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This is the skateboard park early in the morning with only a few kids.
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While in Bordeaux we went to the Aquitaine Museum. Eleanor has been a favorite of Bev's. This mosaic was just perfectly beautiful -- a remnant of Roman times.
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The city unfortunately was very involved in the slave trade. There are many exhibits relating to that period.
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This lovely plate commemorates the execution by guillotine of Louis Capet in 1783, with the executioner displaying the bloody head for the enjoyment of the audience. Just the setting for my rare steak dinner, yum yum.
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Bordeaux's beautiful harbor made for lots of shipping traffic.
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More detail about Napoleon's stone bridge.
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Lots of African artifacts brought back from the triangle trade.
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And a wonderful set of old photographs of the city way back.
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Old Bordeaux
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Old Bordeaux
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Old Bordeaux
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Old Bordeaux
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And an example of the Socialist-Realist School of Art
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This is the Bell Tower for the Cathedral St. Andre. Because the land was very boggy, it would not support a Tower on top of the Cathedral, so they were built side-by-side.
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There is a clean-up program under way. The Tower has been cleaned, this facade of the church has not (yet).
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Isn't Gothic Architecture grand. This church was built between the 12th to 15th centuries.
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Lots of activity in town. Look at the charming old building in the background.
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The architectural theme of the city is constant. Can you read the inscriptions just under the roof and at the bottom? The building seems to have been re-purposed in modern times.
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Dawn is breaking over the city. That same boat passed by at the exact moment of sunrise several days.
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Next day we took the tram into town. Great map of the tram system in Bordeaux.
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And you can almost, but not quite, figure out how to pay for a book of tickets. A local gentleman helped us, and we still got it wrong.
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This bat has a story, I'm sure. But it was just a display in the window of a pharmacie.
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We like quaint old offices with exposed brick, right? Well, in Bordeaux, it's exposed three-century-old stone.
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This is the Porte Cailhau, circa 1495, one of the oldest gateways into the city.
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Read about the Porte's history.
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Rick decided to walk up the tower. Could not believe how narrow the stair was.
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On the first landing, there is a museum with tools and armaments used to build and defend the Porte.
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This is the slit in the floor through which the defenders would shoot arrows or drop boiling oil onto attackers trying to enter the gate.
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But Rick went no further. The upper levels cost money.
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Another of the scale models of the city/neighborhood. We saw lots of these in the different towns we visited. They were usually located in a central square; made of beautifully patinaed copper or steel.
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An interesting piece of public art on the sidewalk.
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And Fred's cafe, named, no doubt, for our dear friend Fred.
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Rick was intrigued by this very well dressed young lady, cleaning the sidewalk in front of her shop -- just her mother and grandmother, etc., used to do. But in 5-inch stilettos?
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You will always know where the tram door will open; and you are warned to step aside to let passengers exit.
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Another Gothic church in Bordeaux, I think it is St. Eloi, the first in Bordeaux, 13th century.
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This is the way to do a wine tasting, especially on a beautiful summer day.
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We head back to the ship for lunch and our afternoon cruise up to Cadillac and the Sauterne region. Its low tide again.
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These are man-cave fishing shacks all along the banks of the river. They are passed from generation to generation, no new ones are permitted.
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Another view of the fishing shacks, which are really close together.
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We came mighty close to the bottom of that bridge. Also note the driftwood on that ledge ten feet above the current (low tide) water level.
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And we are at Cadillac. The dock somehow does not look quite substantial enough for our Long Ship. 400 ft boat vs 40 ft dock? Hmmm.
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Our skillful Captain brings us in like he was parallel parking a Porsche.
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We are at Chateau d'Arches, a premier cru Sauterne producer. Its almost tropical here, note the palm tree.
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The fruit is left on the vine until there is practically no juice left in it.
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First piece of the tour is out in the vineyard.
It is hot!
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Rule of thumb for grape vines is that one vine will make one bottle of wine. However, with sauterne, one vine makes one glass.
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We're the only people there (it is vacation time). There is nothing to do at this time of year but wait for the harvest, and pray the weather is good.
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The aging room at dArches. Imagine the millions of dollars of yummy wine in those barrels.