After a relaxing late breakfast (including a bowl of tea ) followed by a nice home cooked lunch with Matt and Estelle, we set off from La Rochelle to Bordeaux, a lazy 2.5hr train ride south. We thoroughly enjoyed Ile de Re and wanted to say a special thanks to Matt and Estelle for making us so welcome and sharing a little piece of their world with us :)

We booked a little apartment in Bordeaux on AirBnB which looked good. We arrived to discover that although it was very nice inside it was clearly on the wrong side of the tracks - bit like the wrong end of George st in Sydney. Fortunately, after a good night sleep and a quick walk in the morning, just a few blocks away, Bordeaux turned into quite a nice place.

Shirley found the Grand Bar Castan which has been there since the 1800's, and whiled the afternoon away over a few champagnes, while Sabrina and I took a stroll over to the Le miroir d'eau de Bordeaux and walked the misty mirror pool which was refreshing in the 37deg heat today.

The mirror pool was opened in 2006 and covers an area of 3500 sqr mtrs with 900 water ejector nozzles that spray the water for 5 mins, 12 times and hour. The whole system recycles most of the water through small channels back into the 800 cubic meter tanks underneath the pool.

 
 
While walking the streets of Bordeaux we discovered the locals have some very special parking skills. I've included some pics as words couldn't begin to describe their creativity.......

  


 We have an early start tomorrow, up at 5 and out the door by six to walk the 2kms to the station and catch the 6:45 to Barcelona, a cool 9 hr journey.