Month: November 2022

If you have been following this blog, you know I have family currently living in Paris. We were fortunate and thankful to have been with them on the last Thursday in November. My daughter is a wonderful cook and they invited some interesting people who happened to be from the USA. Erin and Pat, our co-grandparents, were there, along with people who became friends because of my grandchildren or by living in the same neighborhood. It was a delightful group of people. The picture above is my plate. A good and thankful time was had by all! As you can see from the photo above, I filled my plate. We diverged from the classic Thanksgiving desserts by partaking of delightful pastries from a local shop. No one seemed disappointed. Also, most of the beverages were from France and the adults seemed particularly fond of the ones from Champagne.

I have posted on this before, but I truly enjoy food that is carefully and artfully prepared with fresh ingredients in the style of the place we are visiting. While in Bordeaux we had dinner at restaurants that fit this description. 

The first night with Erin and Pat, we ate at La Brasserie Bordelaise which was recommended by the host of Villa Reale, the apartment where we were staying, located on la Place du Parlement where we stayed the first three nights in Bordeaux. It was close.  A brasserie in France is a place that serves typical but simple dishes. One of the specials of the day was Lamprey (a primitive jawless fish that looks like an eel that feeds by attaching its sucker to other fish), which I had read is considered a delicacy in Bordeaux. I considered it, but when I questioned the waiter about it, he said it was his first day on the job and he brought over a colleague. He asked, “Do you know what it is?” and gave me a look that said more. Something that I interpreted as; buddy, you probably can’t handle it. I took his advice. No one at our table was disappointed with their choices, but a part of me wishes I had been a little more adventurous. Maybe it wasn’t fancy food but it was certainly good.

The second night we ate at a place that was recommended by our tour guide, Emiline. It was called Restaurant le Bouchon Bordelais where Pat and I had to try Le Beaujolais Nouveau. It was being featured (I think the phrase used by the waitress was, We are celebrating the arrival of Le Beaujolais Nouveau, one of my favorite times). Unfortunately, we chuckled a little, because we had no idea what it was, and that caused an awkward moment, because I think she thought we were laughing at her or the way she said something in English, when we were really just ignorant of what was being offered.  So we lightened the moment by ordering a couple of glasses. I think it is a fresh wine made to drink, not to age. Even though it was different than what we were tasting at the châteaus, it was in my opinion a good recommendation. Pat and I opted to try the fixed price multi-course offering of the day. I like ordering dinner this way, because I don’t feel as guilty when it comes time to eat dessert. It is often my favorite part of the meal, especially in France. Everyone was happy with what they ordered and it was all artfully prepared.

The third night in Bordeaux (Pat and Erin went back to Paris to babysit) my wife and I ate at a place the host, Pierre, at the lovely B&B,  La Chartreuse – Bordeaux, recommended. It was called Le Clemenceau. It was not too far from the B&B and was recommended because of the seafood selections. Again I went with the fixed price menu and it was all great.

The fourth dinner establishment we went to was a place I had been looking forward to since I read about it on trip advisor. It was a place called Blisss. It came up on a search of highly rated dinner experiences in Bordeaux, but it is not actually within the city limits. It was a 40 minute tram ride and a 15 minute walk. My wife was questioning my judgment on the way to the restaurant when, as she correctly stated, there are plenty of excellent restaurants closer to where we were staying. It made me a bit nervous because I knew the expectations would have to exceed her normal ones. Otherwise, the return trip to our room wouldn’t be a happy one.  The name of the restaurant. Blisss, with an extra “s,” is an extremely high bar to reach; especially considering our other dining experiences had been so exceptional in the region. Fortunately it didn’t rain while we were walking, which worked in my favor. I was able to convince my wife that it was something I wanted to do and asked that she reserve voicing her opinion until she had at least tried what was on offer that evening. The restaurant opened and we were the first guests to be seated. Our hostess, Isabelle (and the wife of the chef), who I believe contacts each prospective dinner guest after you submit an electronic reservation, to make sure the guests are a proper fit for the dining experience. It is a unique experience, where they say on the website: “The restaurant where nothing is to choose from, everything is to be discovered.”  Isabelle handed us a card with a list of ingredients and explained that each of the dishes we were about to be served would contain three of the ingredients on the card. Maybe other ingredients besides the three that you guess, but never more than three ingredients on the card would be used in each dish. Once you correctly identified the three ingredients you would then be served, when it was ready, the next dish. Those ingredients could not be used again on any of the remaining dishes. In theory, identifying the dishes’ ingredients should get easier as you reduce the number of unused ingredients on the card, but the card did contain more than the number of ingredients necessary; so that when the last dish was served there were more than three ingredients still on the list. Once my wife understood the rules of the night, she seemed ready to enjoy the challenge. That, along with Isabelle’s kind and welcoming demeanor, plus being served a nice glass of white wine (that Isabelle recommended), set things up for the wonderful evening. If you would like to see some photos from our meal at the restaurant click here. It turned out to be an exceptional and indeed a blissful evening. The Chef is a culinary genius and the kitchen produces artful and tasty creations worthy of the Michelin guide mention they have received. Thank you Isabelle and chef Anthony Aycaguer. My wife was pleased with my choice!

The last meal worth writing about in Bordeaux for this post was recommended by the hosts of L’Appart D’Oli et Tiane, (a unique apartment in the center of the historic district of Bordeaux, where we stayed the last four nights) called Modjo. It is located only a couple of blocks from the apartment. The food was delicious. Again the menu was fixed-price. You could choose the number of plates, but not what you were going to eat. At Modjo, you could avoid food allergies or sensitivities, because the waiter asked the question when you were seated (rather than pledging when you made the reservation that you didn’t have any food sensitivities, as you had to do to secure a reservation at Blisss). I highly recommend this restaurant, though I didn’t take many pictures. Click here for other photos from the city of Bordeaux, including some photos of food we were served. The first few pictures in the gallery are actually from Modjo. We were particularly impressed by the dessert presentation.

Disclaimer: I did my best to match the proper website to the place. They all were at the time of this posting secure websites. I was not paid for adding the links. I have noticed in the past that if you do not have a secure web browser, you can be routed to a site that tries to sell things I have not recommended or visited. Be careful!

About an hour away from the center of Bordeaux by car is the Bay of Arcachon. It is known for its summer recreation activities, but it is also famous for seafood, especially oysters. Though November is considered out of season, I thought it would be a good opportunity for a short diversion to a place I had never been. It certainly would be a less crowded time of year to visit and being close to the Atlantic Ocean it would likely be a little warmer. It has a microclimate that allows for citrus trees to grow and therefore would likely brighten my wife’s spirits. She does not like the cold and she loves the ocean and seafood. So, when planning this part of our visit, I rented a car (it happened to be a little Fiat 500, with a six-speed manual transmission) and booked a highly rated and affordable B&B called Villa Mady in the seaside village of Andernos-les-Bains. I didn’t plan much other than that. The weather was predicted to be rainy, but we were lucky and saw a good bit of sunshine while we were there. Obviously, I wanted to find good photo opportunities of my favorite subject – nature – for this photo journal and allow family and other people who cannot travel to try to see it all.

The drive from Bordeaux was uneventful, which is a good thing when you are driving in a foreign country and you don’t really know where you are going. Google Maps and smartphone technology has taken most of the worry out of navigation, especially when you have a co-pilot who can watch the map, as it doesn’t always match the voice to the reality of the road. 

We arrived at Villa Mady a little early, but our host was ready for us. She was patient and good at communicating, despite the fact that we speak very little French and English is not something she was confident with; but she was prepared with brochures and suggestions and she was able to make reservations for us at a local seafood restaurant, Chez Huguette, for dinner. Following her suggestion, we drove to Cap Ferret and spent the afternoon. From the tip of the peninsula you can see across the mouth of the estuary to the largest sand dune in France (I think it is the tallest in all of Europe), called Grande Dune du Pilat. With my telephoto lens, you could actually make out the people standing on the dunes. 

The only mishap of the day that had me worried was when I tried to back out of a sandy parking lot and the little Fiat I was driving got stuck. It reminded me of when I was cruising with my best friend Mark, from high school, in his car and we thought we could cross some sand that had drifted across the road in a heavy, rear-wheel drive American car from the late 60’s. We made it halfway to the paved road in Nags Head which was our goal before the car was resting on the frame with the wheels spinning freely in the sand. It was a struggle to back our way out, constantly having to clear sand from under the car until we made it back to the road on which we had started. It took over an hour that day in the blistering sun, but we didn’t have to get towed. Fortunately, in Cap Ferret, it was not so hot. Also, the little Fiat was front wheel drive and that gave it better traction. I only had to dig sand for about 10 minutes this time before I was back on the asphalt pavement. My wife was relieved that we didn’t have to call for help and we were going to be on time for the seafood dinner she was promised. 

Dinner  in the evening was not fancy at Chez Huguette, but fresh and good. The following day, the breakfast at Villa Mady was excellent! It was obvious that our host had put a lot of love into preparing it. I highly recommend staying there and wish we had booked more time. 

For photos from the Arcachon area click here. It just might brighten your spirit too.

We knew we were going to spend Christmas in France this year. It will be the last chance to spend the holiday while our daughter is living with her family in Paris. Erin and Pat (our daughter’s in-laws) were also making plans to go to France. Like us, they like to see sights they have not seen so that crossing the “Pond” is not just to see family. Family is reason enough, but who would pass up the opportunity to travel to a world famous wine and food destination with people who are fun to be around. Not me for sure! Unlike us, Erin and Pat are not retired, Finding time to travel is still more of a challenge for them than it is for me and my wife, so it was a special treat to be invited to spend a couple of days with them in Bordeaux. 

We had a previous positive experience with Val de Loire Travel, so Erin contacted them again. She was able to get two guided tours set up with a very capable and interesting tour guide named Emiline. She had vast knowledge of the region surrounding Bordeaux; including the culture, history, food and wine.

The first day was centered around the Unesco World Heritage village of Saint-Emilion. We walked the village and toured the 12th century monastery including the Monolithic Church which was an important stop on the Camino de Santiago, an important pilgrimage. The region has had vineyards since Roman times and it is still an important and famous wine region today. We tasted wines in a wine shop in the village and then toured Château de Candales and Château Coutet where we visited the wine making facilities and the cellars and had a private wine tasting at each vineyard.  

Day two started with a tour of Cadillac-sur-Garonne including a tour of the national monument,  Le Château Ducal de Cadillac. Emiline gave us an interesting account of the history of the village and the history of the Château. It was for a time the impressive home of the Duke of Épernon, but after the French revolution it was recommissioned as a womens’ prison. After the visit we went to see Château Margaux, a renowned wine producer, but not open for public tours or tasting. Emiline gave us a lesson on the region and what makes the wines so special. We then visited two different wineries; Château Dauzac and Château Haut Breton Larigaudière.

Thanks Emiline, for your expertise and your spirit. Thanks Erin, for setting up everything!

If you would like to see more photos from the region click here.

When I was a little boy I knew I wanted to do something different than my dad did to make a living. He was a mechanical engineer who always said he loved what he did, but to me he was always working. We just didn’t see him that much. He came home after our bedtime on most days and often worked on Saturdays. I don’t think he ever came to a little league baseball game or any sporting event when I was growing up. He did make it to most home football games when I was in high school and occasionally made it to other athletic events provided he wasn’t working on a project that had a deadline. I am not complaining. His job afforded us the opportunity to go to good schools and live a happy middle class life. One thing we seldom did was take family vacations. I did all my exploring by reading books and magazines that had a lot of photos; no doubt, this influenced me. I was also lucky that the neighborhood I grew up in had a small stream running through it and I was always fascinated by the little critters that lived in and around the stream. I am sure this stimulated my interest in wildlife biology. I spent a lot of my time trying to find and identify all the different little fish, salamanders, reptiles, and invertebrates. I had found my passion at an early age. It didn’t hurt that there were a few good television shows and documentaries, especially The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau. When most children were saying they wanted to be firemen or policemen, I was saying I wanted to be a marine biologist. That career didn’t quite become a reality, but I was able to pursue my passion by combining my interest in biology with my interest in sports by becoming a high school science teacher and coach. This career, like the career of my father’s, kept me both busy and happy, but unlike my father I was able to spend plenty of time with my family, especially during the summer.

I have since moved to a lake in southern Virginia and the photo above is a road that runs along the spine of Smith Mountain, where my oldest son and his three children recently did a little hiking and a little exploring. If you look closely, you can see the place we live off in the distance in one of the photos you can see by clicking here. If you are family with a password you can click here to see family photos. My son did follow in his father’s footsteps and also became a teacher. Although he also has a passion for wildlife and the outdoors, he became a math teacher.

The picture above reminded me of a Robert Frost poem I chose as one of my top ten favorite poems for a fifth grade project the last lines go….

“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.”

Thank you Mrs. Coleman for assigning the project and thank you Dad for working so hard.