Traveling to Bordeaux

Today we had to pack up and get on our way to Bordeaux. We got up early and packed up most of our stuff and went out to grab a quick breakfast. On the way back, we stopped at a bakery and bought some really nice looking sandwiches for the train ride to Bordeaux. I've got to say that one thing the French people really do well is to make really delicious French bread. Now go figure that!! It's really difficult for me....a French bread hound......to pass one of the 18 million patisseries in Paris without experiencing an overwhelming desire to go in and buy some. It's an uncontrollable force that makes my body move towards one of these bakeries. I think I am beginning to develop a little more understanding for people with addictions.

Actually, knowing that we were taking a 3 1/2 hour train ride right around lunch time, we had already planned the previous day to go buy a nice bottle of wine from the wine store directly across the street from our hotel. The next morning we picked up the aforementioned sandwiches.........Judy got a baguette filled with brie and I got one with ham & swiss cheese......finished packing and start to head to the train station. The front desk person informed us that it would be impossible to get a taxi at that time of the morning, so he suggested taking the Metro, which had a station right across the street. It entailed a transfer at one station to another Metro train to get to our destination, the Monteparnasse train station.

After delivering this news to Judy, she had reservations about dragging our suitcases on the Metro in the middle of the morning commute. I had to concede that she had a point, even though I knew that this meant that we had to walk to the train station from the hotel. Judging from the walk to the restaurant the previous night, I knew that this was more than I really wanted to do because this trip was going to be twice as long as the previous night and the added benefit of hauling our bags too. However, we had no choice so off we went. I did have to stop at one point on the trek to take the following picture that Diana & Phil may appreciate.

We got to the station and, after some confusion about which car we were supposed to be on, got settled into our seats for the 11:25 am train ride to Bordeaux. The bottle of wine was immediately opened to breathe......and poured.......and I would guess that less than 45 minutes elapsed before the sandwiches got broken out. Will power.............we have none.

It was a very nice ride and a lot of the scenery was acres upon acres of vineyard land. The countryside was very green and there were many miles of land that had very few houses. It was really different than the hustle & bustle of Paris, which reminded me a lot of the pace of life in New York City. That was certainly not the case in the countryside traveling south from Paris.

The proprietor of the boarding house that we were staying at in Bordeaux picked us up from the train station and took us to her house. Our room is very quaint, clean & cheery. It's a block away from the university and a relatively short walk from the town center. Bordeaux is a smaller city than I expected, but it has a very typical French charm.

Judy & I dropped off our bags and walked into the town center and took in a few sights. We also decided to act somewhat like locals and sit in an outdoor cafe and do some people-watching while drinking some cafe au lait. As some of you may know, this is one of my favorite things to do while in Europe......watch people and make comments about them. Judy & I have refined this art of gawking and are quite accomplished at it. However, this is not something that should be done cavalierly.  On her last trip to Europe with her 2 sisters, Judy tried gawking with her 2 sisters, but one of them almost created an international incident due to their inexperience with this skill.



We had planned on going to dinner at a restaurant in the town center called L'Entrecote. It was recommended in one of the books that Judy had as one that locals go to. When we stopped in the Tourism office that day, the lady mentioned that the restaurant opened at 7:00 and there is usually quite a queue for it. We looked at the restaurant and, unlike almost every other restaurant, there was no menu posted anywhere. I thought it was odd, but it didn't dissuade us. We got there at around 6:30 and....... no queue. Within 10 minutes, we noticed a few people milling around the area, so we got in line behind the first 2 groups that were already there. Within another 15 minutes, the line stretched down the block and more people kept coming. We're thinking that (1) we're glad that we were early and (2) that this is a pretty good sign. I had no idea that I was entering nirvana.....at least for me anyway.

They opened the doors and we could see that the restaurant was on 3 different floors. They seated people with precision and before we knew it, the waitress was there asking us how we like our meat cooked. We told her and, about 2 minutes later, she brought us a nice butter lettuce salad with walnuts as a starter. A short time later, out of the corner of my eye I see the wait staff bringing in some of the largest platters of pommes frites (french fries) that I've ever seen. They started preparing dishes of Bavettes (flatiron steak) and a mound of these fries. After delivering the dishes, they brought a huge platter of more flatiron steak for us to feast on. After we had our dishes for a while, the waitress came back with a platter of hot pommes frites asking, "Would you like some more?"  I'm thinking...."Does a bear shit in the woods? Of course!" .........much to Judy's dismay. The crowning touch was the dessert.......the most incredibly large portion of delicious proiteroles that I have ever seen. Truly, I had died and gone to heaven............and Judy couldn't complain because this restaurant was her choice! YES!

We came to find out that this restaurant had been serving this same meal for the last 43 years every night they are open. Upon leaving the reastaurant, we were confronted with a scene similar to what we experienced when we arrived at the Paris train station. There was a line of people mobbing the stairs up one flight of steps and out into the street. We had to negotiate our way through this crowd, just to get out of the restaurant. I, for one, can certainly understand it. I'm hoping that I can talk Judy into going back here tomorrow night after our wine tasting tour in the Grad Cru region. Somehow, I'm guessing that it's really not in the cards.