Bordeaux at random July 2020

[tod2]

The fountain is magnificent. The people who were in charge of putting it all together again can be justly proud as it must have been an enormous undertaking.
Super photos Kerouac. Introducing me to a place I've never been to…….yet.

[bjd]

Kerouac, next time you go to Bordeaux, cross the river to Bastide (just go over the stone bridge you admired) to the Hangar Darwin skatepark, industrial area and street art place.

[kerouac2]

Every time the tram passed the bridge, and tram line A would branch off to cross the bridge, I kept telling myself that I needed to take tram line A and see what was over there.

I almost did discover a different place once I had decided to go to the movies. I was going to go to the UGC Talence and had plotted my course, but in the end I saw it was foolish to go so far when the UGC Bordeaux was much closer, so that is where I went.

[kerouac2]

Here is the report about the Bassins de Lumières from the Maritime Museum

[bixaorellana]

Bjd, you really need to experience one of the Lumières presentations. They're rather awe-inspiring and disorienting in a fun way.

Lovely report, Kerouac, and you showed so many aspects of Bordeaux. Great pictures, of course. I love the noitcelfer just before the fountain pictures.

re: train trip, hotel, buffet, movie theater ~ you've shown that you moved around Paris recently, but did using public transportation, lodgings, etc. make you nervous after the long quarantine?

[kerouac2]

No, I prefer to think that the masks are very reliable, and they will be obligatory probably until November, according to the government. The office "state of emergency" ended today, so a number of the rules revert to local authorities but not concerning public transportation. I may be wrong, but I am not personally worried about the virus being on "surfaces" where it cannot live long. I still use the sanitizer when entering stores, especially since it is obligatory in many of them, but frankly when I spend an hour in a bookstore it seems a bit pointless. Everybody touches everything, which is pretty much the point of a bookstore, and I'm sure that not all of the hands are totally sanitary.

I saw about the same percentage of masks being worn in Bordeaux as in Paris, but I note in the news this morning that the department where Bordeaux is located (Gironde), along with the department of Mayenne, is on medium alert due to an increase in cases. So I am safer back in Paris.

[bjd]

Those increases in Gironde and Mayenne are due either to seasonal workers living in close quarters or else tourists from other areas -- most likely Parisians!

Yes, Bixa -- I will go to Bordeaux to see the light show one of these days but not in summer. I don't like big cities when it is hot.

[bixaorellana]

Yes, big cities are boxes of heat in the summertime.

Glad to know that you felt comfortable, Kerouac. I asked because I was wondering how long it would take to start feeling and acting normal again, after all this distancing and (realistic) paranoia.

[lugg]

This is just so enjoyable - life returning to normal ( or normal-ish) I think my questions have been answered by others who got to read this sooner.

I guess though one thing that struck me was your reference to Bordeaux being in the south of France and I never would have thought that until I looked at the map. I wonder where does North end and South begin ?

So many amazing photos but I love the sequence of photos of the "miroir d'eau"

[kerouac2]

For the French, France is divided by the Loire River. Everything to the north of it is northern France. Everything to the south is southern France. It is not very geographically accurate, even more so because the river does not strictly run east-west,  but there you go.  In weather reports, that's how they determine the meteorological regions as well.

[lagatta]

In Eastern France (but south of where your family is from) this makes very little sense as the Loire flows far more south to north). But is may have influenced dialects, accents and foodways.

[bjd]

A little video to add to Kerouac's visit to Bordeaux:

www.france24.com/en/culture/20200901-bordeaux-reborn-a-cultural-guide