Bordeaux, and things that followed

Okay I'm back! I found something to eat (homemade pâté and a little bit of cold curry zucchini soup, if you were wondering), went on a bike ride with Bernard, and had dinner. Bernard said our ride was 12 km (about 7.5 miles). Most of it was really flat, but there was one long hill. It wasn't really all that steep, but my seat was slowly sinking down as I rode up and finally it fell all the way down....needless to say, I could hardly pedal. I fixed the seat, but it was hard to get going again since I was in the middle of the hill. Just at the top, though, was a little gift: a hedge of blackberry bushes that looked as if no one had touched them. Just the thing when you're thirsty and have just come up a long hill!! We came back to Linières Bouton and Rosa, a lovely woman of 80 something who lives with her son, invited us to sit down and have a drink. We stayed there for an hour. At one point Bernard tried to announce that we were leaving, and Rosa flat out said "Oh, no, you're not. Here, have more pastis." Now, pastis is a French drink that is made from anise. They mix it with water and it turns cloudy. The flavor is quite strong and, despite the fact that I insisted on only having a little tiny bit, she gave me about three times as much as I wanted, and she gave Bernard even more. I love meeting people from around here. People are more genuine and more interesting than in the cities - true characters.

Anyway, Bernard and I are going to try to go on bike rides every morning. We'll see how that goes.

. . .

So, Friday we went to Bordeaux. We parked right near the huge fountain at the Place des Quinconces, which is really grand:


This next to the Cathédrale St André...I don't know if it's part of the actual cathedrale. The statutue at the top was very striking, though.
This was the pulpit inside the cathedrale...made of wood with marble. wow.

Tired after a long day of shopping and sightseeing...sitting on the quai by the river and the fountain before finding somewhere to eat dinner.

We walked past the Cathédrale St André as the sun was sinking. This golden light right before the sunset is my favorite.

Grand Théâtre at night.

The trip back to Biscarrosse was uneventful. We packed up and said our goodbyes on Saturday afternoon.
Me with Severine, Sam (on the left; Nelly's youngest), and Naïs (on the right, Severine's oldest).

It was sad to say goodbye to such lovely people, but both Severine and Nelly said they'd be happy for me to come back in the fall. We'll see. I can't imagine not seeing them again, though. They were so wonderful!

On our way home, Pascal made an impromptu stop at the Chateau de Montreuil-Bellay, which is a little ways outside Saumur. It's a pretty chateau with a big church next to it, but what made it especially beautiful was that the sun was just setting. I barely caught the last rays of my favorite light on the castle:

. . .

Bernard informed me this evening before dinner that we are taking a 25 km bike ride tomorrow. Whoa.