Lovely day exploring the city of Bordeaux

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What a beautiful day for sightseeing in the city. The sky was gloriously blue and the sun out all day so I wore a sundress (easy enough to ‘tuck up’ when we’re on the scooter), put suntan lotion and water in the back-box and off we went. Easy 10 minute run into the city centre and there wasn’t too much traffic.
We parked just across from the river ‘promenade’ and went off to explore. The entire west bank of the river is a magnificent esplanade. It has children’s play areas, a skateboard park, a massive retail outlet (oops somehow missed that until too late !) and some superb gardens.
The crème de la crème though is the Miroir de l’eau. This area of the promenade is covered with mini water jets which keep it covered with just a couple of inches of water. This is a sheer delight especially when it is hot and when, in my case, the shoes you are wearing are washable. Most people passing along took their shoes off so they could walk on the ‘mirror’ but I didn’t need to bother. Several children were in swimming costumes and used it like a shallow paddling pool. Every half hour or so little jets sent out 6 inch high very fine mists of water which gave the whole area an effect of steam.
This has to be the best water feature we have seen, and we have seen quite a few. In a hot day it is sheer magic for cooling down. The overall effect of course is of a mirror with the shallow coating of shiny water so the magnificent buildings which line the other side of the road are all reflected.
From the promenade we walked across the road and into the city streets. A very pleasant strolling place, the city having been given a modern facelift only a few years ago with the addition of a tramline. The old and new blend together very well and it is quite odd to see a bendy sleek grey tram gliding past the ancient cathedral.
We had lunch at a brasserie and enjoyed some excellent people watching. Wanted to buy some fresh veg. but though we found a long shopping street full of clothes shops we absolutely failed to find anywhere selling food so did without.
Enjoyed Bordeaux very much but eventually we were hot and tired so back on the scooter to the campsite where the pool was open ! Had a lovely long, cooling swim before dinner.
Tomorrow we move inland into the Dordogne river region.

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