Bordeaux

All of us now ensconced at Granny's (that's L's and C's mother) on the outskirts of Bordeaux. She has a nice little bungalow there with an enormous garden full of huge trees - and all the veg you could shake a stick at.

The smaller ones wanted time to explore that garden and have fun thereabouts, so once again, it was just me, L and Gaby who caught the tram into the centre of the city. Bordeaux has some wonderful shops and I know some people will fly out from London for a couple of days just to 'do' the shops. L and G wanted to avail themselves of the opportunity while they were here, so they alighted at the Grand Theatre and I continued on to the docks. I'd been meaning to do this for 25 years and finally my chance to see the Nazi's U-boat station. It is one mean looking piece of architecture. Heaps of re-inforced concrete with I think it was six openings for the U-boats to float out into the Gironde and out into the Bay of Biscay and attack the Allied shipping. Slightly surprised it is still standing, but then, all up the coast there are various German WWII bits of concrete building here and there.

Blisteringly hot today - definitely over 30C and I choose the walk the miles back into the centre! Lots of photos for the taking though as I walk. I pass though the Place de la Quinconces - a huge area which has been used for mass meetings, parades, Tour de France etc. They had lots of children's games organised today and in the middle was a huge rugby ball (maybe 5 metres high?). There is also the amazing Monuments aux Girondins, with fountains gushing from every aperture. I took loads of photos there.
Finally reached the Grand Theatre again, but am a good hour early before we meet again, so I take myself back to the riverside again to photograph the Reflecting Pool, which was CROWDED today and it was hard to get any nice architectural reflections. Across the tram tracks from that though is the Place de la Bourse which is where I took this photo. I must point out that this is a statue and not a real live naked lady - just in case anyone thinks it shouldn't be here.

Anyway, back up to Rue St Catherine and a quick look around Fnac - my fave shop in Bdx. Handle all the nice cameras Canon 5DMk2, 1D Mk4, Nikon D3X (nowhere near me in England I can do this easily without some assistant breathing down my neck).

Met the others at the tram stop and dashed back to Grannies house for L's youngest sister and her family were arriving for dinner at about 7.30.