France Trip Day 3: Bordeaux Browsing & Start of Cruise

Saturday, June 10: Bordeaux Pride, Wine-Tasting Class, Boarding the Cyrano de Bergerac

Mr. E and I enjoyed the breakfast at our lodging, with additional items appearing from the kitchen every few minutes (cheese plate, scrambled eggs, Americanos). We spent the morning strolling around the downtown and historic area, gradually making our way to the train station to meet Mr. E's mom and noticing all of the folks coming into the city for the afternoon Pride parade and festival. Near our guest house, we had spotted a fun sign at the Tabac, where the top photo is a striking likeness of "bad Marlene" (our girl cat with big gold eyes).

Mr. E took lots of street scene photos as we walked along, keeping in the shade as much as we could to stay cool.

We arrived a little early at the train station so had a snack at one of the cafes and made a few purchases at the convenience store. His mom's TGV was on time, and once we managed to find each other to meet up, the three of us took the street-level tram back to our guest house so she could rest for a bit. Mr. E and I walked just around the corner to Eat Salad for a yummy fresh lunch.

The three of us then got a taxi to go to La Cite du Vin for our mid-afternoon wine-tasting class. There was a lot of traffic of all kinds on the streets due to the Pride festivities! We were a little early for our class so browsed in the gift shop and purchased a couple of souvenirs. Then we found the round room on the second floor for our class and settled in for the hour-long session. This was the first ever wine-tasting class for Mr. E's mom! 

We all enjoyed the session and the presentation, although the temperature in the room got a bit warm as the class progressed. Another taxi for our return trip to the guest house, where we packed up our bags and then summoned a third taxi to take us to the dock to board our CroisiEurop riverboat, the Cyrano de Bergerac.

Our three cabins were all on the same level, just a few doors down from each other and near the lounge. There was plenty of time to unpack and get organized before the initial gathering of the evening for a general overview of the cruise, introductions to the entire crew, and information about the next day's schedule. Since the three of us weren't with a larger group, we were seated for dinner at a table with two other "solo" guests who were older gentleman from Great Britain traveling together.

Dinner was a three-course experience with wine served throughout, and I was very pleased with the accommodations that the chef and kitchen made for my dietary restrictions. Mr. E took photos of some of his courses, which show the lovely presentation and reasonable portion size of the meal.

After dinner, I went back to our cabin to relax and go to bed, but Mr. E and his mom continued the evening with some more adult beverages in the lounge, enjoying the evening view of Bordeaux, including the brilliantly lit Ferris Wheel.

A promising start to our river cruise adventure!