Pre Cruise Activities

Friday, March 28:
Today we explored a little Bordeaux history.  A short distance from our hotel is the Pey-Berland Tower.  Pey Berland (1375 – 1458), was one of the great archbishops of Bordeaux.  He founded the University of Bordeaux and had the Saint Andrew’s Cathedral embellished.  The bell tower was built a short distance from the cathedral to protect the cathedral building from the vibrations of the bells.  Construction started in 1440.

Arne and I climbed all 231 steps to the top of the tower where we were rewarded with a panoramic view of Bordeaux.  Here are a couple photos from the top:

Saint Andrews Cathedral

 

The spires of Saint Andrews Cathedral

After leaving the tower, we walked a few blocks to the Musee de Aquitaine, but it hadn’t opened yet.  So we headed down the main drag – Cours Victor Hugo toward St. Michael’s Basilica.  Along the way we enjoyed watching some interesting people, as well as this staged tableau...

St. Michael’s was under renovation, so we couldn’t get into it, plus it was in a sketchy area of town, so we headed back to the museum.  The Museum de Aquitaine chronicles the history of the Aquitaine area from before Christ to current day.  Admission was free, it was huge, and it was very interesting, although most everything was in French until the last 2 centuries.

Since it was Friday, the town was starting to come alive...lots of people arriving and live bands playing in the square, a small antique car show and lots of people dining outside (even though it was only about 55 degrees).

We wandered the streets a bit after lunch and found a Wine and Tapas bar and decided to come back and have dinner there.  It was a tiny place and they had very interesting décor.  The walls were leather upholstered ‘bricks’, the ceiling was tufted leather with little lights where the ‘buttons’ would go.  The lights over the tables looked like microphones.  They had a nice selection of tapas and an impressive wine list.  We enjoyed!

Saturday, March 29:
After packing our bags and a late brunch, we checked out of our hotel and walked down to the river (Garonne) to catch our Viking Longboat, the Viking Forseti.  We have a living area with a sofa and chair, and a desk, TV, small refrigerator, a bedroom with closet, bathroom and room under the bed for lots of stuff (like suitcases).  We also have a deck with two chairs and a table.  For the next 7 days we get 3 square meals a day as well as all we can drink (yes, booze and wine too), all for the low price of $$$$$gasp...choke!  If you are really interested, you can check it out for yourself at VikingRiverCruises.com.

We are all checked in and in an hour or so, we will head to the dining room for a cocktail and meet and greet!

We are trying to think of a new name for this blog....if you have any suggestions, let me know!  When I started it, I didn’t have a clue what I wanted to call it, so I know it’s lame.  I do have some ideas but would like other input if you have any ideas.

Really slow internet on this ship...plus our email isn't able to send (still can receive).  Grrrrr.