Cycle Tour 2022 – Day 7: A day in the big city

Yesterday evening, we took in the Saint-Michel Basilica, a two-minute walk from our apartment, where there just happened to be free organ concert going on, so we sat and listened for a while to some Bach and Schumann for a time before deciding to continue our exploration. We always manage to find a little music by happenstance on these trips. We continued our wandering east for a time before heading back, picking up some groceries for dinner, and returning to the apartment. 

An organ concert in Bordeaux

Some lovely reflections

Today, we woke up at 7:30ish and had a fairly lazy breakfast, then set off to explore Bordeaux on foot. Sonia had found a walking tour online, which we more-or-less followed in a big circle, passing by the Porte Cailhau, the Place de la Bourse, with its huge Miroir d'eau reflecting pool (though with the dogs and toddlers joyfully running through it, the "mirror" part was lacking), the Opéra/Grand Théâtre, the Place des Quinconces (where we bought sandwiches from a stand), the Jardin public (where we ate said sandwiches), the Place des Grands Hommes (home to numerous upscale shops, which were all closed because May 8 is a holiday in France, VE Day), the Saint-André-de-Bordeaux Cathedral, where we stopped at a market to pick up some vegetables for dinner, and finally back down Cours Victor-Hugo past the Grosse Cloche, where we found a lovely little café in the shade and had coffee/tea and tasted the Bordelais speciality pastry canelé. We managed to pick up the rest of the ingredients for supper, plus a few other treats, on our way home. 

Place de la Bourse in the Miroir d'eau (actually less than half of it)

L'Opéra

Cathédrale Saint-André-de-Bordeaux

La Grosse Cloche (from our little café)

Whew!

Back in the apartment for a little rest, we took an hour or so to plan out the next leg of our journey and book tomorrow night's Airbnb. 

Bordeaux is certainly a very lovely city—but it's a city, and we're always happier to be on our bikes heading down the road. As I write this, Sonia has gone back out to seek out the very few shops that have opened today. I'm going to make supper and put the finishing touches on this entry before crashing for the night. We have a train to catch tomorrow morning... but more on that later.