Brilliant Bordeaux

I've wanted to visit Bordeaux and its surrounds for many years now, especially once I heard more about it from my friend Lorène. She sent me some amazing postcards over the years. 

Arriving at Bordeaux we were welcomed by a random lady sitting at a bus stop. That felt kind of nice! Then we were greeted by our friendly Airbnb host, Marc. He made us a coffee and gave us some excellent tips for seeing the city. His apartment had some nice views over the city and a great hammock on the balcony. Coffee and hammocks...what a place! After only one night Marc was off to Nice for a short holiday so we ended up having his whole apartment to ourselves.

Bordeaux is an interesting town. We used the city bike scheme to get around initially but it ended up freezing money on our credit cards for a few days which was annoying. (It seems like most cities don't quite have these schemes quite right, for tourists at least.) Anyway, it was a pleasure to walk through the streets of Bordeaux and along the Garonne river. You can tell a lot of work has been done (and was being done) in restoration of buildings and public facilities. The city is apparently the largest urban World Heritage Site and is recognised for the unity of its architectural heritage.

Rue Vital Carles and Cathédrale Saint-André de Bordeaux

Bordeaux town

Monument aux Girondins

Amazing sculpture "Sanna" by Catalan artist Jaume Plensa.
Really jumps out at you in the right light

A lovely garden of Bordeaux

Am I the only one who sees a dragon face on this?

Turtle: a popular meeting point

One of my favourite parts of Bordeaux was walking and picnicking along the quay. The Miroir d'Eau de Bordeaux (Water Mirror) is a huge reflecting pool in front of Place de la Bourse. It produces fog every fifteen minutes. It was so much fun watching people of all ages splashing about and a nice relief on a hot day. I found it a rather artistic use of water and light and would love to see it in different seasons.

Garden along the esplanade near Place de la Bourse

 Children playing in front of Place de la Bourse 

Me (just a bigger child) enjoying Miroir d'Eau de Bordeaux!

The Hermione, a replica of the French frigate which transported General Lafayette to America, arrived in Bordeaux on the Garonne river whilst we were there

The things you do in London

Another highlight was catching up with my friend Lorène and introducing her to my new fiancé! We had a picnic lunch in a nice garden and it was great to find out what she was up to with her translating business and more about her life in Bordeaux. She gave us some tips for Saint-Émilion, a place she is very passionate about. It was funny because we had a conversation about how sometimes taking too many photos means you can miss a moment because you are behind the camera, but then later I was sad because we didn't manage to take a photo of us;it is usually nice when someone lives across the other side of the world! Instead here is one I love from London in 2010:

WHAT ABOUT THE WINE? (I hear you ask.) 

Just a small local selection!

Château d’Agassac vineyards

Bordeaux is after all the world's wine industry capital. We had a lovely private tour of two château (Château d’Agassac and Château Paloumey) in the famous Médoc region followed by a picnic amongst the vineyards. Rob, knowing full well what he was doing, asked our tour guide about whether there were any good breweries in the area. The look on the guide's face was absolutely priceless!

The most interesting thing about d’Agassac, a 16th century château  was that a Dutch expert had come to the area to advise on drainage of the site. Paloumey also had a long history but the vineyard was abandoned for around 50 years with the new owner building a tennis court instead! Of course we also learnt a bit about the French appellation system and tried a few drops. Both vineyards were beautiful and a lovely place to spend the day.

Inside Château d’Agassac

Château d’Agassac

Lunch at Château Paloumey

Family in Rambouillet!

In Rambouillet, we were going to meet family, quite a bit of it actually.  We saw 2 of my 3 cousins and spent a lovely (but unfortunately short) week with my aunt and uncle, Eliane and Geoff.  On top of this, I got to meet Sophie's youngest Alix for the first time, and Virgil for the first time since I was able to cradle him in my arm. Kat got to meet them all!

First of all, we had to get to Sophie's place in Paris, which proved hard without a SIM card.  But lucky a good samaritan came to our rescue, and Sophie came to meet us at the station, before taking us home to a lovely home-cooked meal where we spent the evening talking and catching up.  Of course, Sophie noticed that we were acting a little weird, but couldn't work out why.  We were desperately trying to get in touch with Tim & David to share the news of our engagement before sharing it with anyone else but those two somehow prove a little more elusive that other members of the family.

It was so nice getting to know the boys and have an extremely personalised tour of the gardens at Versailles.  Sophie and the boys must have been there dozens of times, but they don't seem to tire of the history.

Next up was the short drive to Geoff and Eliane's place (slightly modified since I last saw it in 1999), joined after work by Phillippe every now and again by Monique, a close family friend. Dad had preceded our visit by a few weeks, having come to Rambouillet after leaving us in Turku, Finland, back in the days where I had a respectable beard. If they were sick of Australian Dashwoods they gave no sign of it, they wined and dined us so well, we were fit to bursting.  

Sophie, Phillippe, Virgil and Alix spent the weekend with us in Rambouillet where we rode through the forest spying deer and boar (yes! the Asterix and Obelix kind) and paid a visit to the remarkable Espace Rambouillet where we saw a show on the birds of prey they are restoring back to health.

http://www.asterix.com/

Le Tour de France

During the show, the birds fly right over your head.  Luckily the trainers/keepers have yummier food than us, so the closest we came to being dinner was when one of the vulture's cracked Geoff over the head - probably because he's so tall!

Alix took the lead on the bikes

Monique looks like she's not entirely convinced 

Too much for one weekend?  Not for us, we returned to Versailles to revisit the gardens, but this time with the fountains turned on.  We had ninety minutes to get around.  With our guides increasing from 3 to 7, a lot of shouting and only occasionally a bit of running I think we got to see just about everything, except the obelisk!

The King of the Titans who lost a battle with Jupiter, by being crushed by rocks was probably our favourite - Alex's too, I think.

It's a good impression

Virgil - a highly recommended Versailles tour guide.  Look him up on Tripadvisor.  Tours in English, French & German.

The icing sugar on the crepe, was a dinner out with the whole crew, before Sophie, Phillippe, Virgil and Alex returned home.

A sneaky night out for crepes!
Geoff, Kat, Alix, Sophie, Virgil, Phillippe, Rob & Eliane

We took a day to go out to visit my other cousin Annabel, and meet her partner Antoine at their place near Le Mans where they run a 'free angling' fishing farm - I can't pretend to know all about the types of fish and the enjoyment that people get from catching fish and putting them back, but there's enough people out there who do, so they've got a pretty good business going!  They live on a beautiful lake, and as we were walking around it, one of the fisherman was weighing his catch.  A whopping 23kg!  Here you can fish and be amongst nature while camping out under the stars...but mainly fish!

Looking back at the house from the far side of the lake

Antoine, Eliane, Annabel, Kat & Rob

Such a wonderful time and only a few days, it really makes one wish that France and Australia were a little closer together.

Cycling Adventures 4: Zaanse Schans and Landsmeer

Day 5 - Edam to Landsmeer
Our second last day was a rather short distance to cycle. We again became obsessive about the beautiful gardens and houses, taking photos left right and centre of traditional dutch homes.

Traditional green Dutch house and exquisite garden

Another lovely green garden and green house

Before finding our campsite we cycled to Zaanse Schans, a neighbourhood of Zaandam with preserved windmills, workshops and houses. It is a popular tourist attraction due to its proximity to Amsterdam. 

It was a beautiful day and Zaanse Schans was packed with tourists. We were rather glad that we had done our cycling trip in a clockwise direction so that we visited Zaanse Schans last. It meant we had more of a glimpse of "everyday" Holland before seeing this tourist set-up. Not to say it wasn't good, but I am glad we didn't just do a day trip out of Amsterdam and stop at that. 

Zaanse Schans is pretty much full of things the Netherlands is famous for: clogs, windmills, cheese, stroopwafels, etc. Our favourite part was learning what the windmills were used for in addition to pumping water. There used to be over 600 mills in the area and now there are ten. The mills are used for sawing wood and grinding oil, spice and flowers.

Zaanse Schans mills

Drying our towels in Zaanse Schans with the ducks and geese

Pretty Zaanse Schans

From the viewpoint at Zaanse Schans

After our time in Zaanse Schans we continued on to our campsite, located east of Zaandam and north of Amsterdam near Landsmeer. An initially grumpy lady reluctantly took our money and found us a spot to set-up. The campsite was next to a lake so we took a quick dip and read our books before heading to town for a drink. To our surprise the waiters brought around a complimentary cheese board for all the patrons to nibble from. Heading home to our tent we were thrilled to find that not only were we camping next to the Outnumbered family (!), but the man next to us was having a BBQ and managing to funnel the smoke directly towards our drying clothes and tent!

On the road to Landsmeer

Landsmeer house with cute bridge

Traditional tent photo

Day 6 - Zaandam to Amsterdam

Our last day of cycling was another short one. It is amazing how close the countryside is to Amsterdam. Then all of a sudden, there is the railway station. We initially planned to cycle on to Utrecht to spend another day in Utrecht, say goodbye to Ilir and get the rest of our luggage. We decided to take the train with our bikes to have more time in Utrecht. This also meant we would get to our Amsterdam campsite at a reasonable time...or so we thought...

Cycling Adventures 3: Zandvoort, Alkmaar and Edam

Day 3 - The Hague to Zandvoort (continued)

Leaving the Hague in the rain it wasn't too long before we hit the beach. It wasn't a hard choice to push on. By midday we were ready for a break and some lunch by another beach. We had a drink at a dead beach resort restaurant to get away from the wind. When we came out it had started to heat up and it wasn't long before we were stripping off layers and dreaming of beach afternoon at Zandvoort.

Raincoat and shorts turned out to both be good choices!

A large part of our route on day 3 was through the Meijendel sand dunes on the west coast. The sand dunes provide a natural protection from the threat of the ocean. In other areas artificial sand dunes are constructed for the same purpose. It was such a departure from the sight of the green Netherland's countryside and paired with the sun's reappearance we felt like we were in the middle of a desert. 

Cycling to the sky

The sand dunes were vast and appeared to go on forever. Cycling up and down the small hills we didn't seem to be moving anywhere and wondered if we would ever see the beach! Eventually we made it to North Holland where we took a break to celebrate.

Made it!

Sand dunes as far as the eye can see

After some serious up-hill as we approached Zandvoort, the beach finally seemed within reach. Zandvoort is one of the major beach resorts in the Netherlands. The campground we stayed at had everything you could need (well, no toilet paper) but was extremely cramped. The idea was to fit in as many paying customers as possible and it was certainly an experience.

After setting up camp we still had enough time to enjoy the beach with a book and a drink. It was too cold for swimming and perhaps that is why the beach there is so built up with shelters and cafes.

Zandvoort beach

Traditional photo amongst the masses!

Day 4 - Zandvoort to Alkmaar
Today we rode through windy, country roads on our way to Alkmaar. We enjoyed some street art, the cycling, some windmills and an ice-cream before making it to the B&B where we would camp that night. 

We hadn't booked our accommodation assuming we could just show up in the middle of August. It was a B&B place setup by a husband and wife team, who also allow you to camp or park your caravan in their backyard.  We hadn't booked - because it was virtually impossible to do that at any other campsite, but here the owner informed us that they usually have a 2 night stay minimum.  Rob said "OK, we'll go somewhere else", luckily, the owner accepted his bluff and showed us where to setup, because I didn't feel like cycling to the next campsite across the other side of Alkmaar. This spot was certainly a contrast to the chaos of the beach resort site the night before. With cows as our neighbours, we slept well in the backyard, waking to the sound of birds chirping.

Excitement and fireworks on the streets of the Netherlands

Happily cycling through the countryside

Windmill ahoy!

Bit of a rest after an ice-cream break

Traditional tent photo, cows included

In the evening we explored Alkmaar, another town famous for its cheese. There were some impressive buildings in town, the Waag (balance scale) building in particular really caught my eye. In the 14th century it was a chapel for the adjacent hospital, later it was converted to a weight-house and now it houses the cheese museum.

The Waag, Alkmaar

Pretty Alkmaar

Day 4 - Alkmaar to Edam
This was my favourite day in our cycling adventure, mainly because we learnt more about how the Netherlands manages its water challenges but also because the day included a few other things I love to do.

Twenty six per cent of the Netherlands is below sea level and much of it is prone to flooding.  The country uses a complex drainage system that includes sand dunes, dikes, dams, floodgates, canals and pumping stations. Developed in the 15th century, polder windmills used the power of the wind and scoop wheel to bring water up out of the polder into the canals for drainage. Mills were combined to increase the pumping height and later mills used an Archimedes screw to further raise the height of the water. Drainage mills were replaced by pumping stations firstly using steam and then diesel and electricity.  

The Museummolen Schermerhorn that we visited, is one of the eleven windmills left from the windmill complex of the Schermer polder in North Holland. For almost three centuries the Schermer polder was drained using windmills. The museum included a great video on the history of water management and the opportunity to see inside the mill. We left in awe of the Dutch and what they have achieved. I think a lot of people would have just given up and moved somewhere else (easier said than done too I suppose) but the Dutch persevered  The current level of maintenance and necessary forward thinking for the future also cannot be underestimated.

Museummolen Schermerhorn

Another windmill across the way

Water: enemy and friend

Inside the windmill

Picnic on the canal

After some more cycling we stopped for a picnic lunch on a little canal. Our lovely, calm spot was barely 20 metres from the supermarket. It was one of those days were everything just went to plan!

Enjoying the beautiful day we rode on to charming, little Edam (of the cheese notoriety). I realise I sound like a broken record but Edam was truly out of a storybook with its quaint houses and bridge and gorgeous gardens. I felt like I was in a chalk drawing and if I stepped too heavily or fell in a canal I might just break the spell of the place. 

Beautiful Edam

Don't fall in and wreck the spell!

House with traditional Dutch shutters

That evening our campsite was alongside the IJsselmeer, an artificial lake constructed in 1932 when a dam closed off an inland sea. (Another example of the Dutch command over water.) It was a lovely campsite and we were pleased to enjoy a swim and some lakeside reading in the afternoon. The pier provided a great place to watch sunset and I had fun chatting to some kids that were trying to convince me to dunk my shoes in the water! Their Dad soon followed in their footsteps to apologise and I ended up talking to him too. Soon Rob joined me and we saw the last of sun with a bit of pier yoga. It's like paddle board yoga but on a much more stable surface!

Tent photo with towels drying on bikes