4-10-2016: Day 14, Bordeaux

Day 4 in Bordeaux

Clyde and Krim head out a little early to see Notre Dame Church right off the shopping area.  It is a beautiful church from the 11th century with amazing architecture and atmosphere and what is this, a mass is about to begin.  We enter and hear the organ, the pride of the church, begin and it is like magic to the ears.  We have to sit and listen and we sit for quite a while spellbound by the choir, the people, the organ and the sound of beautiful music fill the church.  Nothing quite like it!  

It is windy but sunny today so we link up with Jim and Tina and head to the River via the huge fountain and liberty lady statue.  The locals are out today to take advantage of the sun so we share the beauty of the day.  It is so pretty by the River and we turn in to the square behind the Porte Cailhau built in 1493 to celebrate a victory.  

The French are using the restaurant chairs in the sun so we have to settle for chairs close to the sun and order up wine and beer.  Oh, this is nice and we enjoy the space for awhile.  A cathedral can be seen from the Porte Cailhau and the bridge nearby and it makes for a famous picture.  So Clyde suggests we check out the cathedral a few blocks away and the others buy in. 

It's is another impressive cathedral - this one from 1350 named for St. Michel.  But this one is not as nice as there is a nasty flea market filling the square and some shady and some nice people trading money for junk.  We duck inside the church and find it is a marvel.  Originally built to replace a smaller church as the noblemen, merchants and Mariners of this prosperous are filled to small church to overflow.  We find some of the history of the church was built when the first phase of the Plaque hit that eventually killed a quarter of the city.  

Like many of the cathedrals, they need repair and this one had to be restored after parts of the roof collapsed in 1693 and the spire was broken by storms in 1608 and again 1768.  Many stained glass windows had to be replaced that were broken during World War Two.  

We have walked a bunch today and it is time to return to our hotel but it is not a straight line and we find ourselves in some not so comfortable surrounding.  We finally find a nice square and folks that point us in the right direction and we arrive with tired feet at our hotel.  Lucky, we made arrangements for the hotel to cook us dinner tonight!  

Dinner starts with oysters and Jim tells Krim and Clyde to not chew, just swallow.  That helps.  As does the wine.  Next arrives a great fish and more wine and desert and we are happy folks.  Oh so nice.  

Off to bed with our tired feet?  No way.  Clyde was bummed out cause we were supposed to walk the river and see the monuments the night before but it got late.  So tonight Jim says, "Let's go see the monuments by the River in the glow of light".  So Jim and Clyde head out. "What the hell?!!"  No lights, no water, no fun!  Looks like budget cuts have hit or else they save the best part for Summer.  Oh well, off to bed after a nice walk.