Travel Day to Bordeaux

This post covers Mon, August 25:

Today we traveled from Paris to Bordeaux.  After getting up and preparing to leave, we left the hotel around 9 AM.  We talked with the Front Desk Manager again - Fabien - he has been so helpful during our entire stay and very nice.  His approach, concern and interaction was very genuine.

We took a cab to the train station since we had so many bags...surprisingly Bridget has more than me!

At the train station we grabbed pastries from Paul - a final treat in Paris.

This train station was not as well marked as the previous ones.  After searching for help, I learned that all train lines were upstairs.  We found seats in the station - very few open - and sat down.  I ventured off to find the actual train tracks.  Besides the tracks I found a small men's shop and bought cork screw cufflinks - a wonderful reminder of the trip, especially before boarding the train to head to Bordeaux.

Soon our train was posted and we headed out to board.  Our coach car was a very long walk.  The train set-up was very different from the train to Reims - with seats facing each other.  We weren't pleased with the First Class seats - we were going to be riding backwards, facing two strangers, with a table in between and very little room for all of our legs.  I also had to search for a while to find a space large enough for my suitcase.

Nonetheless, the train left exactly on time.  I was already catching up on my journal and feeling productive.

The younger French couple whom we faced were nice and we did not have issues with sharing the small space for so long.

The trip seemed incredibly short for over 3 hours.  I only got through 2 days of journaling and editing three days of the blog.

When we neared Bordeaux, folks started standing up, getting bags and queueing up at the doors...so we followed suite.

Once off the train we headed to the taxi line and found one very quickly.  It was much warmer in Bordeaux than it had been for the entire stay in Paris.

The taxi ride to the hotel was about 15 min.  Once at the hotel, the lobby was very nice - it is a smaller boutique hotel.  Unfortunately the room wasn't ready at 2:10 PM - for a 3 PM check-in - so we were directed to the lobby restroom so that we could change and then check our bags.

The restroom was for both sexes - with the sink area being for both and then just individual stalls.  I had an abrupt interaction with a Frenchwoman who was already using the handicapped stall to change - but had left the restroom during the time that I walked in.  I was not pleased at this point, so I just started changing in the middle of the common area of the bathroom, almost hoping that she would walk out and be appauled.

By the time we walked out of the bathroom, the room was now ready.  So we got the key and headed up.  The hotel is very nice, but it is small.  The room was actually a bit larger than I was expecting - certainly smaller than the room in Paris - but still reasonable size.  It was also very nice and decor was high-end.  We dropped off our bags, attempted Wi-Fi numerous times and finally decided we should head out for lunch as it was around 2:30.

We asked the front desk for assistance and she suggested someplace around the corner.  We also got recommendations for a laundromat and hair salon....ambitious plans for each of us that never materialized.

And we were off to lunch...  It was a very short walk, only about 2 - 3 minutes.  The restaurant was Bistro des Quinconces  It was such a nice day that we sat outside.  The server arrived surprisingly quickly - Bordeaux is already looking better!

Our view during lunch:

Bridget is always much friendlier with the servers than me.  Today's waiter was Fabrice and was very receptive to the projected friendliness.  I ordered a glass of French Rose - something light for such a glorious summer afternoon and Bridget took the server's recommendation of a Saint Emillion.  For food I ordered one of the lunch plates where I could choose a starter and an entree - started with a salad that included walnuts and baked goat cheese; for the entree I had salmon with a beurre blanc sauce and a sauté of julienned vegetables.  Bridget only had an entree - scallops with mushrooms along with a bernaise sauce.  The timing was odd - my salad arrived.  About half way through my salad, then Bridget's entree arrived.  After I finished my salad and Bridget was close to done with her entree, then my salmon arrived.  Overall, an INCREDIBLE lunch - the salad and cheese were superb.  The salmon was cooked perfectly and the skin came off with no effort, the beurre blanc sauce was easily the best I've ever tasted and vegetables have rarely ever tasted so good to me.   Not sure what they put on the mix of carrots, zucchini and onions, but cooked that way, I would eat vegetables every day.  When my beurre blanc sauce arrived, Fabrice had to feed Bridget a taste of it.  He had also fed her the first bite of her scallops - demonstrating how she needed to have a piece of scallop, mushroom and sauce on each bite.  He was very, very flirty.

Fabrice was extremely attentive as the meal continued and the lunch crowd left.  He declared that we must have dessert and that he would finish cooking it at our table.  As we wait for dessert, a few more table filled in for an afternoon cafe.  We met two UPS pilots from Denmark who had flown in that morning and would be flying out that evening.  They said that they have 11 cities where they would fly.  At first that sounded interesting and exciting, but then having to spend several hours in various cities for the day, just waiting to leave started to sound less and less appealing.  Better hope that you enjoyed the company of your co-pilot.

Fabrice informed many tables that they were no longer serving food - only cafe, wine and other drinks....so when our dessert arrived, it certainly drew some stares.  When Fabrice started "finishing" the dessert on our table, the entire patio was watching.  The dessert was a small, typical French cake and when it arrived, there were mounds of raw sugar all over the cake and bowl.  He added fire to a small pitcher that contained plum brandy and then poured the burning alcohol to the bowl.  The sugar quickly started to dissolve and he worked for about 5+ minutes of stirring and drenching the cake in the brandy sauce.  He then cut the cake in half - ultimately feeding Bridget the first piece - "say ah"!  The cake was tasty, but quite boozy!  

Fabrezio gave us several recommendations for dinner and then gave Bridget his cell phone number, of course just for any questions or problems we might have during our stay.  

From lunch we decided to explore the town center a little.  We found our pick-up spot for Tuesday's wine tours.  We stopped in a few wine shops - they only sold French wines, mostly from Bordeaux, but the shipping to the USA was extremely expensive.  We found the restaurant that Fabrice suggested - in the main town square, across from the Opera House and next to Grand Hotel de Bordeaux.  The square was quite busy and obviously a key meeting point or just a space for locals and tourists to sit and relax.

We tried to take a one-hour, open-top bus tour, but we were the only ones to buy tickets for 6:30, so the tour was canceled since they required at least 5 people.  Unfotunately it was canceled once we were already on the bus...and the driver just walked off.  We got the hint after about 5 minutes.

From the square, we walked down Rue St. Catherine - a pedestrian shopping street that extended for at least 10 or more blocks.  By now it was around 6:45, the further we walked, stores started to close as they all closed by 7 or 7:30.  

Was surprised to find US College attire:

We walked as far as Cathedrale St-Andre and took many fantastic pictures.  The cathedral was in the midst of renovations and sand-blasting.  The difference between the untreated sections and the sand-blasted sections were incredible - was shocked by the dirt and grim that accumulates over time.

In this square there was an outdoor swing dance class in progress, so we stopped and watched the dancing for a while.  The group was having so much fun and reveling in the euphoria of dancing - they didn't care who they danced with - men with women, men with men, women with women - then they would all switch around.  They attracted a small gathering of on-lookers and admirers.

From here, we started our walk back to the hotel and ultimately opted for the tram for the rest of the return.  The tram, the tickets, the entry process of the tram, etc all reminded me of Amsterdam.

Off the tram, we stopped by a huge fountain near the hotel:

Once back at the hotel, we unpacked a bit, got settled, checked e-mail, Facebooked and discussed dinner.  We had told Fabrice that we would return for a late dinner - he suggested around 10 PM.  Around 10:15, we headed back to Bistro des Quinconces.  Fabrice directed us to another wonderful outdoor table.  We both had a glass of the Saint Emillion wine that Bridget had for lunch - it was a very good Grand Cru bottling for a very reasonable price.  We were both still somewhat full from our big, late lunch.  I opted for just a cheese plate; Bridget got the salad that I had had with lunch.  Unfortunately no blue cheese (my favorite) - but a nice mix of cow, sheep and goat cheeses - one of each type.  Nearing the end of our first course, we both wanted another glass of wine!  By the time that Fabrice insisted on dessert, we were the only patrons remaining in the restaurant.  I had the chocolate lava cake and Bridget had the house speciality of the night (and one of Fabrice's own recipes) - yellow plums in a warm, rich sauce with a side of Madagascar vanilla bean and almond ice cream.  Of course Fabrice fed Bridget her first bite...again so that he could demonstrate exactly how to combine each component on the spoon.   Mine was great and I ate every bite.  Neither of us liked Bridget's dessert.  Ultimately Fabrice sat down with us for a few minutes.  We suggested he have a glass of wine with us - he said he couldn't since he wouldn't allow his staff to drink at the restaurant.  Finally we agreed that we would buy a bottle of wine, take it to the hotel, he gave us glasses and he would join us around 12:45 AM...yikes!  This sounded like a good idea at 12:15 AM.

We told the front desk clerk - Marie - and she was great about it and offered us the use of the library.  Fabrice arrived as promised at 12:45 AM.  We enjoyed glasses of wine and discussed his travels in the US many year ago, his 99-year old great aunt, Bridget's family, my trip and many other things.  By 1:30 AM I was yawning uncontrollably and I may have fallen asleep in the chair at least once.  Finally we all agreed that we should call it a night due to our early tasting appointments.  Tuesday morning could be ugly!

Off to bed around 2:15 AM, for a very short night's rest.