If a campsite were to ever have a theme tune, it would have to be the sound of a thousand bottles being thrown into the bottle bank. Oh, and the out of tune drunken sounds of happy birthday being sung at 3am. LOL! Life in a campsite.
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Posing for pictures in the pouring rain.
Monument aux Girondins
Monument with a fountain & towering column
erected to honor Girondin revolutionaries.
[Google] |
The other day, we 'popped' into Bordeaux (52km each way from where we are at the moment). It was a scenic enough drive, especially as we could only drive at about 30km/p/h for most of the time. It was the only day of the week that wasn't sunny - except, we thought it would only be overcast, but it was raining. In fact at one point, it was BUCKETING down. We all got thoroughly soaked. Including poor Maxi the dog. He was less than impressed. Thankfully, it wasn't cold!
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Rue St Catherine
Click for bigger picture |
My husband, in his infinite wisdom, parked at the furthermost spot from the pub that we wanted to visit. (A quick trip down memory lane, as he used to work at this pub nearly 20 years ago.) The trek to the pub through Rue St Catherine (apparently one of the longest shopping streets in Europe) was .... interesting, and very, VERY wet. I lost count of how many languages I heard - English, American, Australian, Arabic, Spanish, Dutch, French (of course!), German, Korean, and a few others that I wasn't sure of. It was like the entire world had thrown a sample of their people into this one road. And on a midweek morning, it was PACKED! We dripped along the road, jumping over puddles, and staring in awe at the shops - all but one were new to me. ... The familiar one? Orange Mobile. Yay. But there were more food shops than you could shake a baguette at, selling everything from pizza to steak and chips, from pastries to chocolate, from sweet to savoury. Clothing stores a million, and loads of sport stores too.
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| Typical French apartments on Rue St Catherine |
There are loads of apartments above the shops in Rue St Catherine - I have no idea what they're like on the inside though. For some reason it's frowned upon to simply knock on someone's door, and ask to have a look around. Well, who knew?!
On the way back we saw some 'art' that has (I've been told), been there for many years. It was funny to see this car seemingly about to fall out the building, having just crashed through the rails!
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Porte de bourgogne
Landmark Roman-style stone arch built in
the 1750s as a symbolic gateway to
the city. [Google] |
We decided to take the LOOOOONG route back (oh delight!!) in the bucketing rain. I was so wet, that I was actually wringing my hair out! Blegh! However, I was rewarded with the view of the Porte de bourgogne , and then a little way on, the Porte Cailau! Even in the rain, both looked really impressive.
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Porte Cailhau
Built in 1495, this monument with a
castle-like exterior was once the
main gate to the city. [Google] |
I will return to Bordeaux, to visit the awesome fabric shops and see the sights - preferably in the bright sunshine, rather than in the pouring tipping rain!!
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