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Tag Archives: Bordeaux

One last visit to Bordeaux

31 Monday Aug 2015

Posted by laurieanichols in postaday, postaday2015, Uncategorized

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Bordeaux, postaday2015

  
  
  
   
    
 
My mother and I went into Bordeaux for one last promenade together and also to meet one of my younger cousins, my mother’s god daughter for lunch. We spent a few hours talking, the three of us, about this and that, it was a one of those moments between generations that become ingrained in a collective memory that belongs solely to its participants, a very special afternoon.

My mother and I then went off together, my young cousin off in another direction with one of her friends to have fun in the sun as young people should when it is close to summer’s end.

Our direction pointed to elegant boutiques and impressive historical buildings, which are pretty much everywhere you look, left or right, up and down, I love this city.

Blue skies at Bordeaux

22 Saturday Aug 2015

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Bordeaux, postaday2015

 
   

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

 Today we took the children into Bordeaux to see the l’Hermione at the Quai back from its transatlantic journey to the United States, replicating General Lafayette’s crossing during the American Revolution. It was so hot, we took a much welcome break at the Miroir d’Eaux near the ship. My niece and nephew were quite circumspect during their promenade through the water.

There was nothing but blue sky and the heat was brutal, we were thankful for the patches of shade wherever we could find them.

I find Bordeaux to be one of the most exquisite cities, especially since the introduction of the Tram, the city has never been so clean now that all of the car and bus exhaust has been kept to a minimal. 

  

My pictures of Bordeaux

30 Thursday Aug 2012

Posted by laurieanichols in postaday, postaday2012

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Bordeaux, city life, France, pictures, postaday2012, travel

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Bordeaux is a wonderful city and I hope that with these pictures, I have been able to give you a sense of how beautiful it is, both the old and the new. I know that I had written about the Tram in a previous post and how modern it was and I think that the pictures above, show exactly how the Tram puts a modern feel throughout the city.

I fell in love with the gardens off the docks (Quai) and how much they complement the majestic facade of the buildings facing the Garonne. The Bridge of Stone, Le Pont de Pierre,  from the beautiful backdrop of the manicured gardens all along the docks is now seen at a much better vantage point, the gorgeousness of all the colors combine in a tapestry that was naked beforehand.

I know that my memory is fading but I couldn’t get over how much I had lost of my memory than when I was blanking on the name of the Place at various locations. I apologize but even if you don’t know the exact names you can still appreciate the beauty of it all. I feel like such a ninny, me and my forgetfulness, oh boy.

One of my favorite pictures is the small series of the Miroir d’Eaux, the water mirror, on the docks. Seeing all the children running through the cool water and seeing the water spouts surprise the little ones was, I thought, adorable. I don’t know who was the architect of the whole project but they deserve a lot of recognition, incorporating modern elements into the historical landscape of a grand city is a feat that many have tried and failed. Kudos to the team who pulled this masterpiece off.
The transit system really makes it easy to leave your car at home and explore Bordeaux either by bus or by Tram, the tickets are interchangeable and the stops are very close to each other. There isn’t a good reason for taking your car unless you really want to pay high fees for parking.

I tried to show how the pedestrian streets were full of shoppers and the whole city was abuzz with people in cafe’s, in stores and just walking about taking full advantage of a beautiful day in the neighborhood. I keep reading about doomsday economic scenarios regarding the Euro but I think that someone forget to tell the good people of Bordeaux. No one was panicking, they were calmly sipping their Perrier’s, their glasses of Chateau Haut Brion or their Kronenbourg. I even bought something; I found this English all natural beauty shop and I bought an exfoliating facial scrub made with citrus and Breton sea salt. The company is called Lush and I really love my facial scrub, I am going to look into purchasing more facial products online because my skin is feeling pretty wonderful these days.

I have never been to a performance at the Grand Theatre but my Tantine L. has and she said that the night had been magical. I could see why because the building just looks so grand and majestic, right out of a fairy tale with all of the belles of the ball and the beaux dressed to the hilt in their hats and tails. Maybe some time in the future my hubby and I will be attending an opera performance or a ballet performance, I can always dream.

There is much history to the city, I know that the English held the city of Bordeaux for about four hundred years and then the French got the city back, my Papa once told me that the residents of Bordeaux actually wanted the English back because they lost much of their trade with England especially the wine, oops. The reason why Bordeaux was held in English hands was because Eleanor of Aquitaine, the most powerful women in Europe, was married to King Henry II of England. It was during the reign of Charles the VII, that Bordeaux was taken back into French hands and under the French crown.

According to Wikipedia, the 18th century was the golden era for Bordeaux, all the gorgeous buildings along the docks were built during this period. Victor Hugo, according to Wikipedia, found the city so beautiful that he said “take Versailles, add Antwerp, and you have Bordeaux” Moreover, Baron Haussman, a former prefect of Bordeaux, used Bordeaux’s 18the century big-scale rebuilding as a model when he was asked by Emperor Napoleon III to transform then still quasi-medieval Paris into a “modern” capital that would make France proud.

See I wasn’t exaggerating when I said Bordeaux was beautiful, even Wikipedia agrees, lol.

A little walking tour of Bordeaux the city

03 Friday Aug 2012

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Bordeaux, city, food, pedestrian streets, postaday2012, public transport, rue sainte catherine, transportation, walking

As I said yesterday, I took the bus from Begles where Tantine and Tonton live into the city. It is very close, I think that the bus ride took all of 15 minutes, I got off at the Place Gambetta, Gambetta was a man who I think figured very prominently in recent 20th century French history. I used to know but I learned about Mister Gambetta over twenty years ago so it is very foggy, I will go out on a limb and say that it might have been around the 1930’s? Anyway I took at least twenty pictures or so of everything that I saw that I felt deserved to be photographed and as soon as I get back I will upload the pictures to show just how beautiful the city is and how much it has changed in seven years. The Place Gambetta is circular so many streets intersect it like spokes on a wheel and I walked along one of the more elegant spokes Cours de l’Intendence, I would call it the Madison avenue of Bordeaux, all the top-notch boutiques are on both sides of the avenue; Lancel, Longchamps and others. I thought immediately when I turned onto the Cours that it looked so much more elegant now that all the traffic had been eliminated by the installation of the tramway system. I remember the street being incredibly busy with all kinds of traffic constantly, cars, trucks and buses. Now the street is open with the rare car and the tram that slowly goes up and down the street. Now when you walk along the Cours de l’Intendence, you can see all the beautiful boutiques and really see them without being distracted by all the noise and bustle of vehicular traffic. In my opinion the tram is a huge improvement on the beauty of Bordeaux and the efficiency of the transit system is something to be admired.

After the Cours de l’Intendence I turned right onto the Rue Sainte-Catherine, the famous pedestrian street of Bordeaux. At one point I took a picture to show the sea of people down the street because it reminded me a little of what Fifth Avenue looks like when you are at the higher point of the street and you look into the distance and all you see is an army of “ants” bustling up the avenue and down. The Rue Sainte-Catherine has always been my destination when I would go into Bordeaux clothes shopping because it is on this street that you have shops for every budget and every look. There is the department store Galeries Lafayette or if you like the boutique experience than you have more than enough to choose from; clothes, shoes, accessories, cosmetics and books, music and then if you are thirsty or hungry, there are plenty of cafe’s, brasseries and ice cream shops to choose from. I was tempted three times to have a little snack, I saw a high end purveyor of canneles and macarons at three different places and each time I went in, the shop lady was busy doing something else so I left, I am trying not to eat my way through France with dessert. I am focusing on the healthy delights, sugar not good, vegetables and fruit good. The canneles are the specialty of the Bordeaux region, I have made them at home and they are so, so, so good. It is a rich almost custard cake flavored with rum and the outside is richly caramelized, there is a ton of sugar in the batter in order to produce the intense golden caramel outside of the little cake, they aren’t big, two bites and it is gone but they are tremendously delicious. The macaron is another delight, France has been on a macaron kick for a few years now kind of like the cupcake craze in the United States, every patisserie offers them, they come in all different flavors. The macaron is essentially egg whites and sugar flavored with different ingredients formed into a small cookie, I was tempted by caramel beurre sale, and a creme between the two cookies. They are small and light and really good, but all sugar nevertheless.

After conquering my sugar demon, I walked over to the Quai’s at the river’s edge, the river is the Garonne and the transformation of the Quai or the docks is frankly amazing. The old warehouses haven’t been changed on the outside but the interiors have, they now house restaurants, boutiques of every kind, gyms offering sports, yoga, Pilates, Marshall arts and free weights. It is all along the length of the city, you have the pedestrian walkways, the bicycle routes, the roller blader skating way, there is a skateboard area, a basket ball area and tennis courts. The entire length is also incredibly landscaped, there were couples everywhere sitting on the grass surrounded by flowering plants, it was gorgeous. As you look across the cars and the tramway running along the boulevard you see the old facade newly cleaned and the city of Bordeaux is quite majestic in her beauty, the sense of history is incredible, coupled with its embrace of the future. I was very impressed.

I took pictures everywhere and I made sure to take a few of the Mexican sail boat docked on the Quai, it was a huge sail boat like the ones in the Pirates of the Caribbean but clean and in excellent condition and no Johnny Depp, alas. Later on at home on the news, they interviewed the Captain and his crew all from Mexico as they continue their world-wide voyage. A magnificent boat or ship, I forget the correct terminology.

I spent two hours walking and I can’t wait until next week when I can take the baby girl to see the city for herself, I know that she is going to love it. I am going to have to assemble a few packages to ship her purchases back home is my feeling knowing the baby girl as I do, lol.

Road trip to Bordeaux

27 Friday Jul 2012

Posted by laurieanichols in postaday, postaday2012

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Bordeaux, car ride, hot, postaday2012, road trip, Rouen

This morning at nine Nicolas, Francoise, the baby girl and I piled into the Renault family car, which I have to say is a very comfortable spacious car, and headed down south to Bordeaux. The distance is about 689 kilometers, which never means anything to me. In the States, it’s miles, anything else is meaningless. So basically whatever the speed limit is gives you an idea how to calculate the time required to cover the distance so, since the speed limit on the highway here varies between 110-130 kilometers an hour and the distance is 689 therefore the time would be around 6-7 hours in the car. A full day of driving for Nicolas with a full day of riding along for the three of us. Francoise had a tremendous idea that split the ride in two parts with lunchtime being the halfway mark. Her sister Michelle recommended a wonderful restaurant in the town of Vouvray that is right outside of Tours, 3 hours away from Rouen and 3 hours away from Bordeaux. Perfect rest stop, Nicolas found it without any trouble, we were seated immediately and the decor was rustic and elegant in an Old World type of way. The food was very good, we all started with sliced cantaloupe and prosciutto ham alongside a small salad. I had a salad served with sliced breast of duck, fresh mushrooms and pine nuts, the baby girl had salmon tartare and both Francoise and Nicholas had spinach raviolis filled with cheese and served with sauteed shrimp. Everything was delicious, we ended with dessert, I had a paper thin apple tart served warm right out of the oven all caramelized with a scoop of all spice ice cream, oh my, was it so light, warm and comforting to slowly eat and savor. We got back on the road and I was battling with my cell phone trying to take pictures of the fields of tall sunflowers that are strewn all between Paris and Bordeaux. I will upload them later on but honestly you will have to trust me that the blurry yellow images are really sunflowers. Before I knew it, we were very close to Bordeaux when we hit the dreaded traffic jam, it added an hour to our trip but I spent the time thinking of what to write and I immediately thought of this car ride and also the fact that we crossed 4 rivers on the way to Bordeaux; the Seine near Rouen and Paris, the Loire near the restaurant, the Dordogne on the cusp of the southwest, the Garonne right at Bordeaux. I don’t think that I have crossed 4 major rivers in probably close to 14 years. I thought that it was an interesting part of our adventure.

When we arrived at my Tonton and Tantine’s house it was a welcome stop because even with the stop in the middle, my legs were feeling a little stiff and my buttocks were numb by this time. That was all forgotten in the wake of all the welcoming kisses and hellos.

Disturbing news from the nightlife scene of Bordeaux

23 Wednesday May 2012

Posted by laurieanichols in postaday, postaday2012

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binge drinking, Bordeaux, La Garonne, postaday2012, the river

This morning while I was reading through the news; at this point I was browsing through WorldCrunch, I stumbled upon the headline “Bordeaux youths drowning due to binge drinking”. My initial reaction was shocked curiosity, not about the drowning, though those are tragic and devastating but the cause of the drowning, the binge drinking. I was always under the impression that binge drinking was primarily an American phenomena, primarily due to the “forbidden nature” of alcohol in our society. My experiences as a teenager and as a young adult in France with my cousins and my friends, was a healthy respect for alcohol and its place in social situations. The article was depicting a different social scene than what I remembered. The journalist was chronicling how within the city of Bordeaux on the Quais, which means docks in English, the youth are jumping from bar to bar partying and heavily drinking and, if not doing that, then drinking out in the nearby squares from open containers. My understanding of the drinking culture in France was that it is a culture that coexisted strongly with food, one wasn’t done without the other. Drinking for the sake of getting blind drunk wasn’t something that I associated with the youth of France. Thinking back on my experiences during my freshman year in college at the dormitory, the binge drinking culture was part of college life here in the States and it wasn’t really scrutinized but rather seen as a rite of passage, a youthful indulgence that everyone would leave behind upon graduation and entry into the real world. It is distressing to think that binge drinking in France has driven young men to their deaths because they couldn’t navigate the waterfront. It is tragic beyond words, any time there is a senseless death, it wrenches the heart.

I have to say that reading the article in its entirety was an eye opener and I was impressed with the resolute commitment that all appropriate authorities are making to the Bordeaux youth. The powers that be, the city government and police, are engaging in putting free bus service at the disposal of the night clubbing youth, the police are actively ticketing pedestrians holding open containers on the street, the city is considering installing an attractive fence closer to the edge of the river Garonne to physically deter anyone from taking an unwanted drop into the river. The immediate call to action is a reason to be optimistic for the future. The first step to solving a problem is addressing it.

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