AAAAA rating

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Imagine a delicious serving of pigs intestines (chitterlings) that smell a lot like a men's toilet in Hanoi - actually not a toilet just a wall! The lengths one of my travel companions will go to just to be mentioned in my blog is awesome!

In Bordeaux George was on a mission, he had a gourmet day, starting with steak tartare for lunch - a raw meat dish often served with raw egg! No thanks! That evening the piece de resistance andouillette sausage. The is not your ordinary snag! it's made from chitterlings (intestines) and pigs colon, all the disgusting bits of it and it stinks to high heaven when it's served! This sausage is revered in France and the best of these sausages attain a five A rating. Funny thing was that George had no idea what he was ordering and when he/we realised what it was George was in a way too happy place after sampling many of the country's finest wines all afternoon. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andouillette

We arrived in Bordeaux on Friday afternoon and set off to explore this beautiful French city in the south of France. Bordeaux is well known for its wine production (the Bordeaux region produces more than twice as much wine as Australia) and it is also home to the longest open air shopping arcade in Europe .....bliss!

Saint Emilion is a UNESCO world heritage listed site and a wine region about 40 kilometres from Bordeaux. Saint Emilion's history dates back to prehistoric times, with fascinating Romanesque churches and ruins stretching along its steep and narrow streets. The Romans planted vineyards there as early as the 2nd century. We decided to try out the rail system and go check it out. The boys immediately found a wine tasting bar (which wasn't hard, every second shop offered wine tasting). Bonus that the wines on offer were of the 60 euro variety (on the cheaper side) and that rather than tasting they pour you a good wine glass full! Often! After many samplings and an order of wine delivered to home, some of us staggered back to catch the train to Bordeaux.

You will never be thirsty or hungry in Bordeaux, in fact you're spoilt for choice. Obviously the wine is excellent, but the crepes are to die for (my favourites are the Nutella and the sucre (sugar) yum, yum, yum! Then there is the huge selection of fromage (cheese) to choose from, which go beautifully with a fresh crusty baguette ...tasty tasty tasty.

Gordon: I've included some more cobblestone pics for you, one you may find intetesting is from Saint Emilion, they are 8th century cobblestones. Also a pic of a steep street in Saint Emilion, these streets are called tertre streets, meaning 'steep street'.

About a half hour out of Bordeaux is the Dune of Pilat, the tallest sand dune in Europe a 110 metre high and 3.4 kilometre sand dune...massive!! Boys being boys decided they would walk up it! Why, when they've built perfectly good stairs...anyway one boy nearly gave himself a heart attack, lucky he has red wine running through his veins!

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Photos

Mirror walk
(Photo for George)

St Emilion
(Photo by George)

Picking grapes for his next red
St Emilion

Gorgeous model
(Photo by George)

Having fun on the mirror walk
(Photo by George)

Mirror walk
(Photo by George)

Tertre street
St Emilion

Comments

[Margy]

Missed your vocation
Cathy, I believe you missed your vocation.....you should be a travel writer....your facts, interesting tid bits & photos put a lot of travel writers to shame!!! Vincent didn't credit you with much genetic input did he (& less Robbins') lol!!!! xx

[Greg & Kerrie Lane]

Steak tartare
Your gastronomic tour of Europe continues! Kerrie tried the steak tartare in Narbonne in 2011 with an interesting finale. We will tell you that story later! With all your sampling of European fare and sipping of red wine, your photos show you don't appear to have put on weight! What's the secret?