Beautiful Bordeaux

It has been a beautiful sunny day and we've made the most of it.

This morning we set off for

the grand Place de la Bourse,

a landmark and symbol of Bordeaux.

The bronze and marble Fontaine des Trois Graces, erected in 1860 stands in the centre of the square. The fountain bears statues of Zeus’ three daughters. The buildings which surround the horse-shoe shaped square are in the Rococo-style which became popular in the late 1720s. The three buildings are perfectly symmetrical. To the north the Palais de la Bourse and to the south the former Hotel des Fermes which now houses the Musee National des Douanes (National Customs Museum). The square opens up onto the River Garonne. It is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

After my incident in Zaragoza I was very careful when we visited The Water Mirror ( Miroir d’eau) which was installed in 2006. This water installation consists of a shallow amount of water covering an expansive area of 3450m² on the square. It is the world’s largest water mirror. It creates a reflection of the surrounding 18th century buildings. The water mirror is constantly changing. It works in cycles of 3 minutes changing water, 15 minutes as a shallow pool of water, 5 minutes draining and 3 minutes of a fog effect.

On our way home at the end of the day

the fog effect was in full swing!

We spent most of the day wandering through the historic Old Town, 

designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The beautiful Grand Theatre built in 1780

A bewitching bronze statue, “The Face”

is seemingly a circular 3D object but instead is only a game perspective and is extremely flat. It is situated right next to the Grand Theatre.

Rue St. Catherine,

the main pedestrian thoroughfare

running through the historic district...

We had lunch in a cafe and Peta was VERY happy with her choice, 
it involved warm camembert and crispy smoked duck!

More wandering and some shopping

went on after lunch!

We visited Cathedrale Saint-Andre,

built in the 13th century

and now a UNESCO World Heritage site.

It is where the prosperous Eleanor of Aquitaine

was married to the future King.

It's also infamous for suppressing the order of the Knights Templar.

The cathedral saw another royal wedding

in 1615, this time between King Louis XIII

and Queen consort Anne of Austria,

following a tradition of fortifying military and political

alliances between the Catholic powers of

France and Spain with royal marriages.

The cathedral bell tower (tower of Pey-Berland) is separate from Saint-André Cathedral, this 15th-century tower was built to provide the cathedral with a large bell without threatening the structure.

We decided to head for home so that we could have a short rest 
and come back into the old town for dinner,

the lights on the buildings should look great.

It may be our only chance to do this because the weather forecast

for the next two days is pretty bleak.

This is our street,

you enter through an archway, close to the river,

our house is the one that you can see

at the end of the street,

with a big dark double door.

Our apartment is the one at the very top to the left

of the big shield.

The apartment takes up the six windows

at the top left of the picture.

The view from our kitchen window,

looking into the central courtyard.

We're about to head out for dinner...

I'll update you on our adventures tomorrow.

We walked 22 km's today!