Good bye Bordeaux

I just loved walking along with Garonne River and tried to make it a daily occurence. This is called the Water Mirror and young and old frequent this enormous wading pool to cool off on what has been a hot couple of days. It is bigger than a football field and totally flat with 10" slits within the cement. Every five minutes or so the water mists up and once it dies down your left with a few inches of water in which to cool off in.

Yesterday we ate pizza

So today we opted for a salad. We walked quite aways from the central hub we had become accustomed to and I think we got lost but John won't admit it. We didn't look at a map or have a plan we just started walking which in many ways is the best way to see Bordeaux. Along the way I passed my new fav place which is Paul. A bakery which is quite popular here something like our Tim Hortons but where everything tastes 1,000 times better........especially the fresh chocolate eclairs.

We eventually stopped to try and figure out where we were and to grab some lunch. Because we were more on the outskirts of Bordeaux the language barrier became quite prevalent. Neither our waiter nor anyone else in the cafe spoke English. The menu was written on a chalk board beside our table and we and our waiter tried to bridge the gap. He pointed at a lot of things and then said "duck". Duck is big in France. I don't like duck. The older couple with the tiny dog who hid under their table got into the act as well and soon it became an interesting game of charades. The woman began pulling at her neck saying "gizzard" which didn't sound all that appetizing to me so I made a note not to order that. Eventually we chose a salad which was beautiful. It did come with beef that looked pretty raw to me. John ate that. There were walnuts, tomatoes, cucumber, lettuce and small pieces of baguette with warm camembert cheese on top sprinked with rosemary.

On the way back John suddenly pulled me into this store and low and behold the most art supplies I have ever seen in one place. Like dying to going to heaven for me.

Before I sign off I must say something about the women in Bordeaux........probably all of France. They really know something about style. Even when their dressing down it is still 100 times more pulled together than me on my best day.

Bordeaux..... Warning: Three Part Post (maybe more) and Vacation Photos

Our flight left for Bordeaux at 4:40pm or was supposed to according to our tickets. When we arrived at the airport we were bumped back a couple of hours due to........ "no idea" they never divulge that information. By the time we arrived in Paris it was around 1 a.m. our time and 7 a.m. theirs. We missed our flight to Bordeaux so we had to wait for the next flight that took off in four hours. I was staggering around both airports in a Gravol induced stupor and you probably could have put me on any plane to anywhere and I would when I arrived I was in France. As I've noted in previous posts, not only am I a nervous flyer but suffer from motion sickness as well. Just the kind of girl you want to have along on a trip!

Eventually we arrived at the hotel exhausted but still moving. Someone we ran into warned us not to sleep but to wait until tonight to crash. We propped open our eyelids and went out for a walk. I came across the first Chocolatier and dove right in to some chocolate covered caramels which they tie up so beautifully in a small bag with brightly covered ribbons. Lots of attention to detail here.

We found a lovely cafe not far from the hotel and stopped for a Caesar salad and a............

Best Caesar salad I've ever tasted. It was slathered in dressing with shaved parmesan on top and no, I wasn't thinking or concerned about the calorie count. I headed for bed around 9pm leaving John in the lobby trying his best to speak (butcher) the French language.

Tomorrow my visit to the Musee des Beaux-Arts.