Two more days in Bordeaux
After doing a whirlwind tour of Bordeaux on Saturday, we had exhausted ourselves and decided to slow things down a little on Sunday, July 27th. We started the day by going to the Farmers Market on the riverbanks of the Garonne River.
The selection and the quality of the foods available at this Farmers Market was incredible. We bought a few things to bring home in our suitcases and indulged in patisseries. Afterwards we walked along the riverbank and came to the shopping complex Bord’eau Village. It was enjoyable to stroll in the shops and we found a nice restaurant on the riverbank with outside seating to enjoy a leisurely lunch.
The first museum we visited that day was the Musee du Vin et du Negoce de Bordeaux. It had historical displays in the basement of the building that once stored wine bottles in great quantities.
There was also a wine tasting portion of the tour that I thought was quite nice. Their hosts for that did the tasting rounds in French and other rounds in English. As we were making our way to the next museum we noticed on the map for the tram that the United States Embassy was nearby. It was difficult to find it and we actually had to look online for the address to find it. I am posting the pictures we took of the German embassy again to serve as a comparison and contrast. One is easy for people to find and access, the other is not. Then the following day we happened upon the embassy for Malta. Even that small island country has an easier to find embassy than the one for the United States.
The next museum we visited was the National Customs Museum or Musee National des Douanes located in the Place de la Bourse. It was fascinating to learn about the customs process that was performed to levee taxes for the government and being in the building where it took place. I took a few pictures of the maquettes showing how the building was set up to move the goods that were unloaded from the ships, checked against the ship’s manifest, and then given back to the importers. The museum was open about the history of Bordeaux in the slave trade.
I also saw mention of my noble ancestor Charlemagne, so I had to take pictures of that.
And then I saw mentions of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, so I had to include those pictures as well.
Then there were some fun display cases showing the hats used by duoane agents over the years including the French symbol of the rooster (or cock) and also books/movies about the customs agents. Because of this display we learned about another Dany Boon movie called “Rien à déclarer” and it takes place in Belgium/France at the time when the border crossings between countries were ending having border checks. A Belgian Duoane officer who hates the French with a passion has a sister who falls in love with a French Duoane officer. The two men become partners as an experimental Franco-Belgian Douane team. Tensions mount between the two as insults about frogs and waffles are bandied about. It is worth watching,
After visiting two museums, we decided to just meander our way around the streets of Bordeaux and came upon someone busking in the heavily touristed area.
Dinner on Sunday night was in this touristy area and it was disappointing. The pasta there was meh, nothing to get excited about.
Monday, July 28th was our last full day in Bordeaux and we started the day with my old familiar ways in looking for Roman ruins outside of museums. I saw that there were was the remnants of an old Coliseum and after going on a little search we did find it. Not much is left and it is definitely not being used like the ones I saw in Rome, Arles, Paris, and Nimes. Nope, it is in a neighborhood and is it evident that it had been used as a stone quarry to build other edifices. Now the remains of the coliseum is barricaded by fencing to keep people away from getting near it.
I then wanted to visit an old church that had an ancient necropolis. I had not done my due diligence in preparing for this visit and didn’t realize I needed an appointment to see the necropolis. Only after I got there did I realize that the church was on the pilgrimage road to Santiago de Compestella and that Charlemagne had buried Roland and other knights at this church after his army was ambushed by Basques in the Roncevaux Pass. (This is the story that was mythologized in Le Chanson de Roland.)
One day I would like to go back there and have a proper tour of everything.
The church had a magnificent side entry that was bolted shut. The front door had a homeless man guarding the entrance. I was unsure if we would be able to enter the church or not, but I didn’t feel like interacting with the homeless man so I only took pictures of the outside.
As we were walking the streets of Bordeaux we also saw signs of the martyrs from World War II. One house had simple markers in the sidewalk denoting the fate of two people who were abducted, imprisoned and then assassinated in World War II because they were Jews. It was sobering to see these reminders and to think of how our world is not living up to the slogan of “Never Again.”
We walked around a chic shopping district and came upon the Place des Grand Hommes. It was named after four great French philosophers: Michel Montaigne, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Voltaire, and Montesquieu. The shops leading to that crystal shopping mall were tres cher. One had what appeared to be jewelry designed for wealthy pilgrims on the way to Saint-Jacques-de-Compestella. However, the prices they were asking seemed unlike the ethos of what religious pilgrimage is all about.
We had a nice relaxing lunch at a restaurant that was a short walk away from the Place des Grand Hommes. We had scoped out several restaurants on our walk and made our way back to the one we selected as having the best menu and the best vibe. We got there a little before noon when the service started and within half an hour or so they were bursting at the seams with customers.
I would recommend this restaurant and will likely return there in the future.
We had some time before our next appointment, so we entered Eglise Notre-Dame. It was a nice church, but I was disappointed that I could not find Jeanne d’Arc anywhere. Perhaps she is somewhere on the exterior and I only looked for her on the interior of the church.
We had a wine education/tasting appointment that the Tourist Office set up for us with a company called Olala. (Think Ooh La La).
They also do wine tours in the Bordeaux region so I think these seminars are used to try and get tourists to schedule more in-depth tours of the region.
We showed up on time and started chatting with the host, Antoine, and the other guests. It was a convivial atmosphere and it was accompanied by wine.
I enjoyed his discussion about the Bordeaux region and explaining the primary grape varietals that are grown there: Cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc, merlot, sauvignon blanc, semillon.
It is different than in Sonoma County where we have more varietals grown than in either the Bordeaux region or the Bourgogne region combined. He also gave us standardized scents to smell and try to identify. Scott was really good at this and nailed four out of five scents. The last scent was something Antoine only had four different people correctly identify in the six months of him performing these seminars. Overall, this was a fun hour and a half of wine education and while we already had a good wine education after living in Sonoma County for many years, we enjoyed our time.
After looking at the list of venues on the City Pass, we decided to go to the City du Vin for a wine tasting. We had spent several hours there last year so we didn’t feel the need to visit those exhibits again, but we had not gone up to the top of the building to have a wine tasting. Using our City Pass we took the elevator to the top floor, chose a glass of wine and then enjoyed looking at the Bordeaux skyline from a 360 degree vantage point. I am including the Base sous-marine which was a submarine base built by the Nazis that proved to be indestructible. Multiple rounds of bombing could not damage this base.
In 2020 it was converted into a place of sound and light shows. More on that in a separate post.
For our last dinner in Bordeaux, Scott looked online to find a different restaurant to have duck. He found a restaurant with great reviews and called “Canard Street.” He made reservations and we went there expecting a really nice restaurant. It turns out that it is a chain restaurant that has good food, but the ambiance isn’t that of a fine restaurant. We were seated near a window and we entertained ourselves by watching multiple cyclists who were working the “gig” economy and were waiting for orders to come in for “Door Dash” or similar smart phone applications.
The food was good, but I think I would rather go back to Chez DuPont.
Before I end this, I wanted to share with everyone the symbol of Bordeaux. It comes from the crescent shaped harbor, and it shows multiple crescent shapes intertwined with each other. At first I thought it looked like a symbol for radiation, then I realized it was a little different. Here are several examples of it that I saw through the city.
The following day we flew home. We will be returning to France in September to be there for the vendange also known as harvest or “The Crush.” We are likely going to have to deal with having a goat who has taken up residence as our maison.
