Bordeaux

Stories form the Road
May 11, 2017
St. Emilion, France

The wine museum at Bordeaux is spectacular. It rises into the air like a rocket shop waiting to go off. Inside the interactive exhibits are creative and cutting edge. Holograms and videos in multiple languages give museum goers a history of wine from around the world. The restaurant on top is excellent.

The city of Bordeaux, the second largest in France, proved to be interesting, though we were there only for a short time. The old town section looks like Paris with fun shops and restaurants every 100 feet! We reached it by taking a modern, quiet streetcar from the museum to town center.

Our driver brought us back to the hotel in the late afternoon, and after a nap, we joined the group for cheese and bread on the terrace. We had become friendly with one of the waiters, and he served us Armagnac on the house. This was a very nice thing to do, and hopefully we will see him this morning at breakfast. Shane came from Australia, and he is hoping to be here for a year before going home.

The French people have been friendly and kind to us. None of us have had any negative incidents with people. One of our group, Fred Blumenstein, grew up in Southern France, and  his personable manner with the local people helps us. At one of the fish restaurants in Paris we had a formal waiter with a serious manner. By the end of the meal he was smiling and interacting and was having a good time. On the train a dapper looking middle-aged man stopped me and said, “We love Americans here. Don’t believe otherwise.”

Today we take the train to another part of France to stay a couple of days with a childhood friend of Fred. We have rented a couple of cars and will do some exploring.