As I write...

...it has just gone 6.30pm on Friday night, 17th November, 2017. It is dark. The blinds are open, and I turn to the right and see across the road into the building opposite where the lights are on. On the top floor of the 4 story building is a piano, just inside the window frame. Someone keeps walking to the instrument and then away again. They aren't playing, so there is another occupation of this room. Perhaps it is the same as the floor below? On the next floor down is a dance studio. Students move in and out of view in various balletic movements, with the instructor pacing past the window occasionally.
Our window is partially open and I should close it. People are obviously standing below our window smoking. Gah! The French need to stop smoking! Seriously! It is a major health issue here, not to mention the mess left all over the pavements (butts)...along with the dog poo, which we have encountered here in the city of Bordeaux more than we ever have walking the streets of Paris.
Now that I am on THAT subject, I'm going to sound off a bit in regard to the filth in this city. We have spoken to locals who tell us that the city used to be much worse in regard to the dirty streets and buildings. There is obviously a move afoot to clean up the horridly blackened buildings...centuries of airborne grime defaces most of the beauty...but it takes so little for a population to be aware of the mess they leave on the streets. Yesterday  I felt like getting a long handled brush and shovel (dustpan) and picking up, everywhere we went. I am big on 'looking up' when you are in a foreign city, but here you HAVE to look down or you will end up with dog muck on your shoes. Thank goodness Waz has my hand in his most of the time, because he has 'rescued me' more times than I can think of.

One thing I forgot to mention, yesterday, was that we sought and found a Carrefour supermarket. Normally one of the first things we do, when in a new country, is find a supermarket for the things we don't pack. No point in bringing a roll-on deodorant if you can buy one for 1.39 euros...much less expensive than in the USA. We also purchased a box of tissues, large tube of toothpaste...this time getting two for the price of one...3.39euros (for the two), a couple of Pink Lady apples for 1.34 euros and four oranges (.99 euros per Kilo), which Waz says taste great compared to the normal California variety.
We also purchased water, and only because the tap water here doesn't taste very nice. We prefer not to buy bottled.
We went a bit gaga over the fresh produce in the supermarket, so you can imagine what we did at the large Marche des Capucins this morning! More on that later!

I'm pausing here to go back to the 250 something photos I took today, in order to reduce some of them to post here on the blog. Back shortly!

In the meantime Waz has had his nap and we have been out for dinner. Photos all reduced, so here goes!

We are always fascinated by the difference in school grounds, wherever we go. I remember arriving in Australia the first time and being amazed at how brown and dusty the school grounds were, with no real play equipment for the younger grades. As we walked into the Centre Ville (center of town) this morning, we delighted in not just the Gingko Tree in the foreground, but that this is a Boys Technical High School, or Lycee. Such an inviting place.

Backing up the horse a weeny bit...I stayed up until almost 11pm, not just to finish writing the first page of blog, but so that I would be tired enough to sleep all night, seeing we are now 6 hrs ahead of Florida time. I had already showered and was sitting here at the small desk in my PJ's, and slowly my feet turned into ice-blocks. The room was a bit warm for us, so we put on short sleeved t-shirts, not having realized we could lower the temperature some degrees. Obviously our brains were mush! With Waz already snoring in bed, I fell into bed thinking I could put my ice-blocks somewhere in the vicinity of his body to get warm, without waking him. They needed more than that, and that cold did a none too slow creep up my body until I was out of bed, light on, fishing around in our bags for sox and something warm to put on. A blanket is sitting on the bunk above our heads, fortunately, and I spread that over us (he was hot at this stage and had been asleep until then). With a sweater on and the blanket covering us, and the sox on too, I felt somewhat warmer, though I could still feel the cold through the sox. I fell asleep, but some time during the night took my sweater and sox off and then the blanket off both of us. 
me idiot had the brainwave to open the blind, about this time! AIEEEE! CLOSE THE BLINDS!! LIGHT BE GONE! You know how your eyes feel when you have been asleep in a very dry room for aNo, I wont post a photo, sorry:)

Moving right along....We drank copious glasses of water and dressed ready for a long day out. Breakfast was going to be whatever took our fancy, but had to include coffee! Walking a different route to the Centre Ville, we happened upon a Nth African Café with all kinds of sweet delights inside. I don't want to say it was Algerian, or Moroccan, but the sweetmeats in the glass cases could have been from Turkey also. We ordered our Café au Lait, having failed to order deux Grand Crème (il ne comprend pas..he didn't understand) and two pain chocolat, or as they call them in Bordeaux, Chocolatines. We thought we would try something else and different, so Waz chose a coconut/almond 'cigar' and I chose a Pistachio Baklava. This one was made with pastry instead of the 'normal' filo pastry.
The interior of the shop was rather gloomy, so we sat at the first table just inside the open door and enjoyed the morning sun. It was almost noon, however.  Waz is tearing apart his chocolatine.

 This very pretty Baklava was also very delicious, with a very fragrant honey holding it all together. VERY sticky! Delish.

Before we hit the coffee and sweet stuff, we happened upon the very large Marche des Capucins, the marketplace in the middle of town. What a sight! The smells of fresh caught seafood, coffee, pastry and bread, cured meats, fresh vegetables and so many other  delicacies drew us inside.

 We were sorely tempted to stop here and enjoy a café au lait, but knew there would be plenty more later, and we did want to see most of what was inside the Market.

These scallops (coquilles St Jacques) were HUGE. Atlantic scallops with their roe on. I still don't know why the USA takes it off, but the scallop is nothing without this lovely part of it's anatomy. That is an excellent price per Kg, and we would have been sorely tempted had we a kitchen to cook in. Next time! All the fresh fish and other seafood was so clean and shiny and FRESH!

 As were the freshly butchered Lapin (Rabbit). Tagine de Lapin is divine, if you ever get the chance to try it.

 Because we aren't so far from Basque Country, these Andouille Saucissons were also tempting to try. Andouille sausage is normally associated with Cajun cooking, in the USA.

Having ummed and ahhhed over all the delights, we made our way out the other side of the market. As we were leaving, we happened upon a delightful couple who generously allowed me to photograph their lunch...or brunch, at that time.  How exquisite does that look!

They were shucking oysters at the bar! We are hoping tomorrow we will be able to get to the source of these oysters, out on the Cap Ferret.

With our hunger sated, we set forth for more exploration of the center or the old city of Bordeaux. Again we encountered the Tower of St Michel, just from a different side street. This time, we found the Brocante (car boot sale type) market in full swing. Of course we had to inspect ALL the tables set out in the middle of the square. Apparently this market is on 6 days a week, with Tuesdays being the only day off.

 Elsewhere in the square life went on per normal.

 You needn't buy anything new in France...seriously, we found a bit of everything here, this morning. What a hoot to find boxes and boxes of 45s and LPs. I imagine we might find that elusive first press of the Beatles 45 that is now worth 100 grand! US dollars, of course.

 There was plenty of this kind of thing too!

 On the other side of the square, life was...normal!

 We remembered the small café owned by the English fellow and his French girlfriend...well, maybe they are married...we didn't ask, so we shouldn't presume! but, we were VERY happy to have found it again. Thank goodness for Waz's memory!
Sam and Loubna are the owners of Excuse My French Café, 87 rue des Faures, 33 000 Bordeaux, if you  have a mind to visit! I told them I would give them a great 'plug'! We enjoyed our Latte yesterday and today we opted for black tea in a pot. Always good to get the real thing. Too bad we didn't go there for the Scrambled eggs and Bacon, which Sam said is their nod to the traditional English Breakfast. We caught them making chocolate cake and quiche (I think) but of course we kept interrupting their baking, with questions. Loubna speaks fluent English, having lived in the USA as an Au Pair some time in the not too distant past. A delightful and welcoming couple, their food looks great, though we didn't get to try any of it. You can find the on facebook too! excusemyfrenchcafe should find them.

Stepping outside the door having satisfied our need for tea, we found the dreaded tourist train. We took one of these in St Augustine, USA, one year, and it was very informative, so I shouldn't be too harsh in my criticism of it. We always see so much more when we walk everywhere. Canned tourism is great for some things, however.

 We turned around to take a photo of the café from across the street, and there was Loubna rehanging the lunch specials board. Caught in the act!

There are always spires on the horizon in French towns. I cant speak for other countries, but I'm pretty sure the same goes for all over Europe. This usually tells us that there is a church/cathedral there, and/or similar. We were somewhat taken by these towers, as they were a bit different. Curiosity got the better of us, and we found, to our great delight...

 ...a beautiful Bell Tower and Clock. This is also a Portal into another part of the old city, as you can see.

 The infrastructure holding the Bell in place is rather awesome.

...as is the gilded clock facing the Rue Saint James.

 The Bell was installed in 1775, and like those that preceded it, was the rung in good times and bad.

Walking slowly down this rather skinny street, we delighted in the many ethnic foods in windows facing the street. These sweet treats were individually wrapped in glad wrap, or whatever the brand is here.

 These treats are sans (without) gluten, eggs, flour, sugar etc.


I love little surprises, don't you? This yarn bomb was one of those things that I did a double-take over. I had already gone past, and had to turn back to take the photo. Such a small thing, but so much fun.

 Looking back down the street to the bell tower...and Waz just happened to be in the way!:) As you can see, not too many people out around noon time. Strange, on a Friday!

As most people who live in the city live in apartments, they play outdoors in the parks, most of the time. When you don't have anywhere inside (or outside, for that matter) to store your stuff, this is what you do. The windows open in, fortunately.

 Would you consider this graffiti? We thought it quite stunning.

 More food stories, anyone?

By now it was 2pm, and we felt slightly puckish. Those pastries for brunch didn't last as long as anticipated. Must have been all that walking!  Where to eat? So many choices, but this one was was no contest, really. A Breton Restaurant. We had just been saying how much we missed the crepes and Galettes that are everywhere in Bretagne (Brittany), here is somewhere we can get them both.
Rue St Catherine is an almost pedestrian street in the more posh part of town. Name brand stores, interesting gift stores, restaurants and generally a more up-market feeling to it and the clientele.

 We sat down inside and took our jackets off. Was ordered a Galette Indien, with chicken, crème fraiche and a little curry. I ordered the Omelette Forestiere with cheese, mushrooms and ham. Marvelous! We finished with a café Alonge (al ong zhay) each. This is a double espresso, basically.
We studied their breakfast menu, and I thought you might like to see the choices too.
Breizh (Bree zhe) means Breton, in Breton language.
If you are British, you can get scrambled eggs on toast, a hot drink and fresh squeezed orange juice...and it is too! (I saw the squeezer). The Breton gives you a butter and sugar crepe with a hot drink and fresh orange juice. The Frenchy gives you the same hot drink and orange juice with is like an open faced sandwich...how to explain this?  Toast with butter and jam, but this would probably be toasted baguette.

 Galette Indien..Wazs lunch choice.

 My Mushroom, cheese and ham omelette lunch choice, with a small salad.

 Low and behold...just two doors down from our lunch restaurant, we found Burger King where they are offering King Breakfast for 2.90 euros. Just over $3 US. A hot drink and a bacon and egg toasted croissant.

In the same street, and not to give you indigestion, or anything, but these are rather eye-catching, don't you think?

We leave this street with its lovely stores, and where we managed to find a fantastic gift store. Would you believe that we engaged a delightful young woman in conversation, only to find that she had attended the same private College in New Zealand, that my youngest son graduated from. He was a couple of years ahead of her, but what are the chances? She spent three years in NZ, and still has some of the kiwi mannerisms and colloquialisms. Small world?

Onwards, and the Victory Arch  on the Place de la Victoire.  You can see the Obelisk behind, and this is an homage to Wine in this famous for it's wine region, Bordeaux. The sculpture is amazing, as detailed in the following photos. You had to take particular care to really LOOK at all the small artwork on the structure and on the Tortoise.

 It looks like just another sculpture until you get upclose and personal. THEN the secrets reveal themselves. Look closely...what do you see? The Tortoise has grapes hanging out of its mouth. Now observe the shell....

 In detail!

 On it's neck...man with grapes.

 ...and a smaller tortoise....in the Place de la Victoire.

 Snakes Alive!  These ones on the Obelisk, which is made of pink granite, I believe.

 Details of the images on the Obelisk.

 It really is fantastic. People were seated around the Obelisk, which made taking photos a bit of a challenge, and I didn't want to get too intimate with them, but they didn't move!

We made the decision to go back towards the river on the way home. It was getting on for 4pm by now, and the light wasn't good for photography.

 We were slightly distracted by yet another spire...or in this case, a spire and a golden sculpture. This one on the top of the steeple of the Cathedral de Bordeaux, the Cathedral St Andre. What a fabulous building. Fortunately they are in the process of restoring it, both inside and out.  I was fortunate to be invited into one of the side chapels in the dark bowels of the cathedral, where the guide was shining his flashlight onto some of the original frescoes that had been discovered in the process of cleaning.

 Details on the outside of the clean part of the Cathedral. Dragons suckling on the left, and a lion being run-through on the right. Cheerful stuff these Christians did!

 Inside the building is this stunning Organ which has quite a rocky history. It appears that it has always been troublesome, and right from the 15th century onwards. It has been remade completely in the 1800s, but still has 'issues'.

 The interior taken from the Organ end of the church. There were rehearsals being held in the middle of the Cathedral for some Catholic ritual, involving candelabra and gold crosses...large and shiny ones.

 Of course not worthwhile cathedral is complete without the stunning stained glass windows, of which there were many.

 The façade that has been cleaned looks wonderful. The flying buttress out to the right side looks a bit weird though.

 As the sun dipped lower, we turned around to see the Hotel de Ville, or Town Hall, which also happens to be the Maire, or where the Mayor has his offices. Silly me had thought I might just rock up there and tell the Mayor to get the street cleaners out more often, but of course there were very well armed guards at the gate, and besides, the Mayor was probably about to go home for the day.
The gate needs to be cleaned next, methinx.

Off we went, homeward bound. Too bad we are easily distracted, eh? The smell emanating from the Fromagerie demanded a photograph...from the outside, of course. Waz had complained that he has yet to go INSIDE a fromagerie...well, here was his chance! non?  Non! He had other things on his mind.

 So did I! I was in need of some chocolate...really!! Definitely!
Fortunately, they aren't hard to find:) The choice was challenging, but this little Buche or Log was the prefect size for a 'snack' (don't you think?) and it was citron (lemon) so it wasn't too sweet. The Ganache was citron, not the outside chocolate. I couldn't possible tell you all the flavors, or you would be drooling all over your keyboard.

 As Bretagne has it's regional dessert, so does Bordeaux. Like they need them, right?
Canele have religious origins, or course, and one could be thinking religious thoughts...like OH GOD, these are wonderful...? when eating them. We have yet to try them...butter and sugar are so tempting, but one thing at a time, oui?

 Voila!

As I said, we had other sugary things on our minds...well, Waz did. He didn't participate in the eating of the Buche Citron, so he opted for deux boules of Gelato, and I, for one. He loves Fraises (strawberry) and Fruit de Passion (speaks for itself), while I tried something new this time, and went with the Speculoos. We get the small cookies (speculoose) with our coffee every time, and that is what was in side the gelato.

 Waz wanted you to see how large the waffle cone is, and that you didn't have to pay extra for the cone the way you have to in the USA. 4 euros for the 2 boules (balls),  and 2.50 for one.

 This is what is left of mine, and I particularly wanted you to see the cookie inside. Yum!:)
We get away with eating all this because we endless walk...all day!

 Our feet were hurting ...and our backs, and we just had to sit a while, so we stopped on this seat for 5 minutes. It was getting cold, as the clock turned towards 5pm, so we didn't tarry. The park looks out on the very busy road alongside the River, and we watched the world in their vehicles whizz by. Speaking of vehicles...you have to really watch out for the bikes, motorcycles and other motorized things that whizz around you constantly. I must remember, when we pick up our car tomorrow, to look at the little traffic lights on the right hand side of the road.

 Oh how tempting to go and see what this Portal is all about, but tired feet, backs, hands and shoulders (carrying those heavy handbags across our bodies) drove us homeward.

 At this point in the day, I was ready to hijack this cuties for the rest of the way home. Don't ask how many Kms we walked today, but I might need new shoes in 3 weeks time!

Once back in the Hotel, Waz lay down for a nap, and before we knew it, it was 7.30pm.

Waking the sleeping giant was a little challenging, but we eventually put our shoes back on our sore feet and went outside into the cold evening. We opted to try out the Bistrot in the Train Station, this evening, and we weren't disappointed with our choice. Slightly more expensive than last night, at 39euros, but we felt happy with our meals.
I was game for a Rose wine this evening. I don't normally drink wine due to the headache inducing Nitrites in the wines we get in the USA. I didn't get a whiff of one last night when I sipped some of Waz's Beaujolais nouveau, so decided to wing it tonight. Delightful, light and cold! Waz had a Val de Loire merlot I believe.
He was upsold on the New York Burger and fries...the latter being delicious and hot, and the burger living up to the hype...pastrami making all the difference.
I chose the Cocotte de Poulet with mushrooms, potato and carrots. It was creamy and delicious, and well worth sopping up the sauce with the baguette placed on the table at the beginning of the meal.

The lettuce with a drizzle of vinaigrette was perfect to accompany the meal...and I forgot to mention the petite tomates! Quelle Horreur!

Satisfied, we went in search of the Car rental offices, and found them in the underground garage area of the train station. We need to pick our car up tomorrow morning. Yay! Getting out of the city and to the coast. Whoohoo!
A demain! A bientot!