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Published: December 8th 2016
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Woolly says – The festive spirit has started to arrive on the farm, having directed the erecting of the tree I took the time to discuss our lists for Father Christmas with Ushi and Mags, the farm dogs, their list is a long as mine! Fiona had come up with the brilliant idea of a trip to Bordeaux for me, unfortunately it appeared that Jo and Zoe were also included, sighing in frustration and with the knowledge that shopping would now have to be included I shuffled into the car with a small supply of snacks for the journey. The small supply would have fed an army for a month! Woolly says – It’s important to keep my strength up! Having collected daughter Katie from school we hit the motorway and I took it upon myself to give them some facts about the city. Bordeaux is a port city on the Garonne River and is the world’s major wine industry capital making around 14.5 billion euro’s a year......Jo has probably helped substantially with this income! The city's titles of "La Perle d'Aquitaine" (The Pearl of Aquitaine), and "La Belle Endormie" (Sleeping Beauty) referred to the old centre which had black walls due to pollution...... it was at this point in my fascinating commentary that I realised that Katie and Zoe were listening to music whilst Jo and Fiona were discussing farm life, so rude!
As he paused for breath I handed him another snack, it seemed to halt his endless monologue! Woolly says – I’m just not appreciated! Crossing the river into the centre I prepared myself for a whistle stop tour of the city. With arrangements made for where to meet later I hurried past the renaissance styled buildings and our first stop. The Monument aux Girondins was erected between 1894 and 1902 in memory of the Girondists who were victims during the Reign of Terror during the French Revolution. I sat gazing upwards trying to take in the detail of the statue perched high above me of the spirit of liberty, who must have the most incredible view across the city. At the foot of the column the bronze horses and troops were beautifully crafted by Achille Dumilatre and Victor Rich. In 1942 the horses that were removed during the German occupation of France during World War II and were thought to be lost until traced to a barn in Angers and brought back to the city in 1945.
It was most impressive and once our small friend had posed for the obligatory photo’s he shot off towards the river. Woolly says – so little time and so much to see! I raced towards the two rostral columns standing at 21 metres which stood facing the Garonne River which had been erected by Henri-Louis Duhamel du Monceau in 1829. One of them symbolises commerce, while the other stands for navigation. The ships coming out of the sides of the columns made me chuckle as there was no way a ship could have driven into them at that height which left me wondering how they had got there! I laughed at the look of confusion on his furry face and explained that they were part of the sculpture and not real ships, tutting he turned his back on the river and trotted off towards the spires he had spotted. Woolly says – I wasn’t sure but hoped that the spires might be the Cathedral, for once however I was wrong as I galloped round the corner to find myself in front of the St Louis des Chartrons church which looked remarkably like Notre Damm! The church was built between 1874-1880 by the architect Pierre-Charles Brun, the huge gothic ceilings towered above us and leaving the women to wander round I sat admiring the hundreds of panes of stained glass, absolutely beautiful and so well preserved it made my heart feel good. A strange rumbling bought me out of my reflection as I realised it must be well past lunchtime!
Our time was ticking away so to keep the mammoth happy and enable us to carry on we made our way back to the Christmas market and the wonderful smells of crepes and hot wine. Woolly says – the market was a hive of activity and having waved at Father Christmas who seemed to have his sleigh full of eager children, I munched through a pretzel as we inspected the stalls. Beautifully crafted wooden toys, Christmas biscuits and jewellery stores all deserved a look, the carousel looked worth a go but it appeared that the female contingency had other ideas and instead found myself entering clothing and make up shops....why me I shouted hoping that a friendly passer by might take pity on me!
His huffing and puffing grew louder as we entered the fourth and final shop on our list leaving him outside licking a waffle that he had found from somewhere. Woolly says – The child had gladly given it to me ...... after I’d stamped on his toe! After what seemed to be years and with darkness enclosing us we strolled back to the now twinkly market, as we sat sharing roasted chestnuts and sipping the spicy hot wine, I sighed in contentment, only 18 days until the man in red arrives with my porche, I do hope he got my 23rd letter regarding the colour! .
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D MJ Binkley
Dave and Merry Jo Binkley
French celebrations
Beautiful