Bordeaux

Bordeaux's coat of arms.  At the top are the 'fleur de lys', symbols of French royalty.  Below is the lion representing 300 years of English rule until 1453 when the French won the battle of Castillon ending the Hundred Years' War.  The fortifications represented are survived by one of the city gates, whose picture follows.  The blue is the Garonne River, crescent shaped through the city.

Forgive the bus window's reflection in the middle .. it's the 'la Grosse Cloche'.

We're standing in front of city hall, in French it's .. Hotel de ville de Bordeaux.

This the front of .. Cathedrale Saint-Andre de Bordeaux :

Enjoy a few more city pictures during our walk.

This is the .. 'Monument aux Girondins' .. erected in memory of the Girondin deputies guillotined during the Terror in 1793 .. it celebrates the triumph of the Republic and Concord :

and a few more pics of French architecture ..

Before heading back to the ship for lunch we stopped at a food hall to sample some wine and cheese and meats and .. oysters!

Nearby was the .. Museum of Wine, which some on our ship were to tour this afternoon.

After lunch on the ship we opted to tour the former WWII German/Italian submarine 'pens' which were re-purposed as 'Bassins des Lumieres', which is a rotating series of light shows in these massive concrete halls.   These spaces were built with very thick concrete by 6500 laborers between 1942-43.  Here's a picture taken during the war :

Here's what the massive facility looks like from the outside :

One of the current shows highlighted the history of the Egyptian pharaohs.   Here's a few pics I took during the show.  I think about 4 of these massive halls were used.

That's water in these spaces!  The larger ones held multiple submarines!

They call it .. 'the immersive experience'.   It indeed was pretty WILD.   

We were invited to eat dinner at the special 'chef's table' on this last night.   

We were celebrating our friend Frederika's (from Halifax,NS) birthday.  A seven-course meal!  ..starting with .. escargots, charolais beef tataki,shiitake marmalade, pickled vegetables, wild cress, pumpkin veloute soup, cashew nuts, chimichurri crostini, pan fried salmon trout filet, potato puree, mussels sauce, root vegetables pearls, raspberry sorbet, sparkling wine, braised beef short ribs, truffle jus, parsnip puree, wild broccoli, baked beetroot, potato rissole .. and for dessert : cherry trilogy tart, cherry chocolate tart, crumble cherry shortbread, cherry sorbet, .. and they baked a special birthday cake for Frederika.

and .. the birthday cake :

It was time to go on deck and say goodbye to Bordeaux.

What a fun two cruises.  Met a lot of interesting people from the US, Canada, England, Sweden, and France.   Traveling by river ship is quite the luxury!  We're packing tonight, we'll have luggage outside our door by 7, and leave the ship at 8:30 traveling via coach to Cognac and then to the Loire Valley.  More adventures! 

We'll see you there via my post.  Take care,  Joe & Jan.