Musée des Arts Décoratifs and Chez Karl, Bordeaux

Continuing on the salon de thé theme in Bordeaux, two more places to rest, regroup and sip a milky café au lait or sinfully rich chocolat chaud (and maybe sneak a flaky pain au chocolat) are the Musée des Arts Décoratifs (the courtyard of which I photographed above and below) and Chez Karl.

The Musee Des Arts Decoratifs (Museum of Decorative Arts) is located in the Hôtel de Lalande, a beautiful 18th century building, and houses an exquisite collection of furniture, 18th and 19th century porcelain, glassware, ceramics, silver and wrought iron work. The building was designed by the famous Bordeaux architect, Etienne Laclotte, for the Marquis de Lalande and was completed in 1779.

Hidden in the pretty cobbled courtyard of the Musee Des Arts Decoratifs is an elegant salon de thé - you can take tea sitting at the outside tables during fine weather or tuck yourself away in the tiny tea room if the weather is unbearably chilly.

Plus, and this is very secret squirrel, the courtyard houses a scrupulously clean toilet if you are, umm, caught short and really need to go! If there is one thing I appreciate when travelling, it is a clean toilet with toilet paper that flushes reliably :)

Musée des Arts Décoratifs

39, Rue Bouffard 33000
Bordeaux
Tel : 05 56 10 14 00

Chez Karl is a buzzy little cafe in the historic Saint- Pierre District. The food isn't extraordinary but it is a nice airy space which looks out onto a pretty square. I had the "Petit déjeuner du Boulanger" for 5 euro which consisted of a wonderfully crunchy baguette, slices of rye bread, preserves, nutella, butter and a café au lait. The staff are friendly and the servings, plentiful. It would be lovely in summer when the tables are set outside on the square.

A waitress at Chez Karl, Bordeaux (below)

These young chaps were sitting at the next table- they were being mischievous with the pepper grinder and had me and a couple of other patrons in fits of giggles. They were Tae Kwon Do students on tour from Korea and wolfed down a huge cup/bowl each of chocolat viennois.

Chez Karl

6, place du parlement 33000

Bordeaux

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Posted in Bordeaux , Bordeaux Cafes , Chez Karl , Travel Bordeaux , Travel Bordeaux "Le Samovar" "Salon de Thé

Le Samovar - Salon de Thé, Bordeaux

Two hip strangers I managed to snap in the late afternoon in Bordeaux (above and below).

Having wandered the streets of Bordeaux for a few hours, and fuelled only by my early morning baguette and Café au Lait, I was delighted (as were my aching feet-all those cobblestones are hard work on the tootsies!) when I stumbled across a quirky little Salon de Thé, Le Samovar, in the quartier Saint Michel.

It is a cosy space filled with hundreds of second-hand books, lots of mixed matched sofas and chairs, throw rugs, kitsch objet d'art, and vintage lamps. It feels very much like taking tea in your Great Aunt's cluttered living room, um, except without your Great Aunt hovering about offering stale Rich Tea biscuits and unwanted advice on the state of your love life.

The coffee was, well, average, but you don't go to France for the coffee (unlike Italy!). You go to sit in cafe's like this one to soak up the atmosphere, to eavesdrop on conversations, to write, and to dream a thousand dreams.

Le Samovar

rue camille sauvageau, st Michel, 33800 Bordeaux

The photos below are of some lovely students I met while dreaming my thousand dreams :)

p.s. I do put spaces between my paragraphs-but then then they disappear when I post! arghhhhhhhhh

See, this is when an IT guru would come in very handy to hold my little hand

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Posted in Bordeaux , Bordeaux" , Travel Bordeaux "Le Samovar" "Salon de Thé

Le Plan B

Bonjour Most Excellent Blog Fans, your blogger has returned from Bordeaux, France.... home of great food, even greater wine and perhaps one of the greatest urban renewal projects completed in Europe in recent times.


The last time I was in Bordeaux was in late 2003 and the city was so tangled and consumed with construction work as part of the urban renewal project that it was difficult (if not impossible) to appreciate its beauty. Roads and footpaths were ripped up, construction safety fences were everywhere, traffic was regularly gridlocked, the noise of jackhammers filled the air, the Notre-Dame Cathedral was covered in scaffolding, facades of buildings were caked in dust and grime, and the city looked, well, just plain messy. Residents and tourists alike lamented the project, and when enquiring about a completion date, locals would give that wonderful very French gesture which involves simultaneously raising the eyebrows, a downturning of the mouth, shrugging the shoulders to ear height and emitting a small "pppppffffffffft" sound-which translates (in this circumstance) to "I don't know, it will take as long as it will take"!


Thankfully, the makeover of Bordeaux is now complete and the results are stunning. It is hard to describe so I will post photographs when I have a chance, but the designers/town planners/architects have managed to redevelop the city centre and quays so that the new high- tech tram line, boulevards, bikeways and pedestrian footpaths are in complete harmony with the classical and neoclassical architecture- a successful marriage between the old and the new perhaps. So successful has the redevelopment been that Bordeaux was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2007.

If anyone is thinking of heading to Bordeaux this year, I would highly recommend at least a couple of nights in the city centre, or if you are doing a wine tour, perhaps basing yourself here. The charming Hotel Majestic is centrally located and is a superb, relatively inexpensive (although the fall of the pound against the euro makes travelling on a budget difficult) place to lay your head after a long day spent photographing or wine tasting (depending on your particular-but both very expensive-vice!)

Apart from the extremely efficient tram system (1.40 euros a trip) walking is easy as most of the city is flat and the pedestrian walkways are extremely wide. Hiring a bike would also be a great way to spend an afternoon and see more of the city and my understanding is that the Vélib bike hire scheme (similar to that in Paris) will be launched shortly in Bordeaux.



I will continue posting about my adventures in Bordeaux over the next couple of weeks.

p.s Two rather unfortuante things happened to me on return to ye olde London town. 1. my new mobile phone (which replaced my dodgy old mobile phone) dropped in the toilet (don't ask!!!) and drowned on Saturday night :( I have spent the last day feverishly scouring Internet sites on how to revive a soggy mobile. Tips include taking out the battery and sim card and laying the phone on a bed of dry rice, blowdrying it with the hairdryer set on "cool", putting it on top of the TV for a few days, putting it in a sock and resting it on top of the radiator (actually this one was suggested by the ever helpful Mr Messy;-)). All suggestions are clear on one thing- DO NOT get all shouty-cracker-impatient and try to reinsert the battery/SIM card prematurely before it has had a chance to dry out- patience is a must (which is terribly inconvenient for an Aries like moi!)

2. I went to the SWPP&BPPA Convention yesterday at Hammersmith to check out album and framing options for clients. Unfortunately I happened upon the Nikon stand. Unfortunately I spied a D3. Unfortunately I asked to try it out. Unfortunately the sales rep let me.

O

M

G

That camera ROCKS!

In continuous high speed mode it is like a machine gun, pounding out 9 frames per second. The low noise at high ISO's (would have been great in the Notre-dame cathedral in Bordeaux), the full frame, the 51 point auto-focus, the round optical viewfinder- I could go on and on about this camera. The only downside that I can see is the weight (dang, it is heavy with a 12-24mm wide angle lense on it) and the sensor cleaning (full frame cameras are a lot more expensive and difficult to clean apparently), oh, ummm and yeah the price- currently around £2800.

I should never have tried it as now I want one more than ever. Hmmmm Le Plan B- how to get my hands on a Nikon D3....

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Posted in Bordeaux