We have continued to pursue quintessentially French experiences while being typical tourists. We started the day yesterday at the Office de Tourisme (a delayed start due to some appallingly misleading street signage) and discovered that Bordeaux is very much marketed to a local French tourist than it is to external visitors i.e. everything is in French. We eventually settled on a tour for today (Sunday) that will take us to a few wineries in St Emillion. Just down from the ODT is this magnificent fountain dedicated to Les Girodines, apparently bad guys during the revolution whose good names have been seemingly restored post decapitation. We then strolled along the boardwalk along the river (the name escapes me) and happened upon a stunt bike and rollerblading competition that we watched for a bit before ambling about Les Jardins Publique (magnicifent public gardens near the centre of the city).
After chowing down our tasty self-made baguettes (roast pork, brie, baby spinach etc) we met my dad at La Bar au Vin, this wine bar that doubles as the town base for several maison 'wine houses); unfortunately there are no free tastings but the wines we tried blew my conceptions of French wine out of the water. I had expected weak, insipid and flabby stuff; instead most vins displayed great intensity balanced with savoury complexity - truly magnificent, and they weren't even expensive - the most pricey was five euro. Dad departed after one wine and soon after Tom joined us. We had a few moire then moved off toward our place, stopping at a tiny bar on the way and trying this great drink called Picon - simply put it is Stella with a dash of this Fleurs de Bier which adds this Chinotto-like quality to an otherwise bland beer (apologies to fans of the stuff, we've been spoiled here for good beer). Back at our place we hammered some beers I'd bought a la supermarché (an experience itself, one for later) including Pelforth Amber which I haven't seen in Oz but is ann absolute kicker - 6% and swillable.
We settled on a restaurant in the shadow of an awesome cathedral and Tom and I both got brave and had beef tartare - it wasn't really all that much to bang on about. We hit a few bars later in the night and Tom practised his French by getting himself invited to tables of young girls; we had some good conversations with some of these dames whose names now escape me. We had at least a bottle with this lot so hence my memory is somewhat sketchy after what had become a very big day.
Anyhow, must wrap up as Bec is making another sandwich for us to mangér dans les jardins before our wine tour. But a few quick reflections:
- Supermarkets here are truly super - the fresh food is magnificent, the F and V is great and the beer - mon dieu - the beer; cheap 'less than one euro for les big cans) and incredibly good.
- People seriously seem to live on baguettes here - they are on sale everywhere and at the end of each day virtually everyone is carrying at least one home. We even saw one guy with his baguette strapped to the back of his bike.
- Cycling is a massive thing - it's a very normal mode of transport. In Paris you can hire these public bikes for a euro a day or something and there are these bays you can leave them pretty much anywhere. Paris also has a series of dedicated bikeways running between the footpath and the road. It's a very good system.
We're off to San Sebastian tomorrow but hopefully we'll get in one more free blog before then.
Au revoir!
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