August 13 – Bordeaux, France

shopping haul

32 degrees, very clear…HOT

How things have changed in the weather department! Although we didn’t step foot outside until about 9:00 this morning it was hot then and didn’t cool off!

morning refreshment

We spent the morning and early afternoon wandering around Bordeaux on our own. Our first stop was for a morning glass of wine…we are in Bordeaux after all. Then it was a bit of shopping for tea towels. I’ve had my heart set on some tea towels on this vacation and today was the day. We happened upon a French linens shop that was fantastic. I could have spent a lot more time and money in there! Chris left me and tried to get a beer while he waited, but it didn’t take me long enough and by this point things were getting busy in the cafés.

We decided on a pizza for lunch washed down with a couple of glasses of rosé at an outdoor place in a little alleyway.

In the late afternoon we headed out to the Bordeaux Girondas soccer game. We got there by tram which is always an adventure. I’m pretty sure I didn’t hear one word other than French spoken by anyone…this was a very local experience. We didn’t end up getting any food at the game, I had hoped for something interesting, but all there was was typical game food…les hot dogs, les hamburgers, la pizza etc. We got beer, but no food.

One very weird thing happened at the game. I went into what I thought (based on the sign of a person in a dress) was the ladies’ room…men were coming out of it and were also in it. Oops I thought…I’ve been known to make that mistake before. I hurried back out and checked the sign…sure enough it was a DRESS! So I went back in and did what I had to do…I won’t even go into my thoughts on the lack of seats on the toilets. The next time I had to use the facilities there were men in there AGAIN! What is going on I wondered. For a second I thought they were just all used as unisex…nope…Chris used the men’s and there were no women in there. My conclusion is that men just go where ever they want! I hardly cared, but I was quite stymied by the whole situation.

interesting pineapple cheesecake dessert

We tram it back to the ship, get a shower, dinner and pack it in early for the night watching some Olympics.