Wednesday, September 19

Day three Bordeaux - Bordeaux city

Oh what a beautiful morning, oh what a beautiful day. Sunrise Wednesday morning. Temp rose to above +32  C during the afternoon
Before leaving for Bordeaux city and street walking, we took a walk down to the castle´s wineyard and examined the Merlot grapes

Rows of the Merlot grape as long as you can see, and the harvest should be perfect this year
The Merlot grape was sweet and we could "steal" as much as we wanted. The skin was hard and perfect for wine production.
Our castle, chateau or hotel (free choise) seen in the background and surounded by 180 hectares wineyard. A lovely morning as farmers, and referring to one of the persons we met: "We are farmers. Making the best of the wineyard ar essential. After that come the "easy" making and storing of wine in barrels and on bottles."
In the center of Bordeaux close to the Operahouse, our lunch restaurant and the great Monument "Des Girondines" to the north. Looking south we find the large shopping street "Rue St Catherine" which is 1.2 km long
Shops close to the Place de Comedie was more expensive brands than further south.

Some years ago Bordeaux was a dirty smoggy city. Then they decided to wash the houses and make restrictions in trafic. Here you can see a cleaned house alongside a "dirty"one.
Bordeaux has a lot of monuments and sculptures. This water mirror sculpture close to the river Garronne and in front of the "Place de la Bource" was filled and emptied with water every 10th minute. The steam coming up was a signal for people to move away before getting wet.

The citisens who lived in the houses along the west coast of river Garonne was called cork aristocrats. May be the style is similar to Bygdø Alle in Oslo.
The wine bource in Bordeaux is a beautiful building with both round and square windows.

At Esplanade des Quincones the high obelisk "Monument aux Girondins" have many interesting details. I.e. the symbolic fountain of the French revolution. I have chosen the Gallic Roster (Franc national symbol) and the vikingships as part of the lighting in this blogpost.
 Go to the links for more information


In addition to the longest shopping street in Europe there are many places or squares to be visited just a few meters along the crossing streets.
At this square the price of a glass of Merlot was half the prices at restaurants at Place de Comedie.
When leaving the city we once more saw the old gate in the city wall dated back to roman times.
and this motive is one of my favorites.: Two men talking over an Espresso on a corner cafe.

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