The transition from the ski trip to leaving for Bordeaux happened a bit too quickly, and Eliisa and I were literally minutes away from missing our train. After we were sitting in our seats, as the train rolled away, we couldn’t stop laughing hysterically for about 10 minutes. We really were minutes away…
Bordeaux is just over two hours from Toulouse. We were smart enough to book a hostel this time, which ended up being in a really great area. It, too, was only 30 euros a night, and really was a steal. I would recommend this place to anyone looking for cheap accomodation in Bordeaux – it is called Hotel Studio on rue huguerie. We found it through hostel-world.com. It had a nice bathroom with a shower, and even a television. The staff is very friendly and helpful, and the breakfast offered for 5 euros is actually reasonable and worth it – if you eat a lot at breakfast. It was right near the tourist office which was our first stop after receiving our room. We were shown the best places to see, and we were off quickly. We found out almost immediately at the tourist office that any kind of wine tour was beyond our budget – that was a little disheartening.
We quickly found rue St. Catherine a long a wonderful shopping street with great stores, shops and boutiques. We decided that we would save the shopping for later that day.
We started by visiting place de la bourse, place du parlement, and porte Cailhau – Bordeaux used to be surrounded and enclosed by giant “doors” that you had to pass through – some of these doors, or portes, still stand. We did a little shopping and at night we saw la grosse cloche – a very large bell tower. The top of it was visible from much of where we walked – and we didn’t really know what it was until we got closer. As I was asking “do you think that it is a large bell?” it began to ring. It was kind of funny. We also saw the beautiful and monstrous church of notre dame. We decided to grab a pizza and eat in our fabulous room – more than likely due to the cold temperature and the fact that we had a television (something neither of us had watched since December). We watched French mtv, and fell asleep.
The next we wanted to visit la Musee des Beaux Arts. As we were walking towards the building, we read a banner advertising the current exhibit – at the bottom it said it was open every day but Tuesday. Of course, it was a Tuesday. This kind of thing ALWAYS happens to us here. Instead, we visited la cimitiere de la chartreuse. This little tour left us both speechless. This is a huge cemetery and is kind of dubbed as Bordeaux’s response to Paris’ Pere Lachaise cemetery. The monuments and headstones are beautiful – and they kind of represent the style of 19th century architecture (or so we were told). A few famous people are buried here – Gauguin’s grandmother, Goya, Lacour etc. Unfortunately, the cemetery is so big that we could not find any of these tombstones. It was freezing at this point, so we opted to get a hot chocolate, and shop. It is much warmer in clothing and shoe stores if you are wondering. We got Chinese takeout, and took it back to our room, yet again – we just loved that Television. The next was spent trying to stay warm as we waited for our train that evening. We visited many of the museums; three to be exact. We visited the Musee des beaux arts, which was actually very disappointing, the Musee D’art Contemporain which was very weird but cool, and finally the museum d’histoire naturelle, which was hilarious. We then spent some time in an Irish pub where the men were a little too friendly. We left and did some window shopping, and then spent two and a half hours in a McDonalds killing time and staying warm until we were to catch the train.
Bordeaux really is beautiful – more like a place I would like to live. I would enjoy coming back in the summer time, or at least when it is warmer out. I think doing a wine tour is a must. Regardless, we had a great time. I love the architecture and the sculptures all over the city. It is a much cleaner city, a lot smaller than Marseille. I will certainly return in the spring, when my family visits. We will, without question, experience the wine-side of the city.
The ride home was quick – and I had lots to that night….I was meant to leave for Paris the next morning to meet Garrett!
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