Bordeaux out of our brains? No, definitely not.

Bordeaux was the destination today. So after a mild drama with the bus driver to finally sort out that I was giving him 6 Euros for four tickets, where he then deemed to cause confusion and show a complete lack of forgiveness for our attempts at French and understanding him, we boarded the bus with a ticket that we finally understood ( with the help of our Yorkshire neighbours) was for all Bordeaux public transport, and was valid for one hour. At this point I must clarify that earlier, it was me who went and sought the help of some British people to have a chat with about gas of all things. So Mike and Glenys (couple from Yorkshire) were the ones I found, and we had a good chat about everything, including the aforementioned gas, and came to the conclusion that purchasing the correct gas with correct fitting in France is about as simple as peeling and orange with your toes.

I digress though, so into Bordeaux we went, initially on the bus, then on the fantastic tram system. Very easy and satisfying. We arrived in Bordeaux on the river. After disembarking we immediately found in the appetising weather, the Miroir D'eau. A fantastic interactive waterfall thing. See photos to avoid my descriptions.

My second photo reminds me of the Thames TV logo. After this photo, little holes in the Miroir started to create a thin mist of water, so I have some weird shots of the children playing in this mist on a beautifully hot day. 

Anyway, onwards into the bustling town of Bordeaux. A lovely place. Very much like Paris in some ways, but without the fighting crowds. So a gentle day by comparison. We got very touristy at Maya's request and ventured onto one of the city Petit Trains ( a car disguised as a train, pulling carriages) that are found in most cities in France we have found. So it was a proper tourist thing to do. Essentially it was rubbish, but it was fun, and will be remembered for being rubbish. The driver had no subtlety with his pedals, the headsets which we all wore kept falling off when the driver braked. The audio track was completely out of sync with where the driver was, and was inanely dull. And finally, it seemed to take us to all the worst parts of town. So very memorable, as it was funny that it was quite rubbish.

This photo shows us all enjoying one of the many amazing scenes of Bordeaux. One of many truly memorable moments on the train of happiness. 

Regardless of that though, we mooched further, and fully enjoyed what a beautiful place Bordeaux is. Our venture back out of town was simple and smooth and we got home very quickly. 

On that note, it slowly is becoming home here now. Not Bordeaux, but the few small square metres we occupy daily in Hugo the van. We are getting slicker at life, although not much really starts before 8:30 am (7:30am GMT). 

So a day of rest will occur tomorrow. Jobs will happen at a leisurely pace. I was going to cycle with Jasper to the velodrome here in Bordeaux, it's only 1.5 miles away. I went to check it out tonight. Quite an amazing place, but it seems completely closed. I looked through the windows to see a fantastic stadium with an amazing track under the roof, but it's completely closed. So we'll probably cycle somewhere else instead.

Ed