Libourne-St Emilion

 On Thursday we were docked in Libourne, but the day was devoted to St. Emilion, such that there was no lunch onboard.  There was a bus ride of around 25 minutes, and a walk around the hill town centered, for those who could make it, on the Monolithic underground church.  It was impressive, with no photographs allowed inside; here are some outside pictures.

We had the added-price option of a cooking class, at a wine-making chateau just out of town.  It was a good group, and wound up with these dishes.

Risotto with prawns 

Chicken breast, mashed potatoes, broccoli 

Pineapples over panna cotta

Back onboard, we had dinner at the Brasserie, a small space at the end of the lounge for a more easy-going meal.

On Friday, still docked in Libourne, from several options we took a trip out of town to tour a historic flour mill and sample their warm rolls.  In Libourne itself we just had a look at the market.

Adding a picture from dusk last night:

Now, Friday afternoon, with hotter weather, we’re sailing back to Bordeaux.

Cruise continues, many stops

 This cruise is different from the previous one in its scheduling of stops.  On Monday night the ship was docked in Bordeaux, I think mainly so Can Can performers could be onboard.  On Tuesday we woke up with the ship sailing to Cussac-Fort Médoc.  From there once again the docking town was mainly the starting point of a bus tour, this time a panoramic tour of the Médoc vineyard region.  Wine-growing estates are called Chateaux even if the main building is nothing like a castle.  All our rides included narrow roads where the bus needed to do difficult maneuvers.  One place to stop:

Our main stop was Chateau Malescasse.  Pictures from there: 

Rows of vineyards are marked with the grape variety, and the barrels have the 2022 harvest, to be bottled in June 2024.  There was a nice tasting.  Where we drove by estates, there were often many cars parked, because this is Futures Week, when many wholesalers are making purchases. There was oyster tasting by the dock on our return.

In the afternoon, we sailed across the Gironde Estuary to Blaye, pronounced Bly.  I briefly went on shore, and it was the starting point of the tour on Wednesday, Margaret’s birthday.  We had scenic views: this marks where the Garonne and Dordogne meet to form the Gironde.

We got back to Blaye and declined to continue with the fortress tour; we took a look at the outdoor market. 

One view of the ship:

In the afternoon there was a sailing of an hour and a half to get to Bourg, where the stop was just for a few hours.  We could follow the tour leader for a tour of Bourg, which translates to Town and was formerly called Bourg-sur-Gironde, which no longer applies because the “beak” of land has grown out pushing the start of the Gironde downriver, so Bourg is now on the Dordogne.  

It is a small town involving some climbing to get to the picturesque center and a park with a view.

Here our ship is the outer one; this is the first time we needed to cross through another one.

Before dinner we had the reception for repeat Uniworld customers, and a dinner with a birthday cake for Margaret. She says it was a great birthday.  The ship took off for the next stop of Libourne, arriving later tonight.  On the other cruise we found it better for sleep when we sailed through the night.

Nice start to cruise

 On Sunday morning we noted much quieter streets in Bordeaux.

A little more wandering led to other sights: the Cathedral of Saint-André, and the Hotel-de-Ville ( City Hall).

 

This unfortunately is the historic door of the Hotel de Ville, burned in protests in late March.

We left the hotel close to the noon check-out time, and got a taxi to the dock of the S.S. Bon Voyage.  Boarding went well, with lunch ready, and it looks like the start of an excellent cruise.  We used Uniworld at the end of the 2022 cruise season, and are going early in the 2023 season; they have increased their green commitment by offering simple wooden key cards, and encouraging people to have the daily schedules on their phones rather than on paper.

The room was ready before too long, we met nice people, and had a good dinner.  The ship went under the historic Pont de Pierre at the time required by low tide, and we got to the first stop of Cadillac still in daylight.

In the morning, the ship needed to leave the shore and go mid-river for the inland tidal phenomenon called Mascaret.  Then we were bused away from Cadillac to Chateau Cazeneuve, once belonging to King Henri IV and Queen Margot.  It’s interesting for furniture and tapestries, and we sampled Sauternes sweet wines.  Only outside pictures were allowed.

Editing to show pictures from Monday dinner:

 

Arrived in Bordeaux

 It was time to leave Paris; it was raining as we needed to walk a block from our hotel, the voco Montparnasse, to the Gare Montparnasse.  People stand in the main hall waiting for the track number to be posted, often 15 minutes before departure, but we got a little more time than that.  The tickets (in our case on my Apple Wallet) were checked as we entered the platform.

We boarded; for my one time on the TGV I booked the best, the full-service Inoui rather than the budget Ouigo, and in first class.  I booked the upper level for the view, and the stairs weren’t as shallow with luggage as The Man in Seat 61 (helpful site for rail travel) suggested.  We settled in at the seats facing each other at the end of the car, next to the luggage rack.  

We took off, the train’s Wi-Fi was spotty and it didn’t work to order from the snack bar on the phone, but I went and got some food and drink as we covered the distance in such a short time, sometimes going over 300 km/h.

A crowded train, and it seemed this dog needed to move

Mustard fields

The speed displayed

On arrival at Bordeaux St-Jean station, we exited and saw the tram lines, but no apparent place to get a taxi.  I needed to do some looking, and it seemed we were in front of Hall 1, and to our left we needed to go past a jutting out to Hall 2, where there’s a taxi stand.  There were a few people waiting with no taxis, but the cabs came one by one until one was ready for us.

We got to the Quality Hotel in the city’s large pedestrian zone, where the driver needed to ask for the bollards to drop so the cab could enter.  The room wasn’t ready even after 2, so we wandered a little, noting how lively the streets are.  When the room was ready, we were impressed at how big a room it was, a suite by some definitions.  Still the toilet room was separate from the other bathroom, on different sides of the bed.

 

After a brief rest, to eat early we went to Le Grand Café.  A few pictures of crowded streets, prominent squares, and the Miroir d’Eau reflecting pool.

Place de la Bourse

Place du Parlemenr

Porte Cailhou

Miroir d’Eau

These are good impressions of a lively city in a short time, tomorrow we board the cruise, and we look forward to more time in Bordeaux at the end.

Finishing time in Paris

 This morning we went to the Picasso Museum.  Yesterday I booked tickets for admission there, and I couldn’t save them as Documents there as I’d done for the Petit Palais show.  I had the printable version and asked for help at the hotel desk; that ran into complications. The desk agent figured how to take a screenshot and AirDrop it to her phone to print. It occurred to me: could I just have kept a screenshot of the mobile version to my photos, so I could have found it easily?

Anyway, we took the métro to the nearby station and I was glad to have Google Maps guide us down the series of streets to the museum.  The museum had a special arrangement of the collection putting it into a new perspective at the fiftieth anniversary of Picasso’s death. There was much to appreciate as it showed the range of styles in the artist’s long career.  The one work I photographed:

Afterwards, we got an Uber to Sacre-Coeur, since Margaret hadn’t been with me on the previous Montmartre walk.  So we had a new walk in the neighborhood and a creperie lunch.

After getting a bit downhill, we got an Uber back to our hotel in a Tesla, interesting to experience along with the landmarks.  I then got to see Amy from our SlowTrav days, and her husband Larry, very nice to catch up.

Our time in Paris was winding down, and we didn’t have a very busy schedule; we enjoyed what we could.  Crowds of people are out in the evening.

Hoping for the best in getting to Bordeaux in the morning.

Paris, not keeping too busy

 The main things to report for Wednesday and Thursday:

A walk in Montmartre, starting from the risqué Pigalle area to the quiet picturesque back streets climbing to Sacré-Coeur.

A more genuine windmill

Vineyard within Paris

In the afternoon, the Petit Palais for the show on Sarah Bernhardt, the great actress who also became a managerial figure in French theatre, dying a century ago.  The show had many memorabilia of her, including costumes: here’s one of Cleopatra:

The next day, we went to the Ile de la Cité to see Notre-Dame from the outside as it’s being rebuilt, and then the Sainte-Chapelle.  We had reserved tickets, waiting outside for our time with the security check for a short time inside.

Crossing the Pont Neuf to the Left Bank, we had our fill of steak frites at Brasserie Le Nesle.

A couple of practical notes: like in Amsterdam, card payments are accepted for small amounts, but I haven’t seen staffed places be cashless.  On arriving at the Champs-Elysées-Clemenceau station for the Petit Palais, again I saw turnstiles taped off and people going around them; when we entered the station after the show, the turnstiles were operating and they were new: I guess a couple of times we happened on situations where people got free rides as the new gates were being installed.