Working for an international company can occasionally have its perks. This year I got lucky. I got invited to the European company meeting which was held in Bordeaux France. Always one to grab an opportunity when I see it hubby tagged along and we added almost a week of vacation on to the trip and spent the first four days in Bordeaux.
We left Monday evening from Newark airport, the dreaded overnight flight which got delayed by 1.5 hours because somebody checked in with their luggage but then didn't show up i.e. they had to rummage through the plane's cargo to find and deplane that person's luggage. WTF - who checks in to an international flight and then becomes a no-show?!
Anyhow, we arrived with about an hour delay into Brussels but made our connection to Bordeaux without having to jog through the airport - yay. And by about 3 pm local time (9 am NY time) we arrived in hot but overcast with thunders Bordeaux.
Here are some pics I took while we were over Bordeaux since we had to change our landing direction due to the bad weather. The top left pictures, I believe, shows the Bay of Arcachon, the other three feature the river Garonne, highly sedimented and flowing quite fast.
On these two pictures you can see Bordeaux's city center as well as the bridges Pont Jacques and Pont de Pierre and also our hotel - LOL
In the evening I was going to have my first company meeting but before that hubby and I went for a brief walk along the Garonne with views of the city center to the one side and the Pont Jacques the other direction.
The sun was really hot and it was quite humid, probably due to Bordeaux's close proximity to the Atlantic. No complaints though, except for the first couple of days the weather was picture perfect.
When we returned later clouds had started to form and made for a wonderful backdrop of the white Pont Jacques bridge which at night is lit up in blue, a hint of this shows in the last picture but it wasn't quite dark yet when I took that photo.
For the next morning our company had organized to explore the inner city / old town of Bordeaux by means of a walking tour while solving riddles and answering questions e.g. go from A to B and at B search for xyz and take a photo of it or find out how old it is etc. That turned out to be a quite fun way to walk around town and see it from different angles. All in all this took about 2 - 3 hours, followed by lunch and a bit of work in the afternoon.
The evening was spent on a boat ride on the Arcachon Bay but more on that in a next post when I'll also be talking more about regional wine. This post here is dedicated entirely to Bordeaux with
Impressions from around Bordeaux's old town
And as you will see there are way too many photos for this topic alone already. So let's get right to it! What would be an old city build along a big river without bridges? Here is another one
Pont de Pierre
And, of course, any old city will have at least one old church but it's highly probably that there will be more than one. Bordeaux is no exception, it has a multitude of wonderful old churches. Out of respect I usually avoid entering a place of worship, however, in touristic regions and when the church's doors are open, there are times I cannot resist and will enter to marvel at the architecture and the stained glass windows. And I will wonder how much these churches must have cost at the time they were built...
Regardless, they are beautiful pieces of art and architecture.
Churches
French Streets
A horror to probably every American are France's streets. They are seriously narrow. My hubby, who is a good driver, was happy enough to let me drive the whole time while we were in France (after Bordeaux = next posts). But even in Bordeaux there are some streets where you'd pray for no oncoming traffic IF you were to drive. Of course, we did not drive in Bordeaux but opted to use the tram or walk. If you are planning a trip to France that includes driving - take small suitcases and rent the smallest possible car.
It was nice to see that a part of the inner old town had been transformed into pedestrian zones with cafes and restaurants galore. And all those little shops right along the streets - all of this is quite an unusual sight compared to American cities and I loved to bits just walking along these streets and marvel at the old architecture.
But see for yourself, here are a few impressions.
Pallais Gallien & Le Jardin Public
After walking the streets of old town Bordeaux we took a tram to the public gardens and the Pallais Gallien which are the remains of a Roman amphitheater dating to the 3rd century. Should you ever go and visit... these ruins are quite hidden between all the residential houses and can easily be missed.
From there it is just across the road to the Jardin Public. This is a green oasis, on of them, in the middle of Bordeaux with lots of old trees, benches and grass to lounge on. And that is exactly what we did. After walking and searching for a while we found a bench in the shade and spent the next hour or so - reading. Yup, exactly that. We let the world pass by us, listened to children playing, the wind rustling through the leaves and we read. It was marvelous!
Cite du Vin + Bassins a Flot + UFO
One of Bordeaux's main attractions is the Cite du Vin, a very modern building housing history and exhibitions around - Bordeaux, the wine. Hubby and I didn't visit it but our company had an evening event organized there with a presentation and tasting both of which were excellent.
The third picture shows you how close Bordeaux is built to the Garonne flowing into the Atlantic because these are clearly signs of the tide.
In WW II apparently the Italians built this submarine pen which is still standing. It's pretty ugly but part of history, not sure what they're planning to do with it. Around it there are marinas and lots of construction.
Of course, when you visit Bordeaux you have to see the UFO! Some of my (female) colleagues dubbed it 'a hat'. My first though was saucer however I can see the hat as well.
Mirroir d'Eau, Fountains, Porte Cailhau + Architecture
Last but not least here is a collection of different fountains, buildings, monuments from around town.
This is the summary of our days spent in Bordeaux. There were a couple of excursions with the company outside of the city and I will cover those in a following post.
I hope I didn't bore you to death with these many photos but I want this little series to be a reflection of our France trip, like a journal. And thus - lots of photos!
Have a great rest of your day!
Cheers,
(Ocean)Bee
