BORDEAUX

I know you all must think Vacation Bible School killed us since you haven't heard from me since then!!!  The truth is the following week we took a little long-weekend trip to Bordeaux for David's birthday that included, of course, a tour of a winery,  and we've been really busy with Bloom Where You're Planted, the day-long event David and I are in charge of.  More on that in another blog!!

We took a train (our favorite mode of transportation) to Bordeaux which was relaxing and pleasant as we whisked by beautiful French countryside.  I pass these small villages, and sometimes a lone house, and wonder how people live there...not in a negative way, just "how is life when you live in that type of environment" way.  School, church, etc....I just wonder.

Bordeaux is a quaint old city, a little reminiscent of Paris to me in its architecture.  From the train station we took the tram that goes throughout the city.  What a great way to get around-they have a tram line in Nice too that we loved.

Bordeaux Train Center-you can see the tram tracks

Here's the tram-a great way to get around a city

Our hotel, Best Western Grand Hotel Francais (my parents always used Best Western motels in their minimal travels!), was very nice but still cozy.  Our room was French small (that's okay) but we only slept there and everything was modern.  We were on the street side, a quiet little street (during the day!) off the square and had large windows for opening for air since it was a little warm.  While the street was quiet during the day, we (actually I since David slept through it!!) found the nights to be a little more active and louder.  I ended up closing the windows, thus making it warm in the room but at least it was quiet.  Later I ended up opening up the windows again and, fortunately, the "night people" had gone home and it was quiet again.

Two views from our hotel windows

As usual when we travel, there is always at least one church in the visiting city, and we always make  time to go in to see how people are worshipping in this place.  In Bordeaux it was Cathedrale Saint Andre (Cathedral of Saint Andrew),  and the colors and patterns the church was being renovated with are similar to Saint Germain des Pres in Paris.  It didn't feel quite as reverent as some of the churches we've walked into because there were many tourists (like us, I guess!!),  but there was still a sense of awe at the thought of the hundreds of years when people did come here to pray.

I love these colors/prints

We don't usually see this many people

Sometimes we see very unusual trees..this was one outside the church

Friday was David's birthday and we had scheduled a wine tour in Saint Emilion, known for its many wineries.  We met our group and our guide Karim in the city center where we loaded into Karim's van  and headed to Saint Emilion an hour or so away.  Karim was a fabulous guide as he was full of information about the area, wine and the process of producing good wine.  At the same time, he was very friendly, funny and interactive.  He laid out the plan for our morning, which included a tour of the fields of grapes, the storage of the grapes and, of course, everyone's favorite, the wine tasting.  We also had time in the little town to walk around on our own visiting the little shops, wine shops, cafes and, naturally, the church.

Karim, our tour guide

The Chateau we toured which is one of the best wineries in St. Emilion

The grapes were delicious but small which was a surprise to all of us

The winemaking process is really amazing and they have down to an art

Even I did the tasting!

David's smiling because he got his portion & mine

Centuries-old buildings

It was a climb up...

...but then you could see this!!

The above picture are buildings that are part of the Chateau LaGaffeliere Winery we visited-the house in the middle of the other two buildings is the home of the family who owns the winery!!

On the way back to Bordeaux, Karim had a little "test your smell" game for all of us.  One at a time we were passed a little bottle that contained a particular fragrance used in wines.  We had to take a whiff and say what we thought the scent was.  There were no prizes...but "points"---no real score keeping, it was just for fun.  It was a learning game and helped us all review the things we'd been told at the winery.

Back in Bordeaux David and I got some lunch and walked around, went into some shops (there were some different, nice ones) and took it easy...watching for a different place or his birthday dinner that evening.

We ended up at a tapas place.  We were there about 7:30 or so (not late for Europeans) so it was fairly quiet (when we arrived at least!).  As you can see, the lighting inside was pink....a little psychedelic feeling like the 70's!!!!!  We each ordered three tapas (different, of course) and both of us were pretty successful in our choices!  Of course, one of David's choices was heart of duck (uh, nooo!!!) while I had roasted artichokes,  deep fried cheese sticks and an omelet-all in cut portions so we could share.  In addition to David's "hearts", he also had garlic shrimp and a casserole of small sausages (which was very tasty).  It wasn't your typical birthday dinner and was fun.  But the best part was dessert!!!!!  No birthday cake but they had a molten chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream and whipped cream---normally we share but the waitress said it was small so we ordered our own.  Good choice!!!!  They were served on a rectangular slate with cake on the left, ice cream in the middle and whipped cream on the right.  There was a drizzle of caramel and sliced almonds over it all....DELICIOUS!!!!!  It's the best molten cake I've ever had...and I always order it if it's on the menu so I've eaten quite a few.

Birthday tapas for David!!!

The Opera House in the City Center where there were always  people sitting on the steps talking and hanging out

Each evening we were out walking and we passed the Opera House all the time.  Often there was a musician out playing various kinds of music.  The City Center was an active place always with people walking through, enjoying the surrounding cafes, gathered in small groups visiting.

Saturday we were leaving to return home but not till afternoon so in the morning after the nice breakfast at the hotel (which was included in our room), we walked to a garden David had found that was really pretty and had some unique arrangements.

Cool basket!

Unique arrangment!

I love all the fountains in France!!

And, then, it was back to our quiet corner of Paris!  We know there were other things we could have seen while in Bordeaux, but, like Paris, sometimes it's better just to slow down and take in the culture of the city...