France: Full Bodied Bold Bordeaux

There was a major train strike throughout France which affected our travel plans to Bordeaux. Instead of a comfy train for two & half hours it was a five hour bus trip with a one hour stopover in a random town. On the bright side we made it to Bordeaux, the land of great wine, so we hear.

We were dropped off at the station in the dark a bit dazed from the traveling but with our trusty guide in hand we found our hotel after walking 5km and not noticing once that there were multiple trams running along the main roads, stupid tourists!

It was quite exciting waking up in a new city and seeing everything in a new perspective. We retraced our steps to Place de la Comdie which is home to the tourist office and the Grand Opera house. It also became our local breakfast place at a cute cafe with it's cheap petit dejéuner and good coffee.

The first full day in Bordeaux was solely taken up with sites around the city. The city presents itself as very modern with its' flash new tram system which was ideal for seeing the city by. Older buildings were scarcely found throughout the new replacements but we did manage to find a beautiful church which is in the running with Paris' Notre-Dame. We marveled at the two medieval gateways which were once part of the town walls as well.

We discovered the river and with it Place de la Bourse which is an interestingly designed building, built into three sections around a square. But I have to admit the fountain across the road which looked like a large puddle at first glance was far more enjoyable. Only a puddle right?! so one would wander on it right?and then when you are least expecting it, it sprays light water creating a soft mist to play in! aye Tom? Bloody genius.

Our stay coincided with a local carnival which helped fill our tummies with all the wrong food. But we did discover a new kind of donut, chichi - a long squiggly stick with sugar all over it. No words can describe it. The takeaway food in general in Bordeaux was a lot more multi cultural with kebabs, Thai noodle boxes, sushi, KFC (first one we have seen in France) and lots of cafes which sell great coffee! The first descent cuppa we have had in France to be honest. Oh and of course loads of expensive restaurants which us budget travelers only get to glare at for free.

Being in a town based on wine we thought it was only right that we had a wine tour. We visited two major Chateaus in the region and learnt a little about how to look like you know what you are doing when tasting wine. Now we know why pompous wine drinkers swirl their glasses, it's not just to look sophisticated. The wine process was a lot different to the Beaujolais wine we helped harvest. For a start it takes around 18 months before the wine is ready and even then you should wait another 3 years or so before drinking it. The vines are also machine picked and grow a lot higher than in Fleurie. The bus trip home was not the most enjoyable part of the trip let me tell you, wine and bumpy roads don't go well together.

Everyday we had blue skies but a frosty and fresh temperature throughout the day which reminded us it was Autumn. With the good weather Tom indulged me on a trip to the Jardin Botanique for an Orchid show. An interesting display of flowers and layout of landscape architecture I do say.

On our last day we hopped on the train and headed for Saint Emilion. It is a cute town with the best Maracroon Almond biscuits and mainly only wine shops which encourage wine tasting. We joined a french tour and saw the town sights which were mostly underground. The Monolithic church was by far the most amazing, something out of The Lord of the Rings when they go through the mountains. Large pillars and alters were all carved out of the limestone rock deep underground by Benedictine monks in the 11th century. Throughout the district there are about 200km of underground galleries which today are used by farmers to store their wine in at a stable temperature of 12°C. We finished the day with some fine wine from the region and dined out at a Japanese restaurant where we got to cook our own food.

On our last morning in Bordeaux we stopped in at our local cafe for a petit dejéuner before heading for the train station for our next adventure... Arcachon! which is situated on the west coast, beside the Atlantic Ocean. A very popular summer destination with lovely beaches, bike trails and lots of restaurants for the tourists. However in the Autumn is another story. It was pretty much deserted marked by the closures of many hotels until the new year. But us kiwis' found our own fun. We hired bikes and rode along the bike trails (mini roads just for bikes) until we found the Dune da Pilat which is the largest sand dune in Europe. Needless to say we had lots of fun just playing in our huge sand castle. We even recognised other kiwis with the same idea but they bought cardboard as well! After our fun in the sun and sand we packed our packs for Toulouse. G