Saturday 11/6/21

Got up bright and early and cranked out a load of wash. Mercifully it only took about 45minutes instead of the claimed hour and a half! Then off to Le Petit Atelier for coffee and quick round of the Tours Saturday market. Tours has a gigantic covered market it a modern building, very lacking in charm but functional. On Saturday’s there are added booths outside, and in the plazas there are brocantes, flea market stuff. Because the standing market is so extensive, the Saturday additions don’t amount to much. On a previous trip I had happened to go to Blois on a market day and remembered it as charming, so I hoofed it up to the station and caught a train with 5 minutest to spare. Blois runs down a hillside overlooking the Loire, and the market takes over most of the old town for Saturday mornings. Quite a scene. I found a pleasant and reasonable place for lunch out of the fray and overlooking the river. Walked around town some more and then caught the train back to Tours. Demonstration of some variety going on, so transit was a little messed up, so walked back to the apartment. Headed out for an early bite, figuring that it would help me last until the appointed 7:00pm dinner hour but after finishing snacking, dinner not necessary. (BTW you can click on the photos to expand them!)

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Friday 11/05/21

Today came together unexpectedly well. I got up fairly early, and decided to call another of the various small tour providers to see if I could get to some chateaus. The one I happened to call had a tour going and was happy to have me join them. They were going for a full day, but I ended up getting the guy to drop me off after the morning in Amboise. We went to two of the very classic Loire Chateaus, Villandry and Azay-le-Rideay. There are fairy tale type castles with amazing gardens, My original plan was to have lunch in Amboise and then hop a train back to Tours, but I realized that I could use a one way bicycle rental service and do it by bicycle. So, after lunch, I rented an electric bike and it was a good long ride, somewhat along the Loire River and somewhat inland to get back to Tours. The electric assist is nice but I mostly kept it in the lowest setting. Definitely a very solid day on the exercise front. It was one of those cool, crisp fall days, and fortunately by lunch time had warmed up enough to make riding feasible.

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Thursday 11/04/21

Today was a big move, leaving Bordeaux and heading back towards Paris to Tours, the main transportation hub for the Loire. I got up early and did the necessary cleaning to leave my AirBnB in as perfect a condition as I could. Unfortunately, while I had left plenty of time to get to the station, the trams were delayed for some reason and it got really tight. Ran to the right track, had to stop and show my Pass Sanitaire, then had to get ticket scanned, but made it on the train with about 4-5 minutes to spare, way too close!! Smooth ride at over 150mph to Tours, total time a little over 2 hours. On arrival at the TGV station of Tours which is in the suburbs, had to catch a quick local train into the city, then hopped a bus to where my AirBnB was, the host had arranged to meet me in front of Notre Dame de la Riche church. That all went well, and she found me a few minutes after I arrived. Tours is substantially chillier than Bordeaux, and just generally has a very different feel to it. My AirBnb is a top floor, 3 flights up narrow staircase thing, but great views, all modernized and spacious. Went to the Tourist information office and got brochures, found out about renting an electric bike for a day, chateau tours etc. Got my transit pass. Should be good to go, but we’ll see what the weather is like tomorrow. Not a crowded time of year, so, unfortunately many of the normally very reasonable mini van tours don’t seem to be running. I’ll do the bike thing if it’s not going to rain and it’s not too cold. Had the classic French dining experience tonight. Finally located a restaurant who’s menu sounded slightly more creative than the others, (almost all French restaurants in any given area have essentially the exact same menu), only to be told after waiting an hour for them to open, that they are complet! As usual only two people were in the whole restaurant, and they could have easily served me dinner and had me gone long before other people showed up, but that is not the French way, tant pis! Went for some Vietnamese food instead and it was probably good to have a break from all the high fat meals that I’ve been having. Tours is the land of fairy tale castles, and they are everywhere. Having visited quite a few, usually the best parts are the gardens and the exterior. Big empty stone rooms, not so much.

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Wednesday 11/03/21

Today the forecast called for rain again, but I decided to press on and good thing that I did. Took the train to Saint Emilion, about 35 minutes, and, on arrival the weather cleared and was generally pleasant for my time there. I had visited on a previous trip and it had been a bit of a nightmare getting back. The tracks were being worked on, and they substituted a bus. It had an unpleasant driver and no ventilation. We promptly got stuck in some kind of traffic jam and it took forever to get to Libourne where the train was available. This time, the train went straight through and, a 15 minute walk from the station takes you into the village. I strolled around a bit until lunch time and found a place for a bite. Then managed to schedule a tour and tasting on line at one of the in town wineries, Les Couvent des Jacobins (Grand Cru Classe). This ended up being a private tour with a minimal tasting at the end, but was still quite interesting as we went down in to a rabbit warren of cellars below. After the tour, I hoofed it back to the station and then got off in the regional town of Libourne. Did a little bit of a walk around there, but not much going on. Apparently, it’s much more lively on a market day, but that was not today. Rain picked up again, and I headed back to the apartment to dry out and take a break. After regrouping, wandered around until I found burger for dinner, and then headed back to the apartment to pack for departure tomorrow. I’ll be taking a morning train to Tours, back in the Loire.

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Tuesday 11/02/21

Another rainy day forecast for Bordeaux, but sunshine started the day. I had a coffee at Blacklist, one of the better coffee shops and near by my Airbnb. Then took the tram down to the train station for the trip to Margaux. This takes about 40 minutes on a TER train, a local line. I’d arranged for a tour and wine tasting at a Grand Cru Chateau called Marquis de Terme. Arrived in Margaux a little after 11:00am thinking I could catch lunch before my 1:00pm appointment, but wow almost nothing around and nothing open, no people. Luckily the Chateau, which was about a 15 minute walk from the train station had a restaurant. It turned out to be a very good restaurant, and I had an excellent lunch, followed by a private tour of the winery and some tasting. I was sufficiently impressed that I bought 6 bottles, which will hopefully turn up in Seattle sometime in the near future. Would have done some more walking but the weather turned into a downpour, and took the train back to Bordeaux. It was really raining hard on arrival, so went back to apartment and hunkered down for awhile. Went out to Bistrot des Frerots again and met with John and Atsu and their friend for some wine and Charcuterie.

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Monday 01/11/21

So, wanted to see what the outlying suburbs of Bordeaux look like, so I took the tram all the way out to Pessac. I should say that Monday, today, was a holiday, so many store etc. were closed. Pessac was basically a ghost town, so after a quick exploration, back on the tram and back into town. Went to the St. Michel neighborhood which had a bric a brac market going on, and had a so so lunch at a cafe. The soup came out cold, and, after talking with Etienne, the greeter in Nantes who was also a chef, I’m coming to the conclusion that his comments were spot on. He says that one of the reasons that many French cafes have the same menu is that they are buying things in prepackaged bags which they warm up in pots of boiling water. I’ve since noticed the soup I had at lunch, butternut squash on the same menu of many other places…. Hmm. Weather today alternated between a few sunny spells and pounding down rain. Since Bordeaux is paved with a lot of what appear to be limestone pavers, it can be really slippery. Anyway, after walking around a fair amount, went back Brasserie Bordelaise for dinner and had a reasonable entrecôte for dinner, nothing fabulous but it was decent. After dinner, it really started raining with some vigor. (Internet really slow here, so posting pictures is taking a bit of fiddling)

Monday 11/01/21

By now, almost everyone can agree that Honolulu’s attempt at a rail system is turning into even more of a disaster than anticipated, and, at a price that is exponentially higher than anticipated. To those of us familiar with a wide variety of transit systems, it was obvious from the beginning that they chose the wrong kind of system to do the job. I’m now in Bordeaux, which does a particularly good job with transit, but is by no means alone in that distinction in France or in Europe. But, since I’m here, let me point out some of the things that really make this work. The core of the Bordeaux system are trams that run at grade. They don’t need anything other than a platform about a foot higher than grade to get people on and off. Every station has a ticket machine, and tickets can be purchased individually or you can buy a week long pass for about 14 euros. That’s 2 Euros/ day for all you can use. Notably, the trams come about every 4 minutes on a normal day, and slightly less often on a holiday such as today. One thing that is really neat, is they have figured out a way to safely put a third rail into the center of the tracks. This means that no overhead wires are necessary, and that when a tram is not coming, it’s perfectly safe for people to walk or drive over and on the tracks. Must be some kind of induction system, but really cool. I have seen other third rail type systems, but this one seems to be the best. Caen and Dijon also have systems for avoiding overhead wires. So, in a short distance, urban setting that is relatively low speed, it’s pretty clear that light rail at grade is the way to go. It’s not only massively less expensive, but it is much more flexible when it comes to changing or adding stops, and, adding on to the end of it.

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Sunday 10/31/21

La Rochelle to Bordeaux.

Today I was fortunate to find that the scheduled train strike was canceled, therefore, my train was precisely on time. La Rochelle to Bordeaux leaving at 9:54 and arriving Bordeaux at 12:08. Bordeaux is much further south and as such is warmer than further north. On arrival, it was sunny and pleasant, and I took the tram and walked to find my AirBnb. This one is in a modern building, and is a a quite large one bedroom, but is very plain. In any case, everything works, the location is good and seems fine. Went out and found a crepe for lunch and spent some time reorienting myself to Bordeaux. It’s a big city, but the downtown core has lots of little restaurants and bistros. Went back to one of my favorite coffee shops, Black List, and they still make excellent coffee, and have super fast internet. After that, a little more walking around and then it started raining off an on with occasional vigor. Although google said Bistrot des Frerots would be closed, they were open since it is a holiday weekend here in France and Halloween seems to be recognized to some degree. I ordered a glass of Medoc and a small combination charcuterie plate, which turned out to be more than enough for dinner. Across the street was a Mexican bar with a full Mariachi band playing and there were enough costumes going on to think that it was going to be a wild night for the younger set.

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Saturday 10/30/21

The forecast changed today, and it’s turned into a lovely warm sunny day. I started out with a tour of the market in La Rochelle, substantially busier and with more vendors as it is Saturday. Then off to Pl Verdun where I found the appropriate bus to Ile de Re. Note to others this is a regional bus, white with red not yellow like the city buses, with your back to the carousel and the church to your left, go straight to the top fo the square to find the #3, should say Vers Ile de Re on the stop. It’s just over an hour ride to the main port town on the island, Saint Martin de Re. Lovely little cobblestone street port town, kind of reminiscent of Cassis, if you been there. Lots of outdoor restaurant and terrace seating. The town was fortified to keep out the Protestants during the Hugenot rebellion of the 1620s and had a prison that transhipped prisoners to French colonies in various places. Fortifications are still here and have been turned into parks. The whole island is set up for extensive bicycling, because the weather was very sketchy when I left La Rochelle, didn’t even try for that. After much strolling around and reading of menus, I found an appropriate looking restaurant on the little island in the center of the harbor and had a lovely lunch of Oysters, skate wing salad, and some fish, probably won’t be eating much dinner tonight. (You know you’re in a French place when the dining room guests have dogs!). Anyway, sitting on a lovely terrace with coffee as I write this and will take the bus back in about an hour.

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Friday, October 29th, 2021

So far I’ve had lovely, chilly and clear fall weather, but that streak ended today. I ended up staying fairly close to home. Intermittent heavy rain fall, with occasional breaks made it not so salubrious for extended touring. La Rochelle has a lot of buses, but from some reason, their transit isn’t on google and the app they have doesn’t have a working trip planning function. Anyway found an info booth and got the right bus number to go to Ile de Re, so will try that out tomorrow. Today it poured off and on, but the arcaded sidewalks are kind of handy when it’s raining. I walked around town a lot but didn’t really do anything too exciting. Went to the Bunker museum this morning, turns out there was a WWII bunker under one of the hotels that was well preserved and is not a pretty cool small museum. Also followed the suggested curated walk, along the rampart walls and eventually to a small botanical garden. Amazing playground with rope bridge and other items that would never be allowed in the USA. Dinner was a half dozen local oysters and a small steak frites. Tough piece of meat! Some travel days are more productive that others, today was pretty low key. That’s just how it goes sometimes….

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