, wherever it may be, since I did not see it on the way in last evening, I know it must exist, because the French cannot go a day without buying their daily baguette. Good on them since baguettes may be for lunch or what ever meal they want it for. 

We use ours for cheese and wine tasting but as it turns out a croissant also goes down well in the morning for breakfast on which we paste jam. We have been using and will soon run out of the locally made 'confit' ((jam) that we purchased at the winery back in Anse on Day 11. 

While on the subject of croissant I wonder whether we use/eat our croissant the same way the French might. I suspect it is a personal thing, as even Lee and I differ. 

I insert the point of a knife into the inside of the curve typically at one end not the middle and carefully slice until I can open the croissant and then slice carefully to separate the two almost exact same halves. Then I spread butter/margarine ('Oh la vache' as the French might say when we say 'holy cow' when someone does something very uncouth) on the two halves then apply the 'confit'.

Lee says 'Oh la vache' to my using a knife and only breaks with her hands from the outside of the curve and then she does the same as me and spreads butter/margarine and then applies the 'confit'.

I am hopeful we have begun a conversation about the etiquette of consuming croissants but really it is a personal thing- an issue to which I will refer later.

Moissan as lovely as the croissants are, it is soon behind us, as we are on the way to St Émilion a favorite stop of the bus tours and bus drive extension of the river cruises.

We are ambivalent as to what we might see there but open to the experience, as you need to be when traveling, as there is soooo much you could see but really do not know where might be worthwhile.

After an interesting route taken by our GPS which this time chose a combination of toll-ways and Back Roads of France we arrive and this time take the safe approach and park well away from the township on a road surrounded with vines and a Chateau just up the road, which we did not visit, as it did not seem they encourage visitors. Safe parking means a half kilometer hike, which we are becoming accustomed to when traveling in a CamperVan.

As we approach the entrance of the town it seemed much like any other hillside town we had visited and some of the visitors are parked and already having wine and food at the entrance located restaurants. Not a good start. 

However, as we enter the portal (very Star Trek) of the city it transforms into smooth stone paved streets and we soon randomly enter a wine tasting room, as you do in the middle of the Bordeaux region. 

First, we did not expect to speak with someone who is Australian, studied at Flinders University (my alma mater) and has been in France for the last 12 years, worked and owned a winery and is now a seller of fine wines. It was great to speak to someone not only in English but with an Aussie accent and it seems he was glad to as well. He was very generous with his time as well as samples of the wines and knowledge of the French way. Spookily it turned out that he knows and recommends wines for one of my partners at work who is a regular visitor to the area. How uncanny is that? Of all the wine shops in all of France we walk into one that knows one of my partners at work. How do you figure that out?

Well after many tastes and opinions about what we liked and did not, we left with a bottle of 'white' wine. This is the interesting part of wine in France, the makers of wine do not regularly state on their labels what type of wine it is (Chardonay, etc., it is the maker of the wine that is the selling point. Clearly the wines are White, Red or Rose, etc. but the French chose their wine based on taste and nothing else. They do not need ratings, they in fact are ignorant of them, they just know what they like and buy accordingly. I could tell you more but I will leave that for another day - when we have nothing else to tell.

Now to the town of St Émilion which is a sizable township with a castle and a large Church and many, many streets winding up, down and across the hillside. The old houses, the streets devoid of vehicles (or at least large vehicles as small cars are much preferred in France) and the history of a township that has survived in one form or another since at least the 1200's has much to reveal to those with the time and endevour to seek it out. We did not, but enjoyed walking the streets and the the 22 degree temperature and the relatively small crowds - one of the great advantages of traveling at this time of year. Oh and we bought some more cheese to have pre-dinner with wine and G&T and what ever else is available - after a hard day of being a tourist.

So with wine and cheese in hand we walked back to the van and began our planning as to where to aim for our overnight stay. There were no Aires close to Bordeaux so we decided on a caravan park just North East of Bordeaux which would be our base for the next few nights. We had plenty of great wine and cheese - what more could we need?

The cheese at the bottom of the picture has chili throughout and the first taste is deceptively mild but just wait.

Bill enjoying Lee enjoying the ride to the tram stop.

This seems to be the important square of Bordeaux with the columns of the Opera Building on the extreme right hand side of the picture.

The entrance to St Emilion.

Expand the picture to try and see the crowd in the distance of this very long shopping street.

Now we are in the Bordeaux area.