The journey here was uneventful—finding our apartment was a bit of an adventure. It's only two minutes from the train station, but it took us 30 to find it, because the Google Map I printed at home directed us to turn left instead of right.
We couldn't find our street, so I asked a guy in a store and he told me to continue going the wrong way so we did. At the end of that block Marie stopped a woman and asked for directions. She pulled out her iPhone, typed in our address and viola; we only had to walk one block back, turn left and look for the building number. And we found it, but it had a security gate and the AirBnB host hadn't given me the code, but luckily a resident arrived so we followed her inside.
Once in the lobby we looked for Mel's name on the mailboxes. Nope, no Mel and he only gave me his first name. A minute later another woman stepped out of the elevator so Marie asked if she could call Rony, a friend of Mel's who was meeting us. Thankfully, Mel did give us Rony's cell number. I spoke with him on her phone and he came down and it all went pretty smoothly until we tried to log on to wifi. The password didn't work.
But undaunted Rony texted Mel, got the password, and we were online. When email is our only means of communication, it's a little unsettling when we can't access wifi. I'm thinking Mel's AirBnB guest review won't be sterling.
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The apartment is modern and nicely appointed, a trendy place. |
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The sofa bed is queen size. |
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Really cool faucet design. This is the most modern place we've stayed in and this studio is all ours. |
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Doing a bit of laundry. |
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A light dinner we picked up at the Carrefour market just
down the street.
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We even have a balcony garden. |
September 27, 2018
This morning we walked over to the train station to the Big i to find out how to use the tram, get tickets, and find out how and where we could purchase Flixbus tickets to Bilbao. Within 20 minutes we had everything we needed and a really informative walking tour map of Bordeaux's old town.
We started our walk along the La Garonne River up to St. Michel's Basilica and then up to the Great Clock, beginning our walking tour at site #10 of 15 on the map. By 3PM we'd walked 7 miles and seen all the major sites in Bordeaux's ancient quarter.
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The 114 meter bell tower (342 feet)
was built in the 15th century. I could
not get far enough away in Place
Maynard get the entire tower.
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An enormous flea market was taking place on Canteloup Place adjacent to St. Michel's. |
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The Great Clock is what remains of the 13th century defensive gate. The bell was cast in 1775 and weighs a little over 17,000 pounds. |
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The Great Clock, of course. |
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We walked through the old wall gate under the Great clock
into even more spectacular architecture. It reached 88F (31C)
today, but the narrow streets served us well, shading us from
direct sunlight.
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Saint-Pierre is one of the hippest neighborhoods in Bordeaux. An organic vegetable shop. |
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Port Cailhau (1493-1496) is another city defensive gate. |
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Reminds me of Disneyland. |
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Took this for our friend Fred M. |
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This is the entire bistro. It faces Port Cailhau. It seems every narrow street in this district empties into an intimate square. |
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Lots of these passageways serve as shortcuts to the next block. |
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St. Pierre (14th & 15th centuries) was built on the Roman Port on La Garonne River. It's on another lovely little square. |
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Check out this shop. |
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Place du Parlement was created in 1754; it has an Italian vibe. |
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Your basic 18th century covered
shopping arcade.
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Need a new iPhone? AnApple Store faces this square. It's in the building on the left facing the Grand Theatre. |
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We walked up St. Catherine's Promenade to Place de la Comedie. These folks are doing some pretty intense shopping along this street. |
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We, however, ducked down a side street and had a fabulous salad with warm chicken at a little cafe called The French Coffee Shop. |
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St. Andre Cathedral. |
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Cathedral entrance. |
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The 150 foot Pay-Berland Bell Tower was built in the 15th century. |
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Palais Rohan, built for Archbishop Meriadac de Rohan, was turned into a hotel during the French Revolution and became the town hall in 1887. |
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Palais Rohan taken from Saint Andre Cathedral entrance. |
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Typical street light attached to buildings in this district. |
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Some cool street art down a side street. |
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And that wraps up today's tour of Bordeaux's ancient quarter. |
September 28, 2018
While in La Rochelle Marie was looking at our Bordeaux AirBnB reservation and noticed the webpage offered experiences from locals and she signed us up for a culinary outing with Kim Freeman, a former culinary editor from NYC. Kim lived in Paris for ten years (1980-1990) and 15 months ago moved to Bordeaux to live full time.
We met her at the St. Michel tram stop and spent three hours with her shopping for picnic lunch items at her favorite market (think Pike Place Market) and then eating what we purchased at her home. We had a really good time visiting with Kim, meeting her favorite fish and cheese mongers, the best bread man, dessert person, where she buys duck, veggies, and her favorite purveyor of all kinds of cured ham.
Let's just say it was a drooling good morning and we recommend spending three hours with Kim. Here's the front and back of her business card so you can contact her.
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And now some pics of our shopping and eating experience.
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We met Kim at the St. Michel tram
stop on the quai skirting the river
and walked up into Saint-Michel,
the district we visited yesterday.
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I was able to get the entire bell
tower this time.
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Five minutes later we're at the
Capuchins Market.
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Local news crew doing a story about the latest herbs that just arrived. Bordeaux is serious about its food. |
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Duck anyone? These are perfect for pan searing in a bit of butter. |
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How do you feel about cured ham? |
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We'll take a petit amount of the 24 month cured ham. |
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Ya gotta try the snails. They were
cooked and so fresh.
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We purchased 10 snails for our picnic lunch at Kim's house. |
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And the shrimp was amazing |
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This fish caught 100 miles away. |
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Kim also has a favorite bread guy. |
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Caught the tram to Kim's place at
at Porte Aquitaine.
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Kim's apartment is in an 18th century building, and as you can see is lovely. She has two bedrooms, living room, kitchen, and bathroom—a good sized place. |
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Love the exposed beam. |
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And lunch is served. Bread, three different cheeses, shrimp, snails, and ham laced with truffles, 24 month cured ham, and thinly sliced cured duck. |
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Here's how you pry out a snail from its shell. |
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Ya, best lunch in a long time. |
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Looking up from Kim's stairwell. |
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Looking down and to the outside door. |
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Thanked Kim for the experience and headed up Rue Notre Dame on our way back to our apartment. |
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Walked by Esplanade des Quinconces along the river on our way to pick up a tram at Place de la Bourse. |
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