Jingle Bells, Bordeaux smells, mightily of Nutella...ok, that doesn't rhyme, but anyone would think Nutella was the ONLY chocolate that might be able to be schmeared on anything. Maybe it is?
Now we are in Bordeaux, the city, our bags are dropped at the hotel and we are in need of exercise, having sat in the car all day, and it is 3.30pm. What else do you do, on such a dull day? Why, walk of course.
Bordeaux invites you to walk to the Old Town, and we seek out the river to guide us that way. Waz had something in mind, this day, so we walked a good way along the river, but across the road. Ok...I have to tell you that he sought the Gelato Shop! There, I said it!
THEN, he says, I saw the Carousel on the river side of the road, we crossed over there, and that was the end of his Gelato dreams. My mistake, apparently:)
First, we had to walk about a kilometer up the road, and so much to look at that we have seen before, but not necessarily noticed. Small things like this natural scene. That is a real tree and a real sign (blue) but someone has tried to get rid of the graffiti, without succeeding. Along with the fence, it is very artful, to me.
This scene is very stark, to me, and certainly didn't invite me to sit down. It was cold of course, but not at all inviting.
We saw many of these Santas, all over.lol.
I think these were the most Christmas Deco's that we saw in one place, anywhere.
No, this is not the Louvre, this is where the loooong line of people waiting to get into the Taste of Bordeaux, began.
It seemed to go on forever, and though it was really cold, people were lined up waiting for the event to open at 5pm.
Further up the road and we kept crossing the Tram lines. This tram is going down the lovely allee of trees.
There were people everywhere. It was Saturday, and we didn't expect to see these crowds, not knowing what was going on in the city, and really not anticipating what was to come next, which rather blew us away.
This was the carousel which took the place of the quest for the Gelato!
I hadn't seen one like this before, and obviously it was delightful. Cold, right beside the river, but plenty of families taking rides and enjoying the food from the mobile trucks and caravans around it.
Candy/Chocolate apples in this truck.
Oh boy! Look at these! How to explain them...remember that remark about chocolate/Nutella.
These square things in the foreground are called Gauffre (gofre)...or Waffles. They are covered with cream, chocolate, caramel, chocolate candies and marshmallows etc. some were even chocolate dipped before adding everything else. blimey! BURP! The Churro-like things are filled with or slathered with Nutella/caramel etc. Lots of people eating them. Phew!
Ok, enough of grossly over-dressed food that we only thought possible in the US of A...But we don't see many obese people here, so there is SOME difference.
With so many people out walking and enjoying their time outdoors, we were heartened that even though the temperatures weren't wonderful, they weren't as cold as where we had come from. Being on the coast (almost), there is this maritime climate that means less cold, all the way north.
We crossed back across the tram tracks that run parallel to the river, and perpendicular to the line, and down the row of Grenier Sales, or Brocante Sales. Grenier is Attic, whereas Brocante is more Junk and Antiques. Lots of both, all the way down the row. Food at this end, though. Again, Nutella was being slathered on EVERYTHING> Aiee!
These are definitely Antiques.
LOVED some of these Picture Frames.
Chairs, rugs, chandelier, clocks, china, you name it!
More food. We turned left at the bottom of the Brocante row, and found more food. More Nutella being slathered in everything, and crepes, beignets, waffles/gauffre etc. There were candied nuts of all kinds, candy cane, candy floss...
Gyros - meat and onions in a lovely large pan.
This would be wrapped in a flatbread or Pita.
Turn right around and this is what you see! Except the fountain wasn't playing and the pool was empty. Winter, anyone?
So much sugar being consumed, and so many people out enjoying the milder temperatures and this being Saturday, whatever festivities were going on in the middle of this city.
People (including us) watched transfixed by the change taking place in the boiled sugar, as this young woman stretched it over the hook, again and again, eventually producing the gorgeous sheen you can see here. They were making those sweets you see above and behind her head, and also other boiled sugar candies.
Turning left again up the next line of tents housing gorgeous food products. Many of them regional. This is Bayonne Ham, I believe.
Pickled vegetables, mustards of all kinds, wine, foie gras, and those hanging meats are Ham...Bignalet brand, obviously.
These specialty hams are carved and/or sliced VERY thinly and are enjoyed with bread, mustard, cheese and plenty of wine. Good idea!
Tired of all the food....did I just say I was tired of food??? WOW! Must be ill!!....we crossed over the tram tracks, amazed at the little train that was full to overflowing...families, mostly, and made our way further inland from the river.
What is this?? OH! Christmas Market!!! YES!
It is funny that I had long ago remarked on Facebook that I was excited that we would have the opportunity to visit Christmas Markets, and yet we had been unlucky to date, missing most of the Dordogne ones by hours or days. We were rather bummed to be missing our local Christmas market, but here we were in the thick of it...and You have NO idea just how thick that was. Waz and I cannot remember EVER having been in crowds like that. It was full to overflowing. First, we had to join the long queue to enter the fenced off market, and be searched. Plenty of security, which made us feel safe, but we actually didn't really give it all much thought, other than initially, which I have to admit doesn't make me feel very good now, in retrospect. We had kind of made a pact between ourselves that we would stay to the edges of any crowds, while travelling, and especially stay out of crowded places where there were no exits obvious. Hmm...next time we will pay more attention. This evening we rather got carried away (well I did! lol) by the whole event, the products on offer, the whole atmosphere which was fun and casual and child oriented...yes, people took their newborns out in this craziness! It was about 5pm by now, and the light was waning.
The line to get through security, by the large red Entrée sign in the distance.
Once inside, having opened our bags to display their contents to security and to also have a wand waved over us, we walked along the first line of kiosks. The whole affair is very well organized so, top marks to whoever does that. I think the City of Bordeaux is responsible, now that I think about it.
Art, jewelry,leather goods, food of any and all kinds, Hot Wine (Vin Chaud), more food, candy, you name it!
Those balloons were amazing in their varied shapes. Plenty of Santas in that lot.
The temperature was cooling as the light faded.
A Provence specialty is this Pate de Fruit (fruit paste). It a sugary gel candy made with real fruit, so that the flavors are strong and divine. The foreground flavor is Pear (poire), then Fraise (strawberry).
Another Provencale specialty is the Calisson. These are HUGE! Normally you buy little pastilles - they are marzipan topped with a candy-like sugar topping. They are delicious, and like nothing else you can find anywhere. LOVE marzipan!
It came as some surprise to see all the Macramé...it isn't dead after all:)
We forgot to bring our letters to for SANTA, but there were plenty who did:)
The line to get photos taken with Santa was long and bustling with kids. None of them were screaming, which interested us. All well behaved!
Lots of Disney carousel rides for kids.
Light still good enough...and the crowds were growing.
These fabulous little figures are also from Provence. They are Santons.
German/swiss specialty cookies and stolen. SOO tempting to buy a stolen, but we already had so much food to transport home.
Beautiful Mohair everything.
Montreal Maple Syrup!
Don't you love the large distinguished building in the background!
Balloon lights?
We were...well, make that I was....tempted to try on the hats. I don't look good in hats generally, but Waz does....and oh dear...we could definitely have used our French Berets! Those wool hats are essential in these cold winds.
I wondered if people were actually paying this elderly man to stop playing. It was excrutiatingly horrid.
These 'sandwiches'...yes, sandwiches! are then put in the panini press to heat.
These fish and chips are made by an English couple. They didn't look very inviting. Besides, who wants to eat English food in Bordeaux?? Hmm...English people of course! They don't always like what the French eat.
Did I say Carousels?
Light is obviously going...and I was on the move all the time, so there were plenty of out of focus photos, lol....sorry!
Lots of people eating dinner, drinking mulled wine and enjoying the whole market atmosphere.
I caught one of the servers pouring MORE wine into the pot. They were selling it like...well..hot wine! (no potatoes were harmed in the process!)
You could have Savoyard Hot Dogs...not sure what they taste like, but interesting all the same...same as Savoryard hamburgers.
Oh boy! We had to have one of these ...well, each. At 1 euro each they didn't break the bank, but they weren't quite what we expected.
These things are large, to begin with. They are marshmallow topping a cookie kind of base...but not a cookie. Cant describe it really, but it wasn't that hard like a cookie. Anyway, using my favorite word, let me describe these two things. The one on the left is a Run/almond marshmallow 'bomb' enrobed (there's the word!!!) in dark chocolate and sprinkled with almond flakes. The one on the right is an orange flavored mallow bomb enrobed in dark chocolate. When you bite into them, you don't get a hard smooshy marshmallow, so much as a light, wet (not runny tho) marshmallow kind of stuff, sweet, sticky (easy to get it all over you!) and a bit too sweet for our liking. We wouldn't go back for more, but it was fun trying them. The orange one was the winner of the two.
This stall was filled with gorgeous looking specialty breads and cookies etc from the Aveyron region, in the Department just north of Toulouse and Montpellier, on the south eastern side of the country,
The plum tarte on the left looked delicious, and the sugar covered break couronne looked wonderful.
We had to move away from all the food....there is only so much you can eat, and we had a favorite restaurant in mind for our dinner.
Don't you love the storks!...well, they are plastic, but I would have those on my chimney stack.
This Santa was little hung up!
...and this Santa might have a higher voice in the morning!
NOW we get into the serious Wazzy stuff....He is a Nougat lover. We didn't sample this, just because we wouldn't have room for dinner, if we did. It looked fabulous though. Fresh Nougat is wonderful...seriously wonderful!
I did try the dried meat on the left...it was a bit salty for my liking, but had lovely flavor. The cheese on the right was good too!
These are Touron Basque. It is a candy made from honey and almonds, similar to an almond paste or marzipan. Plenty of different flavors, but we didn't try them either.
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What French pastry stall would be complete with out the ubiquitous Macaron? These were delightful dainties. The serving person is putting Financiers in a plastic tube, and they were also selling madeleines. Yum!
Finally...Candy apples! The real deal. Nope, we didn't eat those either!
We had had enough of THAT crowd, and the worms were biting (hungry) so we decided to make our way back towards the hotel and the restaurant for dinner.
The bikers were out in the square next door to the market, all dressed as Santa and their bikes were somewhat decorative...some of them, anyway.
The gap between the two buildings marks the beginning of Saint Catherine Street...well, Rue Saint Catherine, actually. It appears to be the premier shopping street in the city center, and goes on forever. We knew we could get back to the hotel simply by going all the way to the end of the street.
Lights all over this building. Very pretty.
We thought we had seen crowds at the market....we hadn't seen ANYTHING yet!
Can you see the wall to wall people down there?
This is on Rue Saint Catherine and it was closed to anything other than foot traffic, and it was almost terrifying to try to go against the crowd. Why did we try? Well, we could have taken one of the parallel streets, but for some reason, this was an extraordinary event, and we just had to be in the middle of it.
Different decorated trees in different squares. Once out of the main drag, the crowds thinned and it was easier going...we felt we could breath again.
This was the lighted tree just outside the Marche des Capucins. The market we had walked through the first day we arrived in Bordeaux, 3 1/2 weeks earlier.
Dinner: Our favorite restaurant is just opposite the Train Station, and though it isn't anything truly special, we like their food and the service is pretty good, compared to most places. They are very tourist oriented, and most of the staff speak English. Not that we want that, and we did reject the English menu when it was offered, asking instead for the French version.
We decided, after much perusing, that the Formule Menu was by far the least expensive option, this evening.
Waz is a Duck Man, and I's a Salmon Woman, lol. Entrée choice was Duck pate for him, and Salmon and Cocquille Saint Jacques cru, or raw, with a light basil pesto, lemon wedge and green salad, same as Waz got with his pate and gherkin. We received a basket of baguette...this time the bread was reasonably fresh. Waz enjoyed his starter, as did I. I would order this same dish again...it was light and very tasty.
Sans Citron (without lemon)..the salmon was on top with the scallop on the bottom. A kind of thin toast thingy on the bottom.
And again, the Duck confit for Waz, avec Frites (of course!) and salad.
I chose the Pave of Salmon with wild rice. The yellow sauce was interesting....I don't know what the flavor was, but it went well with the salmon and rice. I didn't taste the tomato thing in the other small dish. Salad was necessary too. We enjoyed the fresh greens. Salmon was slightly overcooked, but it was still moist. Fresh caught Atlantic Salmon!
Waz REALLY enjoyed his duck:)
Of course we enjoyed a bottle (well, large carafe, actually) of white wine (sauvignon blanc I think) to go with the food which was twice as much as we would normally have, but with only a short walk to the hotel, why not!
Dessert: Apple tarte with crème and caramel for Waz...
...and Mousse Chocolat for me, of course...with cream...of course:)
Delightful meal 15.99 euros each, with a 12euro carafe of wine (two glasses each). We felt highly satisfied with our choices. Confit de Canard (duck) is normally 15euros on it's own, so three courses for this prices was excellent value.
We went for a walk afterwards, as eating this late is not really good for sleeping. We only had the extremely small hotel room to return to, and then sleep.
We had returned the car, so our train journey to Paris the following afternoon meant we had a leisurely morning ahead of us. More to come!
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