Nantes

We arrived just after 4pm, which was pretty good going all the way from Frayssinet-le-Gelat. I managed to find Stacey and Max’s house (with a little help from Google!) and proceeded to download the luggage at the end of the street in drizzling rain. I walked down the street to their house where I am staying this week. Kiryn, Elizabeth and Lorelle are sharing Xavier’s apartment up the end of the street.

After a little settling in, Max presented us with an entrée of ham, salami and olives while we awaited the main course- little beef rolls, rice and salad followed by a dessert of ice-cream and vodka. I managed to drink quite a quantity of champagne, a glass or two of red with dinner, and accidentally drank a scotch and coke. I have no idea what time it was when we waddled back home, but the three of us stayed up drinking straight scotch and talking until 6 am!

I woke up at 10- a very sick little puppy- but had to make a superhuman effort, as I really wanted to see Mont St Michel up the coast on the border of Bretagne and Normandie. I managed to make it there in one piece and moreover, I climbed to the top of the abbey- 300 stairs apparently-which was well worth the effort as we joined an English tour at 3pm which was very informative and enjoyable. I have wanted to visit Mont St Michel since I was in primary school, and I finally achieve my dream only to find out there’s a Mount St Michael’s in Cornwall!

After a very long trip back to Nantes in the dark (there was a pile-up on the motorway), we arrived home to a delicious meal of tarteflette , which everyone enjoyed. I only had a very small portion and a lemon squash, as I was still feeling very seedy. Nathan and Douce arrived after I was in my bed attire, and I said a quick bonsoir before hitting the sack. I slept right through till 10! We were supposed to be on the road to Carnac at 9!

After a very lovely drive through Rocher-Saint Bernard and driving across a high suspension bridge, we arrived in the very pretty town of Auray. We wandered through the sloping streets till we reached the river, and stopped for a coffee at a freindly bar/restaurant. Many establishments were closed, but Auray looked like  a great place to spend a holiday. Elizabeth and I even met a real Santa Claus character who had travelled to the Pitcairn Islands and had written a book about his adventures, which of course, he tried to sell us for 10 euro. I only had 5, and Elizabeth doesn’t read French, so we politely made our excuses and headed for the boulangerie where I spent my last 5 euro on pain aux raisins, pain au caramel at aux noisettes and a chocolate roll!

We ventured on to have our lunch of tarteflette sandwiches (even tastier than last night!) on the beach where we saw out first dolman- just amazing, and then on to Locmariaquer to see an incredible array of stones, one more than 21 metres high which had crashed to the ground and split into 4 huge slabs of granite. Inside the huge dolman here were carvings in the rock thought to be more than 6.000 years old! Stacey insisted we see more which we did- a field of menhirs at Locmariaquer and then on to Carnac to see even more of them- all in lines and most of them taller than me! I hope the photos turn out. The we went walking through the forest to find a giant rock still standing in the middle of the clearing. Kiryn and I were the slowest- I had slipped twice- so when we finally reached a huge upright rock, and were in the depths of a discussion if this one was more than 6 metres high, out from behind the rock jumped the other three. Kiryn and I both jumped; I screamed, wet my pants and cried- I absolutely hate being frightened intentionally! Just this morning, Stacey accidentally scared me by walking into the bathroom while I was showering and I thought no-one else was awake; so twice in one day may not be good for the old ticker!

As it was getting dark, we drove across a very narrow isthmus through a lovely seaside village with beautiful houses all with high—pitched roofs, but all shuttered and closed for the winter along La Cote Sauvage (the wild coast) to Quiberon where at least the poissonneries (fish markets) were all open and then another long drive back to Nantes,thankfully encountering no traffic jams tonight. Max had prepared a delicious entrée of gingerbread cake with a couple of different cheeses melted on top, followed by beef Bourgenon, rice and salad.. Nathan and Douce arrived for a late dinner and we shared a few bottles of champagne and I headed to bed around 1 and fell asleep immediately. I awoke just after 3 and heard Max and Stacey talking so decide I’d get up for a cuppa. Bad mistake! We all sat up talking till almost 7am, so I didn’t wake up till after midday when I toddled down to the boulangerie to buy some baguettes for breakfast- well, lunch actually before heading off to the beauty treatments with Elizabeth and Kiryn who had the first appointments. Oh, it was wonderful to be pampered and we even got a hand and nail treatment as well, quite luxurious.

After missing the bus by a whisker, I waited in the cold until the next one which seemed to take forever, but was in fact, only a few minutes. I stopped off at the local supermarche for a bottle of cider and some juice. The man at the check-out remembered me from last Christmas! At home, the checkout girls don’t remember you from one day to the next!

Max had prepared roast pork with Brazilian cabbage and the creamiest mashed potatoes in culinary history- so delicious that I had two helpings! Everyone decided to have an early night as we are still all feeling the effects of a late night last night and some of us a little more hung-over than the others. It’s 10.20pm and I am about to snuggle into my warm bed. Goodnight! Too tired to upload photos....

Still in Frayssinet-le-Gelat

After a day of rest, well not so much rest as staying keeping the home fires burning which required bringing in the logs ( at least they don't need chopping) and buying meat at the travelling butcher ( not an easy task). I wound up with 4 beef steaks which Lorelle cooked to perfection with the aid of her offsider, Elizabeth. Kiryn drove them down to the Millau Viaduct, the tallest in the world, and didn't arrive home until 7 o'clock. It was much further than they had estimated. I was really pleased I didn't make the effort to go- such a long day driving. Poor Kiryn!

After dinner, I stayed up and finished reading Friends, Lovers, Chocolate, one of the books in Mary's extensive library here, so I didn't get to sleep until after midnight but I was first up next morning as I always am- well, apart from Lorelle waking up in the middle of the night to stoke the fire! The weather was not looking too bad so we decided to head off to Lascaux to see the prehistoric cave paintings. Alas, the weather closed in and we arrived at the caves in pouring rain, and wouldn't you just know it? This was the last day of their week for closing for renovation! Not even the shop or the toilets were opened! Kiryn picked up a little book and looked for an alternate tour but every single one of the caves and chateaux listed in the book were closed on this particular day- many were closed for the entire winter period!

So we decided to return to Sarlat-la-Caneda for a coffee. It was pouring rain so I opted to stay in the warm, dry coffee shop while the others braved the elements to take a look at the old medieval city. The coffee cured my headache ( plus a couple of Nurofen) and after an hour, we headed back home. On arrival, I devoured the quiche I had been nursing the whole way, and had a vodka and pineapple juice to wash it down and went up for a lie-down. I must have been tired because I fell asleep almost immediately and woke up just in time to venture out to Le Relais for my duck dinner. Elizabeth was cooking potato pie for all the non-duck eaters, but I restrained myself from having some as an entree.

The invitation said 8am dinner so I headed over about 7.30pm. The bar was filled with locals, chattering and laughing loudly. I walked up to the bar intending to have a glass of wine, but most of the women were drinking punch which I later (after a few glasses) found out was a rum punch. Genevieve was the first one I met and I introduced myself and said I was staying at Mary Moody's house in a very halting French. Ah, she replied, I am Mary's cleaning lady, in French of course. A small group joined us: Ilona from Germany and her husband Hervey, Roger, Patrick and Francis ( who couldn't keep his hands off me!) These Frenchmen are not backward in coming forward but it was all in good fun, well, for me it was; I think he was a little disconsolate when I didn't go home with him. Ilona was wonderful in speaking to me and I very soon understood everything ( well, most) of what she was saying. French is not her first language so she spoke much slower than everyone else. I couldn't understand Hervey at all, and when I mentioned this to her she laughed, he speaks French in a local dialect or patois. I didn't feel so bad!

Eventually after 9.30,  I mentioned I was a little hungry, actually I just said I was hungry in French, and that seemed to be the cue for our little group to troop upstairs to the eating area. Five of us sat at the table: we lost Genevieve and Patrick along the way, maybe they went outside for a smoke. Everyone smokes here!

Our first course arrived- duck soup, followed by the second- duck meat and tongues done in a salad, then a third- duck bones which you pick up and eat with your hands, then the cheese- oh, the cheeses! followed by a dessert of waffles and ice cream as well as assorted sweet biscuits and cakes. As soon as we finished one bottle of red, another appeared on our table. The wine here can be diluted with water- what sacrilege!- but I did have a glass of water in between wines. The more I drank, the more French I spoke till by the end of the evening, I wouldn't shut up and was complimented on my command of the language to which I replied thank you and laughed just as uproariously as the locals. Oh, this is what I've been dreaming of for forty years- being immersed in the French countryside and speaking nothing but French. I made my exit just before the witching hour which was fortunate as I no sooner walked through our front door when a loud argument broke out, but I couldn't hear what it was about. I was too pumped to go to bed so stayed up for an hour or so before heading to bed but I still couldn't get to sleep. I finally crashed after 3am but was awake again at 7. I am blaming the afternoon nap I had!

The skies looked like they were clearing so Lorelle and Kiryn decided to tackle one of the walking tracks. As it was 7 km, I decided I would just walk to St Caprais 3.5 km away and Kiryn would pick me up on their return. I had my trusty iPhone with the blue dot but I still managed to take the wrong turn before I even left Frayssinet. Oh, this is going to be fun! Because of the wet conditions, I decided to wear Keeley's boots and carry my sandals in case I needed them. Well, my feet were fine, but the rest of me was exhausted before I had even reached the top of the first hill. I was tempted to turn back but Kiryn would have been searching everywhere for me and with no mobile phone contact, it would make things difficult, so I soldiered on, pasuing to take photos ( and to catch my breath) along the way. When I finally reached the village of St Caprais, I thought this can't be it and kept walking for another 2 kilometres before realising this was it- the tiniest village with nothing- not a bar, a cafe, a shop- nothing! It did have a big bell tower ( the bells were rung at 12.30pm for 7 minutes- I have no idea what the significance of that is) but the fruit and vegie man's van arrived and I bought a banana and a mandarin for 83 cents to eat while I waited for Kiryn.

I started to cool down; the sun disappeared and I began to freeze. I put on every bit of clothing I had brought with me, even the orange poncho raincoat, and started to walk back. I thought at least if I am walking, I may warm up. I had just started when Kiryn and Lorelle pulled up behind me. Never have I been so happy to get into a car! It was perfectly timed too, because by the time we reached Frayssinet, small pieces of ice were falling out of the sky. It would not have been pleasant to be caught out in that!

After my huge walk, I was still hungry so ate a foie gras toasted sandwich and a coconut yoghurt and went for another little lie-down. However this time, I didn't fall asleep but wound up having a sphincter of oddi attack which I quickly tried to evade with medication. It worked to a certain degree, but the waves of pain prevented me falling asleep but I did lay perfectly still for 3 hours. The aroma of pork roast wafting up the stairs made my hunger kick in, and I ventured downstairs to a delicious repast of roast pork and apple sauce, baked potatoes, carrots, broccoli and zucchinis after which we played euchre and bananas.

I am sitting here wondering if I should have something to eat ( a midnight snack) or if it would have a deleterious effect on my tummy which is still sore though not in pain. I don't think I've had any attacks this year, and this one was thankfully much shorter than those in the past. Maybe I'll resist...

We all slept in (it is Sunday!) and prepared ourselves for the gastronomical delights of Madame Murat's restaurant at Pomarede, our nearest village neighbour about 2 kilometres away. We arrived at noon, and parked in a rather large carpark where many trucks pull in during weekday lunches, but today only a few cars were parked although a bus did pull in later with a load of oldies out for the day ( listen to me!)

We were ushered to our table by an English lady who turned out to be our waitress. And now for the first course, a huge tureen of fresh onion soup which we could not finish even though we had second helpings. Following that was our first entree: ham and pate which tasted like Aberdeen sausage- delicious- and then our next entree: omelette with cepes (the local mushroom which are very rich in flavour). We couldn't finish the omelette to the consternation of the waitress. Next came the juicy roast lamb with a huge platter of beans and potatoes which we did manage to finish. After a short while, the cheese arrived: a brie, a hard cheddar, and a goat's cheese. We did manage to finish the brie. Finally, the dessert! Lorelle ordered the fruit flan ( great choice), Elizabeth the peach melba, and Kiryn and I the creme brulee which was, to be truthful, disappointing. Dare I go as far as to say the worst creme brulee I've ever had. The custard was like custard out of the carton not like a baked custard at all. Ah well, you can't have everything and the rest of the meal was delicious.

Mary's house- smoke coming from the chimney

Our next door neighbour

La Mairie opposite us

La Salle des fetes attached to the mairie

The little village of Pomarede from the window of Chez Jeanne (Mme Murat)

Kiryn and Lorelle looking forward to lunch

Onion soup...yum

Omelette aux cepes- delicieux

Des haricots et des pommes- beans and potatoes- forgot to photograph the roast lamb- it disappeared before I remembered

We were talking about walking our meal off till we finished the main course and all we could think of was sleep. I came back to my bed, turned the electric blanket on and was asleep within minutes and stayed that way for 2 and a half hours. I should have gone for a walk because now I'll be up until all hours. Off to Nantes tomorrow and haven't started to pack......argghhh!

Day trip to Rocamadour

After a while just chilling in Frayssinet-le-Gelat, quite literally: it's not very cold ( the electronic board outside our window says 10C) but it feels much colder than that because it's gloomy and drizzling. Inside we have a log fire going in a combustion stove sort of thing- there's probably a French word for it- but if the fire dies down, the house soon gets chilly as it's made of stone hundreds of years old- literally- I think from the 15th century! So probably not very draught-proof although we have all the shutters closed as well as heavy curtains pulled across the windows (and the doors!) to keep the cold out. I've just ventured out to the woodpile in the barn which I think is even older than the house to bring in logs for tonight.


Yesterday we took a trip to Rocamadour- not a pilgrimage as everyone has done from the 8th century and Louis VI made a habit of it- but just to see it. We drove so many pretty little French villages with names that were just as pretty: Cazals, Poumayrol, Luzieres, Salviac, Gourdon, and Le Vigan. When we arrived, it was sprinkling lightly so we donned rain gear and walked down the tiny street at the bottom of the cliff, had a coffee at the first cafe we found that was actually open; the whole place is closed for the winter ( including l'ascenseur ( lift) which takes summer visitors up to the midpoint where there are no less than 7 churches, yes SEVEN, built around a tiny square clinging to the side of the cliff. There must have been some sort of ledge there originally as I don't think they could build things back in the 7th century on air (not sure they can do it now either). Still pretty incredible. So if we were going to climb the cliff, that's exactly what we had to do!


The rain eased but that did not make scaling the slippery stone steps any easier, especially for me who was trying to avoid all the puddles in the worn steps to prevent wetting my possum socks. Yes, I am still wearing those sandals I bought at Jack Wolfskin. Best buy ever! At the church point, a guide tried to convince us to stay and look at each and every one of the churches, but to be truthful I am a little over churches since the Mesquite visit. We wanted to go all the way up to the chateau which he said, had nothing there except the view. Which was actually true. Along the zig-zag path were the stations of the cross at every turn. There were 14. I thought there were 10, so when I got to 9 thought I must be close to the top, and was sorely disappointed to find there are actually 14. 


Everyone else wanted to walk down to have a look at the village again. I think they were hoping some of the shops would be open! I decided to walk to Rocamadour l'Hospitalet which is the little village at the top so I jogged (well not quite) along the cliff path hoping I could find a toilet. Eureka! A whole block. Unfortunately, my 50 cent piece would not unlock any of them! I found a dry chair and sat down and waited for the return of the mob who drove straight past me. No one saw me ( why did I send home that bright pink jacket?) and only heard me (even through closed windows) when I called COO-EE!


We ate our cold packed lunch: corn fritters, boiled potatoes, and stuffed mushrooms. Lunch never tasted so good! Kiryn was all for driving the same way back to Frayssinet but I suggested going via Arbas which was a village on the River Lot built entirely of local stone and built in the cleft of a gorge on the edge of the river. I was not disappointed.


But first we detoured to Cahors to see a bridge Kiryn had read about. The ancient city of Cahors was in medieval times a thriving university town. Across the river is the town's signature piece, the Pont Valentré. This magnificent fortified bridge was built between 1308 and 1500 and features a trio of towers, battlements and seven pointed arches. We walked all the way across and looked down on the River Lot whose weir was overflowing vigorously. Maybe they've had more rain than I thought, although we did drive through some patches of extremely heavy rain; I was relieved Kiryn was driving as I couldn't see the road in front of me.


On the return journey, I kept myself amused with translating the French signs. I saw a sign "moulins de vent" which I translated "sheep for sale" but then I thought hang on, why would they have a proper road sign saying there were sheep for sale and then remembered sheep is "moutons" not "moulins" and for sale is "a vendre" not "de vent". The penny dropped. "Moulins" is mills and "vent" is wind- windmills! I'll get there eventually. Maybe if I write a book of my adventures like Mary did, I can make enough money to buy a little French house and learn French properly! One can dream...


Back to our cosy retreat in Frayssinet-le-Gelat via Pradines, Douelle, Luzech, Albas, Prayssac and the very pretty village of Goujounac. Autoire may have the reputation of being France's prettiest village, but there are dozens that go close!


No sonner had I walked through the door, (avoiding the curtain), that I sliced some fresh bread bought at the local boulangerie and spread it with pate de fois gras- yeah the real expensive stuff, but if all those ducks and geese have given their lives and suffered force feeding to achieve this result, I am not going to waste it. I try to block the images of force feeding from my mind as I savour the delicious taste that no one else will try! Ah well, the cheese is tasty too. Lorelle then set about cooking beefburgers, boiled potatoes - the best potatoes I have ever had! :-) - and I can't for the life of me remember what else but it was scrumptious anyway. I cleaned my plate, of course I always do, and then volunteered to wash up. I am hoping if I wash up every night I won't have to cook! 

Rocamadour on a rainy day

Half way up with poncho on!

The nativity scene at Rocamadour L'Hospitalet

One of the towers on the PontValentre in Cahors

Poncho on the Pont

Another one of the towers on the Pont Valentre

Our car...notre voiture ou notre auto

The fertile valley of the River Lot. plenty of vineyards around Cahors noted for its Malbec wines

Across another unusual bridge

I took a walk down to the village (all of 10 steps) to book the duck meal at Le Relais, and took some photos of the Christmas lights in front of the  church. Every village, no matter how tiny, has Christmas lights, Christmas trees and decorations. Just lovely! 

Frayssinet-le-Gelat

Bordeaux to Frayssinet-le-Gelat

By 9.30am, we were up, breakfasted and ready to collect our car at 10am. Lorelle and Kiryn walked across to the Avis office while Elizabeth and I waited in the lobby with the luggage. Lorelle and Kiryn soon returned carless. Apparently, we had booked the car for 12 noon, not 10am as we had thought, and we couldn’t have it one minute earlier ( without payment) even though we are returning it 2 days earlier! We finally left at 1.25pm and arrived at Frayssinet-le-Gelat just before 4.30 stopping at a Carrefours supermarche in Agen to stock up on supplies- wine, champagne (4 for 16.20 euro!), vodka, cheese, foie gras, rhubarb jam and yoghurt for me; the essentials for everyone else!

Frayssinet-le-Gelat

www.marymoody.com.au

Mary Moody's  (author of Au Revoir) house is a delight, but cold! Friggin’ freezing actually. It hasn’t been lived in for a couple of months and the cold has seeped into its bones which it very soon did to ours. Although the shed is well stocked with logs, there is no paper or kindling of any description to get it going. Brrrrr! I put on a load of washing while Kiryn cooked a yummy risotto for dinner, which we washed down wit a bottle of Bordeaux. We have been left a bottle of the local Cahors wine which we will be sure to polish off before the end of our stay.

I tried valiantly to connect to the wi-fi without success- I tried every password possible- so not only do we have no internet access, none of our phones have service either! Incommunicado! I am devastated. I called Colin who let us in and he was no help at all and today I have called the computer guy who set up the wi-fi and left messages but he is yet to get back to me. I asked Colin to email Mary to ask her for the password, but he is yet to hear back from her.

Finally went to bed and tried to get warm. Impossible. The cold was emanating upwards from the mattress. It felt like I was trying to sleep on a bed of hyacinths in a freezing pond and sinking all the time into the cold mass of water. I usually warm up when I snuggle into bed, but it just didn’t happen. I finally fell asleep still cold and woke up at 5.30am. I thought it might be warmer downstairs with the oil heater warming up the room, but alas, Elizabeth had turned it off before she came to bed!

On it went to maximum and on went my coats and the hot water bottle and the oven and the kettle! Lorelle came down frozen too, so I was pleased I wasn’t the only one suffering. I think she may have been even colder than I was! We proceeded to drink tea for the next couple of hours to try to warm up (estimate of at least 6 cups each, so you know where I have spent the rest of the day!) while counting the number of trucks that rumbled past. We stopped counting at 25 and it was only 8.30am! Mary’s house is near the crossroads between Cahors, Villefranche, Cazals, Bergerac, Caprais and Gourdon!

As soon as there was enough light to see outside, Lorelle set about getting the fire going. She collected some kindling and sent me to the little supermarche to get some newspaper. I came back with some old cardboard boxes, which we managed to tear up in small enough pieces to get the fire going.

Kiryn headed off to the boulangerie to buy some fresh bread for lunch and returned with two loaves of beautiful fresh bread which we hungrily devoured with fois gras, cheese, salad and left-over risotto.

So I am just sitting here without phone, without internet, beside the home phone waiting for it to ring with information on the password. Everyone is reading and/or listening to music. I might watch one of the movies Stacey’s downloaded to my laptop!

Obviously the phone did eventually ring. The computer technician explained we had to press the 1 button on the back of the modem just before logging in to the wi-fi. So here I am now catching up with posting all my blogs which I've mostly written on train trips from Switzerland, through Spain to France. Now that we have a car for 2 weeks, I may not be so long-winded and boring, but it did make the train journeys pass more quickly.

The fire...can you feel the warmth?

Mary's House- living area- ground floor, bedrooms- second floor, and you don't want to go in the attic but I had to as that is where the clothes dryer is located!

The busy intersection- trucks rumble through constantly- I think I am used to it already

Frayssinet-le-Gelat

The church on the opposite corner

I am sitting here, toasty and warm, in front of a brilliant log fire, thanks to Lorelle, having an early morning cuppa ( leaving the hard stuff until later) before heading off  to Rocamadour as soon as everyone wakes up.

Cordoba to Madrid to Bordeaux

Cordoba to Madrid

I awoke early and thought I might skip a shower and have a little more sleep but as I turned over, I felt a sharp pain inside my right shoulder blade. Bugger! Now I will have to get up and use the hot as hell shower treatment I have been using all round Europe. It’s Elizabeth’s birthday today and we had planned to meet in our room at 7.40am to surprise her, but she was intent on going to breakfast at 7.30! I delayed her by asking her to rub deep heat onto my back- the pain is just where I can’t reach. Ploy successful- by the time she had finished, Lorelle and Kiryn had arrived. They had bought her a beautiful hand-painted fan and of course I gave her the cameo and the wooden box I had bought yesterday. Then off to breakfast and on to the train at 9.29am to Madrid.  The pain in my back had worsened so, the first thing I did when we reached our rooms at the Chamartin Hotel was take a double dose of muscle relaxants and sleep. Combined with more deep heat, they worked a treat and we headed out to Molly Malone’s Irish Pub for tea about 5.30. We arrived after 6, but were told food would be served at 7.30 so we had a few drinks.

And a few more! They were extremely generous with the scotch, which is probably an understatement. None of the bar staff measured at all, just poured until the glass was at least half full (and they were huge glasses!) Eventually about 8.20pm, we were able to order our dinner- bangers and mash for me, which went down a treat. We managed to catch the metro home without getting too wet (it was raining) and had a good night’s sleep in a very wide single bed. I think the Scotch helped as I normally drink beer or wine.

Madrid to Bordeaux

On the train at 8am to Hendaye, a little town just over the border in France where we have to change from a Spanish train to a French one. We had an hour and half in Hendaye during which time I had a beer and went to the hole-in-the-wall. Then on to the train to Bordeaux which finally arrived at 4 minutes past 6. Fortunately, Kiryn looked out of the train station and spotted our Hotel Etap right across the road. It was probably the smallest room we’ve encountered since Copenhagen, with a bunk over the top of a double bed, a tiny separate shower straight off the bedroom, and a toilet that I thought was a cupboard!, but we were too tired to care!

Kiryn, Lorelle and I headed out to find something to eat. Kiryn and Lorelle just wanted a burger but I opted for a 3 course set menu for $13. A mixed salad for starters- carrot salad, beetroot salad, potato salad and tomatoes- after which I was full- but managed to fit in half a chicken done in the Basque fashion with tomato and onion sauce which was delicious, but couldn’t eat the huge plate of chips as I had to save room for dessert- crème caramel, which also tempted Kiryn and Lorelle. Kiryn and I shared a small bottle of Bordeaux simply because we were in Bordeaux. (any excuse!)

The Bordeaux we drank in Bordeaux