luxemblog: May 2011

For all you loyal followers of Luxemblog you might be wondering where the hell have I been? Well, I'm here now and I'm going to catch all y'all up on some of our recent travels. to be most efficient (and realistic about the time it takes to upload dozens of photos for several trips in one morning) ~~I will limit myself to only ten photos per trip. I'm not saying this limit will continue from here on out but for now it's going to be the format.~~
(OKAY who am i KIDDING? i can't limit myself to just ten photos, ever- and especially when i have to show all the amazing-ness of these trips. I tried, i really did try but I kept thinking of other things i wanted to post and it was just too painful to make such aggressive photo edits! So forget that very short-lived "plan" and forgive my naivete. )

Okay, so here goes Bordeaux:

Bordeaux surprised me with the MANY MANY miles of bike paths linking villages, and even city of Bordeaux. We all rented bikes and rode for hours and hours. The trails are mostly on old train tracks so you ride through the centers of small villages past old train stations that have been converted to cafes, restaurants, tourist offices, etc. I was amazed at how easy it was. Not the best signage at times but it worked well. I'm grateful we didn't have to ride on the roads because the roads can be shoulder-less and winding, the drivers go VERY fast and they don't seem to make room for cyclists.

One day we rode to an old abbey, in a nearby village. On the right here you can see a scallop shell marking a stop on the "Camino de Santiago", the famous Catholic pilgrimage route that leads to the cathedral in Santiago de Compostela in Galicia, Spain. There are hundreds of routes but they all end in Santiago de Compostela. This is one of the voluteer "hostels" where you can stay the night and have a simple breakfast for very very cheap. I believe in order to stay at one of these hostels you just need to show your certificate saying you have registered for the "Camino".

One of the many chateaus in Bordeaux. They don't call them "wineries" here, they are "chateaus" and they truly are grand, elegant buildings. So-called "true" chateaus are those where royalty have resided at one time. We visited one that had been owned by King Henry the IV. The current owner (a wealthy Parisian woman who had a company that ran Chocolate trade shows all over the world) proudly proclaimed her chateau was a "real chateau".

I do not know if this was a "real chateau" but I thought it was quite majestic, regardless.

Eating oysters on the street in Bordeaux the city. Kind of amazing.

There was an antiques/flea market going on and I bought this GREAT old poster. It looks like it was from an old science classroom, where they were showing the different parts of a fruit. There were a bunch of these posters - some with diagrams of animals, flowers, frogs, etc. I wish I bought a couple more. Only 10 Euros.

Some antique doors and fence parts for sale at the flea market.

Beautiful tins of tuna and other yummy things.

Touring Ile d'Fort - the "real chateau" where we had a lovely afternoon and tasted some delicious wines. The woman on the left is the owner- Claudia and I admired her stunning necklace that she so casually wore with her silky flowy blouse and khaki shorts as she trimmed her roses.

The grounds - a chapel on the left (yes, the place has its own chapel), a bldg. that stored the barrels of wine on the right and a charming and (to me) a quintessentially Southern French courtyard in the center.

And of course every chateau needs a moat!

The tasting room...

...more of the courtyard between the chapel and tasting room.

Getting a lesson in keeping vines.

Home made Cannelle- the traditional Bordelaise cakes made from lots of eggs, butter and cream. The son of owner of our rental home brought them over for us. He is only 13 and already a master of the Cannelle. Impressive. I have had these cakes before but there is nothing like ones that are still warm from the oven. oooh, la laaaa.

Some of us rode bikes into Bordeaux proper and we rode by interesting fishing shacks on the river. On one side of the river were the shacks, and some of them looked inhabited permanently (with mailboxes, curtains, furniture). On the other side were grand, gorgeous villas - some in great shape, some starting to fall apart. Everything was lush and overgrown and fecund. It felt like the deep south of the US (at least what I imagine the deep South of the US to be like).

Honey Locust trees or Acacia were in bloom and the air was full of their sweet, fresh scent. These are the flowers from which bees make my favorite kind of honey - Acacia honey (duh) - which is very clear in color and has a very mild, "clean" flavor.

Oh, pretty little snail in a lovely yellow shell.

An over the back shot of Nils and Ale riding behind me on the bike path that went all the way from Bordeaux center to the village where we rented our house.

All over Bordeaux were grand-looking gates. Some were falling apart, some were in good shape. Sometimes you could see the villa behind them sometimes not. But I loved how you would be riding along this seemingly modest country road and then you would happen upon a gate and you knew that somewhere up a winding road was a very grand, beautiful chateau. Ile d' Fort- the "real chateau" I mentioned earlier had a very rickety-looking gate but it had a working lock and I have a feeling the owners wanted to keep their entrance very low profile.

This chateau had a swing in the center of these two trees, in front of the entry door.

On Easter Sunday we went to the neighboring village for their farmers' market. We all gathered various ingredients for a vast Easter dinner that night (ham and artichokes were the main dishes).

I was delighted to find that many of the market-goers actually used those sweet woven baskets for bags. Men and women, young and old. Loved that.

Here we are, considering all the options and health benefits (there was a chart of that info on the green paper everyone is looking at).

Eventually the honey vendor wondered what the hell i was doing standing behind her.

Enjoying a pre-dinner drink and chat.

Showing our lovely, large cheeses.

Mike and Alex prepping the very fresh artichokes.

Easter dinner!

On our way to our next stop, Ile de Re, Nils, Alejandro, Dave and I took a side trip to Arcachon - Europe's largest sand dunes. They were truly incredible. One one side a thick pine forest, on the other side was the Atlantic ocean. And the dunes themselves were HUGE. Since it was a holiday weekend it was packed with visitors and we were all pleasantly surprised at how respectful and mellow everyone was. No trash anywhere, no cigarette butts in the sand, no beer bottles tossed about.