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Post by Deleted on Sept 19, 2014 19:26:09 GMT
I have never been a fan of Bordeaux and have in fact called it a "boring bourgeois city" on numerous occasions. However, just about all of the big cities of France have been improving over the last two decades with the various renovations, development of tramways and biking systems and the transformation of old industrial zones into new commercial or cultural zones. I knew that all of this had been happening "even in Bordeaux" so it was time to give the city another chance. I was taking the train back to Paris early the next morning, so I chose to stay in a hotel right across from the station. My hotel was clearly a grand old hotel from bygone times. It could easily have been renovated into a 4-star hotel to match its architecture, but instead it had surprisingly been renovated into a 2-star hotel instead, so the rates were pretty low. Actually, it only took a verification of the map of Bordeaux to find out why this had been done. Unlike most big cities, the train station was not at all in the central area of the city but way off to one side, so the area is really quite inconvenient. Or at least it was until the creation of the tramway. Now there is no problem whatsoever to get anywhere else in the city, but the train station area is still economical.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 19, 2014 19:55:55 GMT
My very first mission in Bordeaux after being sent on wild goose chases by the car GPS was to get rid of the car. The GPS did not seem to know that the tramway had closed off numerous Streets and that there was absolutely no way to go in the directions that it was telling me to go. So for a start, I just parked in the train station car park and decided that I would scope out the area on foot to find out what one was supposed to do with a rental car. In Paris, most of the rental car returns are in the train station car parks, but it was not the case in Bordeaux. The hotel wifi showed me that the car rental places were actually on the back side of the station, so I went to find them. This meant walking under about 20 tracks and popping back out at what I will call the "back entrance for homeless drunks." Also, it's funny to see what people thought was ugly "back then" and wanted to cover up. Anyway, the car rental offices were indeed back there, and they had their own outdoor lot, so I was pretty sure that I could figure it all out. I got the car out of hock (fucking hell! 8€ for barely more than one hour!) but I had to fill the tank first so I headed out to the rocade (ring road), where I was sure to find a shopping mall with a discount service station. Before long, I was in the shopping mall in Bègles, which I felt I had to check out, because I have been hearing about Bègles for decades. Before Montreuil in the Paris suburbs, it was the largest "Green" city in France. The mayor is a former television news anchor, and he is one of those oddball characters who did things like perform illegal same sex marriages 5 years before the law was voted. Anyway, the shopping mall was just like a shopping mall anywhere so absolutely nothing of interest. I found the discount service station, filled the tank, and went back to Bordeaux where I got rid of the car without incident. It was about 16:45 now, so I was faced with the tramway dilemma. I could get an unlimited day ticket for 4.40€ or wait until 19:00 and get an unlimited evening ticket for 2.00€. Well, I'm not completely stupid, so I got the ticket for 4.40€. And off I went.
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Post by fumobici on Sept 19, 2014 20:28:58 GMT
Oh goody. Bordeaux has intrigued me for some time, it's even been recommended to me as worth a visit so I'm glad you suffered through it for the team. Can't wait to see more.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 20, 2014 5:36:31 GMT
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Post by htmb on Sept 20, 2014 10:43:27 GMT
I've always wondered about Bordeaux. It's nice to get a glimpse of some of the city.
You've got some super pics of people, especially the one of the two little boys looking at the video.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 20, 2014 11:07:45 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Sept 20, 2014 17:30:01 GMT
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Post by lagatta on Sept 20, 2014 20:13:18 GMT
I take it that your hotel is still called L'hôtel du faisan: www.hoteldufaisan.fr/ The rates are very reasonable and there is wifi. Is it true, as they say, that there are many restaurants nearby? The stone is beautiful, but I must be a bit of a philistine as I think wide pedestrianised streets would be prettier and friendlier with some trees, or at least some greenery. A friend of mine hated Bordeaux; he was a prof there, but he and his wife were both happier when they could find positions at the University of Clermont-Ferrand (despite the dark stone). For me it is very subjective: I didn't particularly like the dark stone either, but they found it a congenial place to live and work and raise their children, so I was happy visiting. Bordeaux is another of the many French cities I haven't visited; probably the closest major city I've been to is Toulouse.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 20, 2014 20:18:42 GMT
I always hated Bordeaux in the past, but I am beginning to revise my opinion. I agree that some vegetation would be a plus in a number of the streets. However, one thing that I have not mentioned is that I found the bicycles extremely aggressive in every part of Bordeaux. They seemed to think that they had the right of way everywhere and that pedestrians were just a nuisance, even in pedestrian streets.
Yes, it is still the Hôtel du Faisan. Right next door to the hotel is where I had the astonishing starter of croquettes de pieds de porc (photo of the restaurant to come later).
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Post by htmb on Sept 20, 2014 20:18:44 GMT
You captured some very nice light coming through the stained glass, Kerouac.
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Post by lagatta on Sept 20, 2014 20:35:08 GMT
I'm an ardent cyclist, but they should clamp down on cyclists who threaten pedestrians.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 20, 2014 20:40:37 GMT
We should pause a moment to pay homage to Jacques Chaban-Delmas, who was a resistance hero from WW2 but also elected parliamentary representative of Bordeaux from 1946 to 1997. He was also mayor of Bordeaux from 1947 to 1995 and president of the French parliament from 1958 to 1969, 1978 to 1981 and 1986 to 1988. He was also prime minister from 1969 to 1972. He even thought he was going to be president of France when Pompidou died but a certain Valéry Giscard d'Estaing came out of nowhere and beat him. He was nevertheless respected by all, including his political opponents, and it was a major event when he died in 2000 at age 85. He is still a sort of demi-god to anybody from Bordeaux. To use my unlimited ticket, I took the tram at random in front of the cathedral. It plunged into the suburb of Talence, where the University of Bordeaux is located. I got off at the Forum stop, not even knowing what it was. Looking it up, I discovered that it is the cultural centre of Talence. I was quite amused by the name of this establishment. (I hope you know who Ed Wood was.) I imagine that it was a joke linked to the place across the street from it. Anyway, since I didn't know where I was, I took the tram back to the centre and then took the line that followed the Garonne. I got off at the Pont Chaban-Delmas, inaugurated by President Hollande two years ago. I have not yet figured out who needs to climb to the top of the tower from time to time.
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Post by lagatta on Sept 20, 2014 22:11:42 GMT
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Post by bjd on Sept 21, 2014 13:48:13 GMT
I have been going to Bordeaux on and off for about 25 years now and I find that there has been a tremendous improvement in the place. Especially along the waterfront of the Garonne, where, at night, the pool that people are splashing in reflects the rather stately buildings behind it. The quays have been cleaned up, across the river slum houses were razed and a park/arboretum was installed. And despite the mess while the tram was being built, it looks really good and goes far into the suburbs.
When we first starting driving through Bordeaux going northwest, the whole waterfront was the colour of the church on the right where Kerouac mentions coming out of the cathedral.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 21, 2014 15:33:36 GMT
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Post by mossie on Sept 21, 2014 20:11:28 GMT
So that is an "art installation", I thought it may be a washing line for a shady soft drinks firm, refilling old cans with flavoured eau de Garonne.
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Post by mossie on Sept 21, 2014 20:13:18 GMT
I am intrigued to see how they present pigs trotters, another delicacy I dimly recall from my mothers wartime cooking.
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Post by htmb on Sept 21, 2014 21:25:29 GMT
Do you have any idea the purpose of the bridge towers?
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Post by lagatta on Sept 21, 2014 22:28:01 GMT
I was thinking that they were passing off their overproduction of Bordeaux as some kind of energy drink.
I suppose one must drink Bordeaux when there? I tend to prefer less glorified wines from the southwest...
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Post by Deleted on Sept 21, 2014 22:46:27 GMT
Frankly, I only drank tap water during my entire trip.
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Post by lagatta on Sept 22, 2014 1:21:41 GMT
Not even coffee?
Perhaps you aren't a coffee addict.
And while I certainly no longer have the travel = get plastered imperative, I would like to have a bit of Bordeaux.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 22, 2014 6:21:07 GMT
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Post by bjd on Sept 22, 2014 9:51:40 GMT
It's great to see people out enjoying their city, even though I guess some are tourists. It's also great that the city took the initiative of improving that whole riverside area -- as soon as urban renewal along a river is undertaken, people do go out and enjoy it. What I find interesting along the river in Bordeaux too are the tides -- most rivers stay the same height, but the Garonne rises and falls with the ocean tides there.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 22, 2014 21:29:28 GMT
It was now 7 p.m. and I thought it had been turned off for the day and would now dry out overnight or something. But just as I got on the tram to go back to the hotel, mist sprayers suddenly came into play, making a ground fog effect that I had not seen before. No way to get a photo as the tram sped away, but now at least I know that there are different effects to see at different times if I ever return to Bordeaux.
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Post by questa on Sept 22, 2014 22:11:59 GMT
Fabulous photos as usual. The 2 right near the start of the 2 boys, and the one of the small child reflected in the water near the end are stunning.
Just a thought...she is a brave violinist to play while wearing a strapless top. A lengthy and fast folk dance could lead to a 'wardrobe malfunction'.
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Post by fumobici on Sept 23, 2014 4:19:44 GMT
It all looks quite photogenic, certainly looks orderly as well with the nearly monochromatic coordinated building facades facing out onto grand streets or the river. Haussmann would have approved I think. This city and Lyon as cities one seldom hears of as travel destinations both look well worth a few days to a week to properly steep in to me. Sometimes towns that don't immediately charm have less obvious allures that must be sought out or simply blundered upon. Sometimes they don't.
I'd be interested in why k2 hasn't made a love connection with Bordeaux. While undeniably pretty and with so many tickboxes marked off it still feels a bit vanilla and tame in the photos, but I can't really judge that from afar.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 23, 2014 6:06:32 GMT
I am still certainly not in love with Bordeaux, but at least it does not repel me now, as it did on prior visits.
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Post by htmb on Sept 23, 2014 23:15:31 GMT
It's nice to get a good glimpse of Bordeaux through these wonderful photos.
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Post by lagatta on Sept 23, 2014 23:26:11 GMT
Indeed. Fumobici, I know it is all subjective, as the people I knew in Lyon were more anarchist punks than anything else (obviously they have changed in 25 years or so), but while Lyon certainly has many neighbourhoods redolent of bourgeois grandeur - and boredom, it does have the places on the hillsides that are very different.
There is a town near Lyon called Pérouges, that was settled, yep, by Umbrians. It is a hilltown that looks like a miniature Perugia.
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Post by fumobici on Sept 24, 2014 1:43:57 GMT
Hmmm, Pérouges. Interesting. Looks a little touristy in the video I found but would probably feel more authentic on a gray winter day when the streets are empty. Does have an Umbrian feel, I suppose no one would still speak any Italian--maybe an Umbrian flavored patois? Nice still has a local dialect that sounds quite Italian but of course they are so much closer to Italy.
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