Started off our touring day of Bordeaux today by going to Bassins des Lumieres. The venue for this is the submarine base that was built by the Germans during the second world war. They were able to hide 32 submarines from the Allies here using camouflage nets. 15 uboats were able to be docked there at 235 meters in length, it was truly amazing to see. The venue was for from Vermeer to Van Gogh the Dutch Masters. Simply incredible. It is pitch black when you first enter, there is a reel continuously playing for about 1 hour going through 11 scenes of Dutch Society and the most amazing music. The reel is played on the floor, ceilings, walls, and reflected into water mirrors that are placed throughout. There is a sitting area at one point that you can take a break in theatre style seats to watch. Can't express how amazing this was. An amazing way to start our day, we were here for nearly 2 hours. There is no set time to go in and you can stay as long as you like.
Following this we went on to the Wine and Trade Museum. This museum is housed in a former trading house and all about the wine trade in the Bordeaux region. It was a great museum that you downloaded the audio on your phone and went along at your own pace. There is a much larger wine museum in the city that cover wine from all over the world but we heard it takes 3-4 hours to do it, I will take a hard pass on that one, Andre may fit it in somewhere along the way. The bonus part of the tour is it includes tasting 2 wines with more explanation of the Bordeaux region for wine making, another thumbs up for this museum.
Next off we found a little lunch spot not far from the museum. Great risotto at a great price. When you are away from town restaurants are definitely much more affordable. It is partially sunny today and warm enough to eat outside without jackets on, a change from yesterday.
Another museum, this time the Sea and Marine museum which covers Bordeaux exploits. Very interesting. Spent about 45 minutes here with the audio guide. We learned which Bordeaux was such a prosperous city.
Next off head back to the tourist information centre. The 2 day city pass we bought yesterday includes all bus, tram and water shuttles, but we need to go to the tourist information so they can book one of our options for us. So, tomorrow we will be doing a little cruise on the Garonne River, also known as Port de la Lune because of its crescent shape. We also booked the dreaded 231 step tower climb for tomorrow afternoon while we were there.
So many museums in the city and since we were near the Museum of Bordeaux decided to fit that in as well. To get there we walked through a beautiful park with lots of nice flowers. The museum itself was science and nature, well mostly stuffed dead animals, my scientific terminology. It was over 3 floors, but not huge. Mostly families were in here, lots and lots of kids, we didn't realize it was school break here this week. The workers all wore lab coats, it was quite cute. Not my favourite museum, but since it didn't cost anything and we saw a beautiful park not a total waste of time.
Back to the apartment and the church outside our apartment is open for the first time since we have been here, so another church to go visit. Another huge pretty church, they are having a concert here on Saturday night that I am pretty sure we will be able to hear if we just open our windows. It is a pretty square we are on, I think 3 bar/restaurants that have lots of tables set up today with lots of people sitting outside.
Light supper then we plan on using our passes to go back to the waterfront and downtown to get some night time pictures. We were out for over 8 hours today and haven't even walked 10,000 steps yet, that is what having free public transport does to you!
Took the tram back after supper for some night photos. It is a beautiful night, and much different than the day time. Lots and lots of people enjoying drinks and dinner outside. So weird that beer seems to be the drink of choice, aren't we in the wine capitol of the world? It was a lot of fun just walking around the cobblestone streets at night.
Steps 16,000 or 10 km
At the German submarine bunker
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