Happy 4th…wait…I mean 14th of July! That is right, Bastille Day in France! No poolside barbequed hamburgers and hotdogs, cool slushy drinks, or apple pie but they do have fireworks! And what a firework show it was! We wondered what time we would need to get there in order to secure a place to watch the pyromaniacs set of all of the explosives. The answer that we received was that we would not need to leave too early, but just at sunset. So, we left the house at 10 pm and walked downtown. Total city life! We arrived at the spot that afforded us the best view of the fireworks along with 20,000 other people! There was a “city dance” going on in them middle of all of this with plenty of loud music…but no “Star Spangled Banner.”
The fireworks were set off from a boat in the river with the full moon and the bridge as the backdrop. The reflection of the fireworks in the water was almost as good as what we saw in the sky! It reminded me of many 4th of July’s that we have spent up at the cabin, watching the fireworks over Lake Arrowhead or Big Bear Lake. It was beautiful, and it definitely filled our 4th of July void. (Minus the BBQ and the pool, family and friends!)
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| Bordeaux at night under a full moon |
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| Full moon on the right middle and bridge in the background |
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| Bordeaux at night |
As soon as the fireworks were done, we walked back home so that we could all get in bed early. (Ha ha! This is crazy!) The next day we were to visit Cap Ferret, where Pierre’s Mom has a summer home. To really see and know Cap Ferret, Pierre felt that we should have a boat. So, he rented a pontoon boat for us to and showed us one of their favorite places to spend time away from the city. Piere had been coming to this vacation home his entire life. Lots of great memories. This was very similar to our experience and memories with the Cain in Green Valley Lake.
It turned out to be a beautiful day to be out on the boat in the bay. We saw the Dune du Pyla from the ocean side (where the kids had climbed up one side and then run down the other), several very cute “sea villages” and a beautiful beach with sand that felt more like powder! We picnicked on the beach, cruised the coastline and viewed the oyster farms for several hours before returning the boat and relaxing in the sun at Pierre’s Mom’s house.
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| Pierre's Mom's house in Cap Ferret |
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| Rachel, Caroline and Astrid |
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| Astrid's boyfriend Louis, Jeff and Soren |
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| Soren, Makenna, Rachel and Caroline hanging out on the boat |
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| Dune du Pyla from the water. We had been standing on the top just a few days before! |
As is what seems to be the custom, we would not be taking our tired children home until we were served a very typical, and meant to be refreshing, French drink. You know what they say…when in Rome, do as the Romans do. This has been one of our mottos for this trip! The hostess brings out a very cute “cup holder” with 6 glass cups, a pitcher of water (room temp) and 2 bottles of syrup. One is grenadine and one is mint. The mint is by far more popular. You add a small amount of syrup to your glass, and then fill it with the room temperature water. NO ice cubes to be seen. (Typical France as well) Voila. Refreshing drink. Although the drink is ok, it is not one of the customs that I will be bringing home with me. What I will be bringing home with me however, is the notion that you are not in a hurry, and that you just relax, talk, sip your drink and enjoy life. C’est la vie!
Normally we would have taken the next day to relax a bit, but weather does have to dictate some of our decisions. One of the things that was on the top of our list of things to see while in Bordeaux was the Dordogne region. This region is known for it’s rock sculpted villages, pre-historic artifacts and caves and lazy canoe rides. Seeing this region is best done by a 9 mile canoe ride that we were all really looking forward to doing. Although this can be done in the rain, it just didn’t seem like it would be as much fun.
With heavy heavy rain in the forecast, Saturday was going to be our best bet. Even that day, there was a 50% chance of showers. That may not seem like great odds, but it was the beginning of the storm and felt better than 80% and 90% for the next several days!
On the drive there we drove right into what we assumed was the storm. Again, we held our breath. We all had rain jackets…”Oh shoot. I forgot mine!” (Makenna) “Me too!” Rachel. This could be bad. Well, we were going either way.
Once again, it seemed that God was open to answering our prayers! The weather was 27 degrees Celsius (about 78 F), mostly cloudy, but not a single drop of rain all day! Whew!
We were to be on 2 canoes. One canoe had Jeff, Rachel, and Soren, and the other for Makenna and I. Although this is a very calm river, it is deceiving. Well, for Makenna and I anyway. Easier said than done became our motto for the afternoon! Behind (usually) the strait path that Jeff and his 2 workers laid out in the water, Makenna and I zig zagged our way down. You could often find us in the trees along the sides of the river, or turning in 360 degree circles laughing hysterically! Clearly one of us must have had more strength than the other, but we dare not discuss who that might be.
Whether going strait, or more like a zipper pattern the views were unbelievable. There were so many “can this be real?” moments, but I will only mention a few of my favorites here! First of all, I felt enveloped into nature as we dropped our canoes onto the Dordogne river. It is a wide, clean, smooth and serene river. It is flanked by full, green trees and steep, white cliffs. It was so peaceful that loud voices would have felt like grafitti to me. We just floated at first. Looking down river, and then turning around and floating backwards. We all just wanted to take it all in.
As we looked up we saw pre-historic caves. Oh to imagine how long those have been there, and who might have lived there. I imagine that the river below these caves would not have looked much different than it does today.
As we approached the first rock sculpted village, La Roque-Gageac (The Rock Gageac) we had a movie déjà-vu moment as we saw the gabarres. These are the boats that are shown in the movie “Chocolate” which was filmed here! Originally they were built to take oak barrels filled with wine down to Bordeaux. Now, they just cart tourists around who would rather not paddle. At this point, Makenna and I could start to understand why one might choose this option. Nah. We still preferred our ride!
We disembarked here to have some lunch and some views of the river from above water level! The town is carved into the rock mountain with one street and no sidewalks! Every winter, when central France receives a lot of rain, this town is flooded two days later, and the first floor of all of the buildings are under water! This, I would not want to see or experience! Still, with all the rain that we have been having, we chose to eat on a terrace of a second floor restaurant! After a bananna split that would put Baskin and Robbins to the test, we re-embarked.
As we floated around corners, (or paddled like mad as was the case for Makenna and I), we would catch glimpses of more towns carved into the mountain and castles towering above them. Chateau de Castelnaud built in medieval times, and across the river and down just a bit Chateau de Beynac 500 feet above the river…built to keep on eye on Castlenaud! During the Hundred Year’s War, the castle of Beynac housed the French, while the British set up camp across the river at Castelnaud. Great history and both were breathtaking to see from below!
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| Chateau Beynac in the background |
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| Chateau Castelnaud and a family of Swans. Really??? |
9 miles and 4 hours after we started our canoe ride, we were in Beynac. From there, we were able to drive up to both castles and take some time to explore. The towns themselves are enough as they make you feel as if you have stepped backwards into medieval times! Seeing the castles up close and personal was surreal, and the views from them were beautiful! Everywhere you looked, you could see castles. Apparently the Dordogne region is known as the “Region of 1000 castles.” Beautiful! It made the long, tired drive home worth it!
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| "Are you serious? Another castle?" "Yep...just trying to decide which one." |
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| Chateau Beynac up close |
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| View from the back of Chateau Beynac |
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| Sunset from Castle Beynac |
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| Soren and Rachel jumping into the sunset |
Ahhh. The Dorgdogne region is definitely someplace we would like to come back to. Castles, rivers, and rock cities. Oh yea...the wine too.
The next day we caught up on some sleep and then met up with the Glotins. They were very excited to take us to a region in Bordeaux called Medoc. Medoc is a region of vineyards and “Chateau du vins” that make your mouth water. So, we couldn’t help ourselves. We just had to have one…
We drove through miles…wait, kilometers and kilometers of vineyards. We stopped at a chateau that produces some of the regions best wine, and is owned by Pierre and Sandrine’s good friend Denis. Unfortunately it was closed. Nothing a little call from a "telephone portable" can’t take care of.
5 minutes later, their good friend Denis shows up at his Chateau. At the same time as another group of people had pulled up and gotten out of their car. Denis warmly greeted Pierre (a childhood friend from the time that they were 9 years old) and Sandrine, before acknowledging the other people. As it turns out, this other group of people had seen the gates open and just pulled in hoping to see the winery, get a tour and taste. Denis greeted them warmly and stated “I am sorry, but we are closed today to the public. We are only open to this private party.” He said this with a smile, waved good bye and strolled over to us with key in hand and said "lets take a look around" and proceeded to let us in for a Private tour. By the owner of the Chateau...Wow.
Interesting and Pristine. This is the word that I would use to describe the inside of this winery. It was hard for me to imagine that in a few months, this beautiful area would be bustling with people are working to produce the juice of the berry that France is so well known for.
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| Pierre, Sandrine, Jennifer, Jeff and an Oak vat |
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| Wine tasting with Denis |
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| Kids actually enjoying the tour |
The grapes are picked by hand. They are sorted out by hand, and then they are put in a series of vats and barrels and watched carefully by scientists, tasters and ultimately Denis until they are ready to go to bottle. What I would do to be able to be there for their harvest time!
We spent the rest of the afternoon seeing some of the most beautiful "Chateaux du Vins" in the Medoc area. Everywhere we drove, there was one chateau after another. Just dotted in and amongst the vineyards. It was beautiful! We were getting inspired...
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| Wow! |
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| Wow |
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| Check out the raked driveway of this one |
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| Entrance sign amongst 35 acres of grape vines |
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| Chateau Cantenac Brown |
The next day was the only day left for us to be able to see Spain. Spain was one of Jeff’s top requests and we were happy to take the 2.5 hour drive down there…especially because it was pouring rain in Bordeaux!
In Spain, the sun was shining, the water was sparkling and the streets were bustling. We were in San Sebastian…heart of the Basque Region. This region is very interesting because it actually straddles France and Spain. So, there are some cities in France and some in Spain…all considered to be the Basque Region. In France, they speak primarily French and in Spain Spanish. But, in both they also have a large percentage of the population that speaks a very unusual and difficult language. Basque.
All of the signs in the area were in both Spanish (or French in France) and underneath was in Basque. If I did not know any better I would have thought that I was in Greece!
When we arrived in Spain, Jeff's spanish kicked in and was our translator for the day. We started by climbing to the monument which overlooks all of San Sebastian. Jesus Christ. The view at the top was beautiful. We could clearly see the Port, the sandy beach slowly filling with people, and on the opposite hillside, the castle.
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| Monument overlooking the city |
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| Hilltop 50' Statue of Jesus |
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| View from the statue |
At the bottom, we poured out and into the streets of the “Old Town.” This area is mostly known for it’s tapas. There is literally one restaurant after another spilling over with tapas and local beers. We had read that you might enjoy trying several different places and sampling different local flavors.
This was as close to Mexican food as Jeff was going to get, and so he took full advantage of it! He hopped into one place to sample…out and then right into another! There were a lot of fish varieties, and so the kids liked some of the tapas, but none as much as Jeff! I think that his favorite was a potato dish with hot sauce and a special locally made mayonnaise.
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| mmmmm...Tapas and Beer |
Before leaving Spain, the girls and I shopped around a bit while Jeff and Soren got themselves onto the sand and into the ocean! Of course, not wanting to miss out on anything, the girls and I did meet up with them and spend the last ½ hour of our time there laying on the sand and trying to soak in the last of the day’s warmth!
We stopped in a French Basque city for dinner on the other side of the Border- St Jean de Luz. The houses and buildings looked the same…white with red or green shutters, but we were able to communicate again. Well, at least I was. Jeff was doing quite well in Spain once he transitioned fully from French, to English and then to Spanish! He now considers himself tri-lingual!
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| Boardwalk - St Jean de Luz |
Tomorrow is our last day in Bordeaux. We have loved getting to see this side of the country and spend time with some new friends. We will be sad to leave I am sure. For me, it is also difficult to say good bye to another chapter of this incredible journey! Sigh.
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