The French Dispatches - Part Sept

In Part 6, we spent a Sunday morning at our home in Bordeaux, the Chateau Pape Clement, being dined (breakfast in our room) and wined (a tour and tasting)!

Bundled up and waiting for the bus

After our incredible tour and tasting at the chateau, we bundled up, grabbed our city touring gear, and headed out to our now-familiar bus stop, La Monteil.  

He's so enjoying waiting in the cold

Instead of taking the #4 all the way into downtown Bordeaux, this time we hopped off a bit early and transferred to the #11.  The #11 got us right where we needed to go - just a street away from Marche des Capucins, the huge city market.  This is where most Bordelaise folks do their weekly shopping, and it was clear from the crowds that we'd arrived in the middle of a busy time, both for finding groceries and visiting with friends and neighbors.

While some vendors set up outside, most folks are in semi-permanent stands within the covered market

It was clear that many of these stands had been here for years

SO. MUCH. CHEESE!!!!!

We hit the market right at lunchtime (which we planned to do), and after making a tour of the space and looking at options, we asked for a table at Mes Souvenirs d'Espagne, a Spanish-inspired stand.

A Spanish brown ale - pretty good

Our food was delicious and hit the spot - we split a warm vegetable salad, Chris had a soppressata sandwich, and I had a bowl of hot lentils and chorizo.  Nourished and ready to move, we strolled through the historic part of the city, stopping to see the Basilica of Saint Michel and its nearby bell tower, la Fleche Saint-Michel.  The basilica is a Gothic cathedral and the largest church in Bordeaux; it was started in the 14th century and took over 200 years to finish.  The bell tower, la fleche, is the tallest structure in Bordeaux and the second tallest church building in all of France.  Unfortunately, both were under restoration when we visited, so we couldn't get super up close and personal, but we enjoyed the farther away views just the same.

Walking toward la fleche - we also stopped and had hot drinks and pastries

at the patisserie on the left, where the man in the purple coat is blowing his nose.

Getting a bit closer...

The Basilica of Saint Michel - take a look at that sky!

Although the sun was now out (and would be so for the remainder of our trip),

it was still pretty darn cold.

No climbing the bell tower today!

Retracing some of our steps from the night before, we headed out to the quay and walked along the river to the Place des Quinconces, where we caught the tram northward to our next stop, La Cite du Vin.  

One of the old city gates - before France became a unified country,

every major city was its own nation state.

Skirmishes were common, so you need city walls and gates to keep the city safe.

While it's always been well known as a wine region, until about 30 years ago, the city of Bordeaux itself wasn't really a hot spot for tourists.  The mayor at the time wanted that to change, and he undertook a huge amount of work to revitalize the city - restoring monuments and landmarks and adding new museums and attractions to bring in those sweet, sweet tourism euros (francs at the time, of course).  One of the projects that came out of this period of development was La Cite du Vin, or "the City of Wine," a museum dedicated to all things vino, not just from Bordeaux but all around the world.  With a permanent collection, temporary exhibits, a tasting bar on the top floor, a wine cellar for purchasing bottles from everywhere around the globe, and a café with wines by the glass, it really is a great spot for both learning and experiencing wine.

The building itself is really cool, too.

It's meant to suggest a wine decanter - the flat part is the permanent collection,

and the stem is where the tasting bar and restaurant are located.

One of the museum's exhibits - the wall of grape varieties

Resting in the top floor tasting area - the chandelier is made of used wine bottles

Enjoying our samples with the city of Bordeaux in the background

The shot from the little kiosk at the museum -

Chris HAS to tell us about his highlighter regimen - he's absolutely glowing!

Around 5pm, we petered out on the exhibits, so we took the stairs back to the main floor to the café and sampled a few more glasses (with a cheese board - I didn't have to worry about taking calcium supplements on this trip) and relaxed.  They eventually booted us out (our waitress was so done with being there that day, and I certainly don't blame her on a Sunday afternoon), and we made our way back to the tram stop for the ride into town (it wasn't super far from the main part of Bordeaux to the Cite du Vin, but it was at least 1.5 miles).

The Cite du Vin in the background, with some cool Bordeaux buildings

With some time to kill before our dinner reservations, we figured when in Bordeaux, it was time to do as the Bordelaise do, and we strolled into the local branch of the Galeries Lafayette to take advantages of Les Soldes, still well underway.  I needed a new pair of white gold/sterling silver stud earrings, and I quickly found the perfect pair (you'll see them in pictures in upcoming posts).  Chris was looking for a new scarf, as the one he'd brought was a bit too short, and we got a great deal on that, too.  

Shopping done, we were more than ready for dinner (as if the two of us are ever NOT ready for food)!  Brasserie Le Noailles was right around the corner, so we were perfectly on time for our 7pm reservation (okay, you got me - we were early, so Chris made me wait outside until 7 on the dot).  Le Noailles has a good selection of the same French bistro food you'd find in brasseries all over the country, but they specialize in the specialties of the Bordeaux region, many of which include the seafood local to the area.  After cocktails, we split a half bottle of local white wine to go with our mains: lamprey (one of those local Bordelaise dishes) for Chris, and sole meuniere for me.  Both were great, and I channeled my inner Julia Child as I ate mine.  We also had an amazing, homemade apple galette for dessert, and we enjoyed the entire experience quite a bit, including the old-school brasserie service of waiters in vests and starched white shirts.

Our mains - lamprey (top) and sole meuniere

Once again, more than full (a recurring theme for us), we waddled to the #4 bus stop and waited for it to take us back to the chateau.

Another city gate, in the moonlight

On the next blog, even more wine tasting and history!

Au revoir!

Amy

PS - Total step count for Sunday was 15,334 (around 7.5 miles).

PPS - Someone is tippy tapping over to say hi: