Friday, Oct 19th – The Long Road to Bordeaux

Actually, not THAT long a road.  We feel like we’re in a good area with Broze – under 3 hours to Saint Emilion, one of the pretty towns in the Bordeaux region.  We’re meeting Bill and his family for the week-end.

But, before that…  Very windy over night.  Our landlord took in tables and chairs and plants.  Howling noises.  Glad the walls of our house are nearly two feet thick.  Never felt like it was going to blow away.  But, the lights did flicker dozens of times during the prior evening.

Stopped for lunch at a highway rest stop.  Had very good sandwiches for around 5E each.   Got to Saint E around 2:30, and it was raining…  And, it continued to rain till Sunday morning…

We arrive.  This is our second visit to Bordeaux and that feels nice to contemplate.  Most of the time, our first stop in any town is the tourist office.  They’ve always got free maps, sometimes walking tours, they know where the bathrooms are, and they’re typically centrally located to the touristic sights.  And they speak better English than our French most of the time.

We walk the town for an hour.  Maxine had researched restaurants for dinner and we check out the menus at the top three.  It’s a purpose to our walk.  We see also that two out of every three storefronts are selling Bordeaux wines.  Also beautiful glass decanters.  We’ve decanted maybe five or six wines in our house ever.  Sort of intimidating.  Besides it all feels like you really DO have to know which producers and which years are best.  And we don’t.  We do find a wine bar with a dozen reds by the glass.  In order to learn, we order one glass of cheap wine and one expensive.  There is a difference.  But, there’s also a difference between the cheaper Bordeaux and the Gaillac wines too.  The bar has only got 4 tables occupied and one is a group of six speaking English VERY loudly.  Loud enough that we move further away.  Then Maxine catches the waitress’ eye and they share an unspoken acknowledgement about the loud Americans.  French would never be like that and certainly not in a bar.

After our drink, we go back to the tourist office and sign up for their underground Saint Emilion tour.  http://www.saint-emilion-tourisme.com/uk/que-faire.html?idcat=1&idfiche=53  The highlight is the largest underground cathedral in Europe.  The size of an above ground cathedral, except carved out of the hillside.  And, to give this more perspective, they didn’t open up the hillside, they carved a hole into it and dug further in from there.  Worth the price of admission.  And, in our continuing self-amusement with speaking French, our tour is in French.  And the guide has an accent.  And, to our delight, we understand how to speak in French well enough to tell that she’s got an accent.  (If it isn’t clear how fun this was to us, sorry.  It’s just so self-satisfying).

Our hotel is sterile at best.  The online info had put it down as a 2-star, but they’ve got a 3-star placard at their front door.  It’s quiet and comfortable and dark, so it works as a place to stay.

Dinner in town.  It's more and more obvious that Bordeaux is simply better tasting wine than what we get in Gaillac -- more expensive too.  Our favorite of the dinner is Chateau Grand Corbin Manuel 2005.

As we’re getting ready for bed, I get a text message from Bill, who’s just pulled up to the hotel.  So, I go help him unload the car – with a family of five, he’s got a lot of luggage to get in.  We agree to meet for breakfast tomorrow at 9am.