27.12 Day 102 . . . Fire Starter

3.50am !! Yep, bloody 3.50am was when the fire alarm sounded at the hotel. Followed by about 30 seconds of wondering if this was a dream or even a false alarm, but then diving out of bed to throw on some clothes. At the same time trying to clear your head and think about what you needed to grab . . . door key, van key, wallet, whilst also thinking we are in the third floor, where was the staircase as we can’t use the lift. Doors banging along the corridor as other guests scuttled out of their rooms. After what seemed an age Tre was first into the corridor only to find a member of staff calming everyone down and explaining she had found the source - a guest smoking in their room!! FFS !!
It was good to know the staff had reacted so quickly and identified the source and location of the activation. We shuffled back into the room still half asleep, but took a little pleasure from the fact we had been that slow in getting dressed that we had not made it outside into the foggy cold night like some other better reacting guests had. They were still standing in the car park.
We had about 3/4hr until we had to get up and so decided to flop on our beds fully clothed for a final doze before our alarms!! I lay there thinking . . .
Penalty for setting off the hotel alarm:
1. Immediate pack up of belongings and kicked out of the hotel
2. A sign hung around their neck to identify them as the selfish sod responsible
3. All other guests issued with eggs to throw at the selfish twat as they left.
4. Or a really big stick !!
How can one person cause so many others this disturbance without penalty!!
Up again when the alarm on the phone chirped, no need to dress, it wasn’t long until we were sitting in Roxvanne waiting for the windscreen to clear. Five minutes later we were parked at Bordeaux Airport, out and into Billie Terminal. Final goodbyes and Munch was gone again - the past week has flown by.
Tre and I drove back to the hotel and hopped back into bed setting our alarm for 9am so we could get up again and spend some time in Bordeaux.
Both of us felt rubbish when we awoke and got up at just gone 9am. We decided to grab coffee in Bordeaux so quickly got ourselves together and walked to the bus stop we had been told about the previous time we were here. Only at that point did I realise I had forgotten my phone so back to the hotel we trudged, watching the bus arrive at the stop as we did so. Phone collected we headed back to the stop. Five minutes later the No 1 bus arrived (They are about every ten minutes without fail) and we got on. A whole €3 was the charge for both of us for the approximately 25 minute journey into the city centre. I can never get over how cheap it is!
Off at Gambetta - again our normal stop and off into the side streets of shops, cafe’s and bars. We also noted the stop for the return journey, something we had failed to do the last time.
We decided to grab a snack and coffee whilst walking so not to waste our time here.
Bordeaux is a lovely city - well we think so, with stunning architecture from times gone by. It has a very relaxed feel for what is a large and busy centre.
We have on both occasions we have been here to wander, ended up in roughly the same relatively small area, but there is so much to see that we’ve not found the need to venture further as yet - we will. We found our way finally down to the river (Garonne) and Place de La Bourse.
Place de la Bourse is one of the city's most recognisable sights. Built from 1730 to 1775 along the river Garonne, it was a multi-building development designed by architect Ange-Jacques Gabriel.
In the original plan, a statue of King Louis XV of France was erected in the square. This statue was destroyed during the French Revolution. After the destruction of the statue, a Corinthian column-fountain was built on the square. Finally, in 1869 the sculpture Three Graces was installed in the same location.
The weather was still murky and a little chilly and so we decided upon lunch. I’m not sure how many restaurants we looked at, some we tried to enter but were full, but we ended up at Place du Parlement and the L'Ombriere Café.
Weirdly, Teresa had been talking to me when we had been getting ready to leave the hotel, about her Dad and a strange dream she had had, that she needed to call him as she was now in France. Teresa’s dad had passed in May this year which it is why it was a little strange.
Anyhow as we sat waiting for our food in the restaurant I happened to look up and the ceiling was covered in hundreds of Christmas bauble decorations. I said to Tre - ‘I think your dad sent us here’, she looked up and saw all the baubles. Teresa’s dad always covered their ceiling at home with baubles at Christmas time . . . another little spooky thing that has happened to us since being here.
We both had a lovely lunch, we had picked the same for mains, which was a honey glazed pork with sweet potato mash, very simple but was fab.
I guess we spent best part of a couple of hours in the restaurant - service was by no means fast, but that was fine, we were happy to just chill.
Once outside the sunshine had made an appearance and we decided to have another look at the river. The sun made such a difference to the remainder of the afternoon lighting little parts of tiny alleyways and creating all manner of reflections on the windows of the shops and buildings.
Further shops were visited before we hit Café des Arts once again for hot chocolate. On our way back to the bus stop I had booked a slot with Tre for me to visit a vinyl shop I had seen the day before when we were with Munch.
I had a good dig through everything outside and inside the shop, even getting Tre in on it to go check certain boxes for me. Well known bands in the vinyl shops I’ve managed to find here all have expensive price tags in the albums. Lesser bands who would be known in the UK but not in France so much have a drastically lower price pinned on them, unlike the UK. So with a couple of purchases made we headed back towards the bus stop passing the Cathedral on route. As luck would have it (for me) there was a small market near to the cathedral - it hadn’t ever been there previously when we had passed, with two guys selling . . . Vinyl. I did feel a little sorry for Tre as I squandered another 15 minutes of her life, while I looked in old cardboard boxes for hidden treasures.
A further purchase made and we walked without any other distraction to the bus stop. Within about five minutes we were seated on the bus heading back to the hotel. The only minor irritation on the return was that the driver, who was obviously trying to make up time in his route decided to ignore the bell ring we made and we ended up past our stop at the bloody airport. We spoke to the driver who didn’t exactly apologise, but said we could travel the return route and he would stop at our stop. He had parked and switched off the bus at this point so Tre and I dashed into the airport terminal building to use the faculties then straight back out as the driver returned to the bus and let us back on. Five minutes later he was delivering us to our stop without the need for a bell ring 😂
A two minute walk to the hotel and we seated with a beer and a wine in the foyer. It wasn’t long before slightly jaded from our earlier than expected start to the day we retired to our room, a little Netflix viewing together and then sleep.
Tomorrow we start a mini Roxvanne road trip!Read more