I went on my first field trip out of Toulouse. I am planning to do a once a week field trip to somewhere around Toulouse to see more of France that I have not visited before. The first trip was to Bordeaux. It was not an ideal field trip as the day was less than pleasant. I gather that tropical storm Kirk that did not affect but US crossed the Atlantic and was hitting Europe. It was very windy and rainy so I did not see Bordeaux at its best and wandering around was not ideal.

I took the Intercities train from Toulouse and it was about a 2.5 hour train ride. French trains are very nice, easy to deal with and efficient so the trip was nice. The trip started through the suburbs of Toulouse and just outside the city there is a car storage area, not sure exactly what it is for but there were hundreds if not thousands of cars, small trucks and other vehicles lined up row after row. Not sure its purpose but looked almost like an import area for cars. As always, it intrigued me so will try to find out more about it. We then moved through agricultural areas where a major crop seems to be tomatoes. We followed the Garonne river for a while which starts up by Bordeaux and continues to Toulouse. There is a canal that parallels the river and I did see my first canal boat that was actually moving along a canal. As we go closer to Bordeaux, the vineyards began and covered many miles. Another aspect of the countryside is that you see small castles, chateaus and other medieval structures that just dot the hills and towns along the way.

Bordeaux is a very pretty city. It has a long waterfront along the Garonne. It is has large 4 story buildings built of sandstone with mansard rows boarding the river. The city has built a beautiful running, walking, biking path along the river but again because of the weather, it was not ideal for a walk yesterday.

As I was walking to the center of the city, I walked past a movie or tv production where they had 19th century carriages and actors dressed in period costume. Bordeaux is an ideal area for that kind of setting as the streets are very narrow, the buildings border immediately on the street and definitely feels of the period.

I wandered around the streets and looked at the sights. I went into a couple of churches. The Church of Notre Dame was very beautiful, a very simple vault with ornate side chapels which was very striking. It was also built with windows high at the end of each side nave with circles in the arches so that the light would radiate down the entire nave.

I had a nice meal at a Bistro in the center part of the city and sampled a Bordeaux wine with the meal. After wandering more I found a Salon de The and got out of the rain and enjoyed a pastry and pot of tea.

After a fun but dreary day in Bordeaux, I caught the train back to Toulouse. It was nice to get out of Toulouse to see more but the weather made it less than ideal. I think I might have to go back to Bordeaux on a better day.