A Birthday in Bordeaux

To help get through the trauma of her 30th birthday Michelle decided a weekend of luxury was required – and what better place than Bordeaux?

After a very early start we arrived at Gatwick only to find that British Airways didn’t have a plane for our flight (odd for an airline wouldn’t you say?). The rest of the day was mainly spent in queues…. 3hrs queuing to get re-ticketed, followed by re-queuing for check-in, security etc etc….. Hardly the start to a nice weekend away we had hoped for! Still – at 6hrs later we found ourselves in Bordeaux - ok… so we were queuing for a rental car… but we were there!

Driving on the wrong-side of the road for the first time (more on this later) we found our way to our accommodation – a Chateau in the heart of Bordeaux – our room was in the loft of the old stables… very cool.

After the trauma of the day (flights and then driving…) we were ready for a treat. Thierry (our host) sorted out a great seafood restaurant. Although we couldn’t do French, and our waiter didn’t do English, he read us well… and proceeded to ply us with all sorts of interesting drinks?! He obviously noticed that we really enjoyed the aperitif he gave us (‘Lillet’ – kind of a light liqueur from Bordeaux – yum!) so took it upon himself to give us a couple of glasses of a Sauterne white after our meal. Those of you know Michelle will know that she has a soft spot for dessert wines – she was very taken with Sauterne!

The next day we had arranged visits to several of the Chateau in nearby St Emilion. Driving in France was a bit of an adventure for us… afterall it had been over 6 months since I had driven… let alone on the wrong side of the road. Each time we went to get into the car Michelle would find a steering wheel in front of her and we would need to swap sides. Fortunately although we made this error consistently, we only found ourselves on the wrong side of the road once… and only very briefly!

Finding our way to various Chateau was also a bit of an adventure… our maps were not the best… but we got there in the end and saw some great French countryside in our travels! The three Chateau we visited were all very different. One had recently be acquired by a US investor and had a lot of money poured into it. The second was family owned – and recently been awarded a special classification…. quite an distinguished honour. The third was an immense castle-like building with huge caves underneath which were home to its various vintages not yet released.

St Emilion has a lot of history – and the remains of the seven huge walls that once surrounded the city in medieval times are still clearly visible. St Emilion is named after a Saint who moved there to live in isolation in a small underground grotto. In keeping with this idea, monks later carved a huge church into the hill on which St Emilion stands – very impressive – and our second fairly unique church in recent times (see Amsterdam)! [Church in hillside to right]

Sunday brought with it Michelle’s birthday. It was a beautiful day so drove to the coast (only 45mins away if you drive at the 130kph speed limit?!). On the way we turned off to Gujan Mestras – an old oyster port with the huts of oyster fishermen dotted everywhere! When in Rome right? So we settled in for a feast of oysters…… mmmmm! From here we headed on to Arachon a wealthy coastal holiday spot and host to tourists on the cruise ships that stop here. Nearby is Dune de Pilat – Europe’s largest sand-dune which is slowly moving inland and swallowing up a pine forrest as it goes! Quite a climb up – but it takes no time to run down!

We had a great time in Bordeaux. We enjoyed the wines… although we were surprised that the sweet whites had stolen the show from the famous reds. The surrounding wine region was extremely picturesque and was just like the image we had of what the French countryside should look like (more so that Champagne). Our thirst for exploring in France is far from satisfied….. perhaps Provence next?

Amsterdam… Where anything goes!

After a couple of weekends away, it’s about time we updated you on what we’ve been up to lately. May in London brings with it two bank holidays… one of which we spent in Amsterdam.

Amsterdam is an unusual mix. On the one hand you have beautiful buildings and homes, trendy students, scenic canals, old bikes rattling down cobblestone streets, amazing art galleries and other historic attractions…. And on the other hand you have sex and drugs as an open and accepted part of life – which brings with it plenty of rowdy stag and hens parties. Strangely enough the two seem to co-exist with no real issues and we enjoyed a great weekend there.

Our three days were all quite different: Day 1 - Acclimatisation, Day 2 – Sightseeing, Day 3 – Culture.

Acclimatisation

After an early morning flight, we arrived with plans of getting into some sightseeing. However after a canal boat trip where we both spent a substantial portion of the trip snoozing, we decided that a day of relaxation was more what was required! We quickly settled into Plan B and had great afternoon and evening wandering around and chilling in various cafes/bars and restaurants. We quickly learned that in Amsterdam there are cafes and there are ‘coffee shops’. The former is what we would expect from a café…. The latter is quite a different beast – and although they do coffee (no alcohol), there will also be a separate counter where bags of marijuana/joints are on offer…. complete with menus to ensure the punter gets the effect they desire?! Whether or not you are into this sort of thing – they’re an interesting place to visit to see what goes on.

As nightfall arrived we ventured into the redlight district to see the famous windows which line main streets and back alleys. From their small rooms, which have large street facing windows, woman of various ages, shapes and sizes (some very attractive – others far less so) attempt to lure men in, so that they can close their curtains and carry out business. The fact that it is so open makes it all seem a little less seedy, however it still seems like a fairly unpleasant way to earn a living. Day or night though – they will be there… open all hours. In between clusters of windows there are sex shops, clubs offering sex shows together with regular bars/cafes – you name it… its probably on offer somewhere! Interesting times… and I guess you can’t really say you’ve ‘done’ Amsterdam until you’ve ventured there.

Sightseeing

Day 2 was spent on more conventional sightseeing. An unexpected highlight was a hidden church, recommended by John (Michelle’s dad). Built in 1663, this catholic church was hidden in the attic of a canal side house… tolerated only by the protestant majority as it was out of sight. Very strange to think – that what looked like a normal house from the outside, in fact housed a church that could accommodate a congregation inside!? [Left - House from the outside, Right - Church on the inside!]

Continuing on the ‘hidden building within a building’ theme we also visited Anne Frank’s house. This was quite a moving experience and you hear the story of the Frank’s and their demise as you walk through the various rooms of their hidden annex (including climbing the step stairs hidden behind a bookcase out of sight of the Gestapo. Things have been kept in a very original state – even the newspaper clipping used by Anne to decorate her walls are still stuck to the original wallpaper. Really brought it home for people of our generation how recent in history the war is.

Can’t end this day without mentioning a beautiful meal we had at Restaurant De Belhamel (www.belhamel.nl). Beautiful French food – washed down with a bottle of Luigi Bosca Malbec (a favourite from our time in Mendoza!).

Culture

Last day - and time to try and squeeze in some of Amsterdam’s famous art galleries before heading to the airport. First (and as it happened – last) stop was the Van Gogh museum. We spent ages here, wandering around with our audio tour – learning about where Van Gogh was when he created various paintings. We both found this really interesting… a good change for us, for whom cultural attractions do not always rank highly! Unfortunately that was all we had time for….. but it was well worth the visit – and we left with the obligatory Van Gogh print, which may find its way to our wall one day!

A great weekend in such a diverse city.