Wine and Other Things in Bordeaux

Thursday, October 22
Thea and I took the train from La Rochelle to Bordeaux, but we didn't get to sit together since we had assigned seating, but that's okay because I just read the whole trip. Thea's friend Savannah was in Bordeaux waiting for us and she stayed in the hotel with us for the first two nights but then left. This first day we did a lot of walking around and found a lot of beautiful things in Bordeaux.

Porte d'Aquitaine in Place de la Victoire

This statue in Bordeaux is just like the ones in Chicago! A little reminder of home :)

This is a wine shop called L'intendant Grands Vins de Bordeaux and we walked up all five or so flights of stairs.

Monument aux Girondins and a carnival!

An interesting, old building in Bordeaux

Eglise catholique Saint-Eloi

Tour Saint Michel

Tour next to the Bordeaux Cathédrale

Friday, October 23
Today we went to the Musée des Beaux Arts, which wasn't very big but it was very pretty and we had fun laughing at a few of the paintings.

Musée des Beaux Arts

One of the interesting paintings we couldn't help but laugh at

We walked passed the Bordeaux Cathédrale since it's kind of behind the museum

Then we went to the carnival and rode on the ferris wheel; here are some sights of Bordeaux from above:

Then we walked along the river and to the other side to a cute little grocery store/café called Le Magasin Général.

We walked across Pont de Pierre

Magasin General

They had tables inside and outside and we sat and had a coffee.

Heading back to the center of town

We rented bikes to get back since it was cheap and much faster than walking.

Pont de Pierre at night after we rode back over it.

Saturday, October 24

Savannah left in the morning and Thea and I went on a half day wine tour. We stopped at three vineyards, but the second one we just walked around without a tour. It was a beautiful day to be out in the country.

The first stop was at Chateau Desmirail

We toured around the caves where the barrels are and then tasted two red wines.

Second stop: Chateau Margaux

beautiful vineyards and chateau in the background

Thea and I enjoying the day

Third stop: Chateau du Taillan

Beautiful vineyards. They had finished the harvest a week or so before we came.

Here we had a tour of the caves were the barrels are too, and we tasted a red and a white wine since they do both as well as rosé.

Chateau du Taillan was our favorite because it is just so beautiful!

Sunday, October 25
Last night the time changed because of daylight savings, which I didn't realize, and when I woke up my  iPod said a different time than my watch, and I was so confused by this. Thea looked it up and told me that the we gained an hour, which was nice! First we went to le Musée de l'Aquitaine, which is just a history museum, but it is the biggest one in the region, I think, and it was very big.

Musée de l'Aquitaine

There were a lot of artifacts from prehistoric times, like this grave found in a cave.

There was also a lot of information about the trade/commerce.

Then we went to the Institut Culturel Bernard Magrez, which had modern art in a beautiful, old chateau.

Institut Culturel Bernard Magrez

Beautiful architecture and interesting art

Looking out the window to the beautiful garden

Afterwards we walked around the Jardin Public, which is just a big park.

walking in the Jardin Public

Sitting in the pretty park

After we just walked around Bordeaux and saw this great view of the Monument aux Girondins

Eglise Notre Dame

Just a movie theater, nothing fancy :)

Porte Dijeaux

Bordeaux Cathédrale at night

Monday, October 26

Today was our last day in Bordeaux so we just walked around to see what else we could find before we had to leave. It was a gorgeous day out so we sat in the Jardin Public for about an hour, just sitting in the sun and talking.

Palais Gallien: this is an ancient ampitheater; it's a bit of a mystery as to why is it called Palais Gallien

the other side of Palais Gallien

We found a carrousel in the Jardin Public that we hadn't seen before.

Jardin Public

Love the fall colors!

Then we walked around and found La Porte Cailhau and we climbed up to the top

Then we went over to Le Miroir d'eau where kids like to play in the water, and we sat there for a while before returning to our hotel to pick up our bags and go to the train station for our next adventure.

It was a nice time in Bordeaux but we were ready to move on to the next place, only we didn't realize how hard it would be to get to the next town, but I will talk about that in my next blog post. :)