Synonymous with wine of course, Bordeaux is both a city in France and a region in the south west part of the country. And not just any region, but the most famous and recognizable wine region in the world. It's a fairly sizable region too and one that we have been to on two previous visits to the area. What we had not yet done was spend any time in the actual city and drive the famous "La route des Châteaux" which as a wine enthusiast is a fermented grape juice and yeast Mecca of sorts.
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| Wine shop is this way! |
With the desire to go, we figured what better occasion than the 2nd birthday of 1 JoJo Bean! After setting the bar high for her first birthday by celebrating in Bourgogne, we had to find a way to keep with the wine country theme and set up a long weekend in Bordeaux.
Logistically, Bordeaux is pretty easy to get to from Paris. You simply take the TGV train for about 3 and half hours and there you are, no sweat. Having learned a tough lesson in September when traveling to Aix, we decided it a better idea this time to travel in the morning and try to get there before nap time. (hard to say whose nap we're talking about, Bean or Daddy, but that's a different story) So arriving at our apartment rental by about 13:30 on Thursday we started to settle in for our long weekend. This day also coincidentally happened to be Thanksgiving in the US, though we find ourselves forgetting that fact sometimes, save for the part where we were able to watch football this first night in town. So that helped.
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| The best winemaker's have muddy boots |
Friday being our first full day, we rented a car for the day to drive the aforementioned Route D2 winding past many of the 1855 Bordeaux classification Grands Crus Classés wines and appellations such as Margaux, Saint Julien, and Sainte Estephe. When you think about driving through Napa, Sonoma, Paso Robles, even the Rogue Valley, you come across many signs, wine tastings, and opportunities to buy wines from the area. Being extraordinarily French, the Route D2 is the exact opposite. Other than seeing vineyards in every direction, there really isn't much else that is inviting you to stop, taste, and leave your money behind. This is a very normal French experience, and the exact opposite of what you would see in the US.
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| Mouton Rothschild |
What was however very inviting was a little country French Bistro where we stopped for lunch. I had found the place ahead of time and it turned out to be a very enjoyable lunch with the most friendly French proprietaries running the place. After lunch we drove along a bit more, with a few stops along the way for pictures. Unwinding our way back into town, we made it back to our apartment for a quiet evening and of course a glass of wine.
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| Lunch with a glass of Bordeaux |
Saturday was our day to explore the town of Bordeaux which is most definitely a bigger city. While the city is fairly decent size, the old center of town is very accessible and even has what seemed to be a very new, modern tram system which makes it easy to get around. On the recommendation of a colleague of mine who lives in Bordeaux, we had another great restaurant recommendation then wandered our way to a large park in the middle of town. This park not only had a giant grass area for Bean to run around on, but also had some great slides and swings to play on as well. Once we were able to peel her away from the park we continued to work our way back to our place. We were very impressed by the city of Bordeaux, lots of shopping, interesting wine shops and wine bars, (one of which we visited twice) and a really fun atmosphere. Highly recommend the place for a few nights of fun should you every find yourself touring around France.
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| Love this park! |
The last and most important part of the whole weekend was to celebrate Bean's birthday, afterall turning 2 is a very big deal! Especially when you have fully grasped the concept of opening presents and blowing out candles! Oh, and I think we also had the realization that when the candles are out - you get to eat cake!
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| Blow out the candles! |
Happy 2nd Birthday to our always entertaining, always fun, and always so very sweet Joséphine Bean!
Nate and I decided that for this past Christmas, we wanted to stay in Europe. We were in the US the Christmas before so it just seemed right to stay here. And lucky for us, my sister and her family, our cousin, my parents, and even my brother-in-law’s family were all able to join us. It made for quite the Christmas celebration, especially for being so far from home!
