Bordeaux – Momma I’m coming home!

Wine! That’s all that I have to say about this town. Not really, there are many great things to see in Bordeaux. The wine region is, of course, the most famous but there are other interesting sites. For example, there is a German WW2 submarine base located just off the river Garonne. And you thought I only wanted the wine, silly boy! There are monuments, such as Pointe de Pierre dating back to 1820’s and built in honor of Napolean; or the Tour Pey-Berland bell tower built in the 15th century for Archbishop Pey Berland; or (my favorite) Monument aux Girondins installed in one of the largest squares in Europe. This particular square has a bit of dark history. Seems that when it was laid out in 1800’s, the cannons all faced into the city, not pointing out. This was to prevent rebellion. Well further down the history road we all know what happened, yep the French Revolution.

Our street

Garonne river

The pad

Monument aux Girondins

So enough about the city, visit or Google it if you want more, visit is better! So checked in our apartment, small but enough for me and the misses. Typical European scheme, small living area, small bedroom, smaller shower. Still, nice place to set up camp and get ready to wander the area.

Pointe de Pierre

Rossignol chicken in earlier years

Highest drawbridge in Europe

Bordeaux promenade

After hanging out at some of the local bistros and boulangeries, we hit up the market for groceries. Pretty good selection of meats, fish, cereals, etc. and a better selection of bread. The French do love bread! We bought a couple of croissants that probably had a 1/4lb of butter in each one, absolutely great!

One damn small car!!!! 2-seater, one behind the other

Onion and anchovy pizza!

Bonsai in central garden

Yeah baby! Now we’re talkin’!

Wine selection is good, but being a novice at French wine, selection was difficult. Most wines cost around 2-8EU or $2-9.00USD, couldn’t be good at that price??? Surprise! The wine is excellent and very reasonable although it doesn’t taste like California wine at all. Actually, it’s very good. So good we headed off to St. Emilion to do a little tasting. More on the sub pen later……