Montcaret and Bordeaux


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Europe » France » Aquitaine » Bordeaux
July 15th 2013
Published: July 15th 2013
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The bell towerThe bell towerThe bell tower

Built into the original city wall
Somehow, overnight I've managed to do something to my neck. It's damned sore and hurts to move. Some medication required I think.

Since we are in the region we figured we should visit Bordeaux which is about one hour away. Sue gave us good instructions on how to get to the Park and Ride but somehow we got ourselves off track off the motorway and with no idea of where we should actually be. After reassessing we got back on and eventually found (I don't know how) the place where we should be. Poor Lindsay was a little stressed with all the instructions and traffic in all directions! Duncan, Anita and Cherie in the other car had also gone off course and somehow got themselves back on track too. From there, we got a tram across the river and into the city. It's a great idea if you know where you're going.

It was shaping up to being a hot day and having wandered a few of the streets and having had lunch we figured it a much better idea to get a city tour on a bus. It was very informative but also very hot and very slow,
Modern and oldModern and oldModern and old

The new tram with a hotel on the left and the theatre on the right side of the square
to the extent that we almost nodded off! In the meantime Duncan and Anita had gone off to pick up Gary and Jo from the airport and Cherie had gone shopping.

The bus tour, despite the heat and sedate speed was in fact very informative in that it showed us why Bordeaux became the city it is now. It is very elegant in my opinion. The buildings are uniform, ornate and of a similar level. The streets are very wide. This is because during the 18th century, a man (can't remember who) redesigned the city and where the old walls and moat was, these were demolished and in their place replaced with wide boulevards. More recently the tramlines were put in so there is a modern form of transport constantly moving through specialized streets. It all looks very good with the new merging nicely with the old - mostly. There's the odd eye sore which I don't thing quite fits in. So, despite the heat it was a good day and at least we can say we visited the city.

Going home was a breeze. We put the destination into the GPS and off we went. The temperature was showing 35 degrees. No wonder we were flagging.

We stopped on the way home for groceries as we are now 9. Jo and Gary had arrived from England for the next couple of days so juggling our facilities will be interesting.

Once back at Montcaret we were straight into drinks and a swim. There was much chatting around the pool followed by a relaxed outdoor dinner as the sun set on a lovely calm warm night. It's getting dark around 10 to 10.30pm.

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