Bordeaux, prettiest city so far...

Hi All

Before I left home, I told many of you that when I wake up in Paris I want to know I am in Paris, remember? I did not want to wake up in some shitty little room and think I could be in Wodonga, right? Well today I woke up and thought "Good grief, am I in Shepparton?".. Not because I have a shitty apartment, it is very nice, no because of the cows... Yes that's right cows, full size cow statues, they are everywhere. I thought "Wow, Bordeaux is so impressed with Shepparton that they have copied the whole cow idea". But alas Shepparton folk, that is not the case. I later found out the their is some weird cow parade travelling Europe and they are in Bordeaux for several months. I remember my dear friend Wendy, Hi Wendy, telling me that they were in Paris when she was there several years ago, well it's taken them a long time to get to Bordeaux it seems, but they are here, large as life.

I have no idea why one is on stilts, or why some are allowed to sit...

I was amused to see a very young man this morning, more than a little inebriated, trying to work out how many bins he could hang on one of the said cows. By the time I arrived he had one on each ear/horn, and another in his hand and you could tell by the pained look on his face that he was in a conundrum about where else he could attach it. There are not that many protruding places on a cow. I was longing to take a picture, but thought he might get abusive if he noticed me, so I carried on along. Well after about 5 minutes it got the best of me and I retraced my steps. Peering around the corner, I was quite pleased to see he had added another 2 bins and was standing there admiring his work, well he was more swaying than standing, but you get my drift. I took a quick snap and bolted, it is a little blurry due to my haste, but you can get the affect. I had quite a feeling of maternal pride in the young lad, he was really taking his vandalism job seriously!!

As you can see, I didn't get too close, he was very drunk!! He also still had plenty of bins left, I have no idea if he found places for them all.

Bordeaux is really lovely, I have taken hundreds of photos already and have only been here 1 day. I arrived late yesterday and as the taxi was taking me to my hotel, I had serious doubts about Bordeaux, it did not look very nice at all. But this morning I headed in the other direction and found it is really a very pretty place. AND nobody has looked down there nose at me yet, I know early days yet, but so far they have treated me as a human being, so there is hope yet!!

My girls are arriving in town tomorrow so we shall see if I can meet up with them again. Last time was not very successful and I kind of knew where they would be. This time I really don't have a lot of idea, so am not expecting to actually catch up with them. so if I do it will be a bonus. I am amazed that their tour is visiting 2 of the places that I am staying as I had all my bookings done months before they decided to do their tour, how coincidental is that? It would be great if we could have lunch, my treat of course, I am the Mum!!

As I said, my apartment is really nice, very new and modern, but no washing machine, bugger!! I kind of preferred the one in Avignon, not as new, but more character and I loved looking out my window and seeing all the different people passing and singing etc. The morning I left I had a guy below on the violin, just like being serenaded, except his wife was standing beside him, but other than that, really quite pleasant. Although on the way to the hotel last night, the taxi had to stop at a red light and this guy just walks out in front of the cars, carrying a black hat full of orange balls and starts juggling, right there in front of the traffic. It was brilliant, I couldn't help laughing, he dropped his balls just as the traffic started so we had to give him time to collect them. I loved it, and he wasn't even asking for money, just entertaining people for fun.

I shall post some pics for you to enjoy

Cheers til later

Lones


The cathedral of someone or other. It was massive, I couldn't get it all in one shot. I have yet to go inside, maybe tomorrow..


Down near the water, beautiful spot...


Another near the river.


How beautiful is this Merry-go-round?? I love it...


This memorial is awesome, it has two fabulous fountains, one on each side at the bottom. Really excellent.


One of the fountains, they are really something..


One of the streets.