We had breakfast this morning at a café in the same wee square where we had dinner last night; deux formules petit déjeuner which included orange juice, a baguette with butter and jam, and a large coffee. Energised, we walked into the centre of town and spontaneously decided to go on the tourist bus tour. This turned out to be an excellent decision; we sat on the open air top deck and the tour took us past many of the landmarks that we already knew and also plenty of new ones, with an interesting commentary via headphones. I particularly liked the Mascarons below the upper storey windows on the blond stone buildings, wee carved stone faces, all individual. These used to be meant to ward off evil but later became purely decorative. Lovely.
The bus also ran up one side of the river from the Pont de Pierre, crossed the modern Pont Jacques Chaban Delmas and came back down the other side of the river, so we saw some of the further out places, including the Cité de Vin, of which more shortly.
We had a light lunch back in the centre of town before strolling to the Musée des Beaux-Arts, a lovely Art Gallery with a few gems. A portrait of a young man, L'Homme à la main sur le cœur, 1632, by Frans Hals stood out for me; his face was so expressive and lifelike. La Danse des Noces by Jan Brueghel de Velours in about 1600 was fascinating; there was so much going on at that wedding! Another one I liked was Ophelia by Jules-Elie Delaunay painted in 1882, she has such a beautiful face. And there were lots more; we both enjoyed our visit and then sat outside in the gorgeous gardens which had an autumnal feel with quite a few crispy golden leaves on the ground. But it was still very hot and there were lots of clusters of pale blue Cape Leadwort flowers on large bushes around the park.
Our next destination was the Cité de Vin, a large modern museum of wine beside the river. We expertly jumped on a tram to get there. James had some doubts about whether it would be any good or just a tourist trap, but in fact it was fantastic. First we were sent to the extremely comprehensive museum of wine on the second floor, equipped with our audio headphones. It covered absolutely everything about wine, from the locations where the grapes are grown, to the types of grape, the wine-making process, how to quaff one’s wine correctly, and an impressive virtual display about the colours of wine. Then it was time for the real wine tasting on the top floor, where you could take your wine out to a balcony overlooking the city. Our tickets entitled us to a glass of wine each; needless to say this meant that James could choose two!
Back in the centre of town we had dinner sitting outside at a very busy but friendly restaurant called L’Ombrière, in another pretty square. The only disadvantage was that at some points we were surrounded by smokers! As it got dark the waiters switched on the outside lights and it was all rather beautiful. We passed the big clock tower again in our way back to the hotel, and noticed its sign, translated from the Latin;
J'appelle aux armes
J'annonce les jours
Je donne les heures
Je chasse l'orage
Je sonne les fêtes
Je crie a l’incendie
This particular bell was not the first on the site, it was erected in 1775, and like its predecessors it was the bearer of all good and bad tidings to the people of Bordeaux.
The bus also ran up one side of the river from the Pont de Pierre, crossed the modern Pont Jacques Chaban Delmas and came back down the other side of the river, so we saw some of the further out places, including the Cité de Vin, of which more shortly.
We had a light lunch back in the centre of town before strolling to the Musée des Beaux-Arts, a lovely Art Gallery with a few gems. A portrait of a young man, L'Homme à la main sur le cœur, 1632, by Frans Hals stood out for me; his face was so expressive and lifelike. La Danse des Noces by Jan Brueghel de Velours in about 1600 was fascinating; there was so much going on at that wedding! Another one I liked was Ophelia by Jules-Elie Delaunay painted in 1882, she has such a beautiful face. And there were lots more; we both enjoyed our visit and then sat outside in the gorgeous gardens which had an autumnal feel with quite a few crispy golden leaves on the ground. But it was still very hot and there were lots of clusters of pale blue Cape Leadwort flowers on large bushes around the park.
Our next destination was the Cité de Vin, a large modern museum of wine beside the river. We expertly jumped on a tram to get there. James had some doubts about whether it would be any good or just a tourist trap, but in fact it was fantastic. First we were sent to the extremely comprehensive museum of wine on the second floor, equipped with our audio headphones. It covered absolutely everything about wine, from the locations where the grapes are grown, to the types of grape, the wine-making process, how to quaff one’s wine correctly, and an impressive virtual display about the colours of wine. Then it was time for the real wine tasting on the top floor, where you could take your wine out to a balcony overlooking the city. Our tickets entitled us to a glass of wine each; needless to say this meant that James could choose two!
Back in the centre of town we had dinner sitting outside at a very busy but friendly restaurant called L’Ombrière, in another pretty square. The only disadvantage was that at some points we were surrounded by smokers! As it got dark the waiters switched on the outside lights and it was all rather beautiful. We passed the big clock tower again in our way back to the hotel, and noticed its sign, translated from the Latin;
J'appelle aux armes
J'annonce les jours
Je donne les heures
Je chasse l'orage
Je sonne les fêtes
Je crie a l’incendie
This particular bell was not the first on the site, it was erected in 1775, and like its predecessors it was the bearer of all good and bad tidings to the people of Bordeaux.
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