We survived!

Despite the hot weather and a very early start to the day.

Bordeaux was quite quiet and cool when we arrived at about 8.45 in the morning. It even rained a few drops when we stopped for a cup of coffee on the way to the auction house. We ate inside at lunch time as it was windy and that is always dangerous in the noonday sun.

The auction went really well and we managed to get some good postcards as well as keep cool. They handed out cups of water to everyone there. Some of the collectors are quite elderly and need reminding to drink.

I wasn’t looking forward to the wait at the station, but it went really well. This weekend is the start of two months holidays here, so I expected a lot more people to be around. It was a reasonable Friday evening there. We got a seat in the bar and looked at our postcards for an hour and then wondered around the station shops and listened to the piano being played. Rob bought me a handbag in the sales; it took me quite a while to choose one. He was patient – anything to kill time waiting for a train.

They were handing out free bottles of water at the station so we had one each which was good timing as our supply was running low. Our train set off ten minutes late which was fine as we expected the worse. Overhead electric cables were dangerously low because of the heat all over France. It wasn’t crowded either so we chose a good seat opposite each other to eat our picnic.

I slept so well on Friday night

Bordeaux revisited

Yesterday was an auction day, so we set off for the station just before 5 o’clock in the morning. We had an excellent day. We managed to avoid the rain, we had a great lunch and we managed to get the cards we wanted for a good price.

We usually go to the same restaurant which has changed hands but is still as good.

The auction house

During our wait at the station in the evening, we listened to the piano music. It was beautiful; a medley of different types of music, which continued for all of the time we were within earshot.

The train wasn’t too crowded on the way home and armed with my Kindle, the time flew by. I slept so well last night.

One day we’ll stay over so that we can play the tourist. Bordeaux is such a beautiful city.

Postcards and Pianos

We had a long but pleasant day on Friday when we went to Bordeaux for an auction. A long day as our alarm went off early as our train was before 6 o’clock. We always allow plenty of time – especially if we have an early start.

Bordeaux was just as wet and cold as La Rochelle for a change, but we brightened up when we saw lots of very good postcards at the viewing. Rob and I plan our strategy over lunch and then go back for the auction.

We were pleased with our bids and afterwards installed ourselves at the bar at the station to look at them while we waited for the train home. We drank hot chocolate to warm us up!

I’ve written before about the shopping area in the station at Bordeaux. There is also a piano. I’m not sure if the French railways have installed pianos in all of the stations, but I know that there is one in La Rochelle too. Anyone can play. I’ve tried to find the young man who was playing in November and also on Friday evening when we were there. He was brilliant.

Here is a quick piano tour of France which includes Bordeaux and La Rochelle!

Easy once you know how

I expect you can imagine how Olivier's eyes rolled heavenwards when I told him I couldn't remember how to get at my pictures.  I was trying to find out how via the computer when I needed to use the phone settings.

So here are the WW2 train pics:

At the top we have King George VI and Queen Elizabeth - and they later waved to us!  We had our IDs checked by a British Bobby with a lovely moustache and a German soldier - is his uniform more WW1? Well, we were time travelling back 70 years...

There were soldiers everywhere. Sorry I didn't get a picture of the GIs - there were too many young ladies in the way. 

Lots of cars, motorbikes, tanks and of course, the trains themselves to look at.

There and back - again

I was hoping to include some pictures in this post, but I still can’t get the pictures from my phone onto my computer. Dom shows me what to do every time she comes, I forget very quickly.

We’re just home after spending another week in the UK. We originally planned to return in September but Rob was looking for cheap flights and we ended up going 8 weeks after our first visit in April. The plan was the same as before; stay with C & J and then with MIL for a few days. We took her shopping which she didn’t really enjoy from the height of a wheelchair. On other afternoons we walked around the village and also visited a garden centre and had a cup of coffee. We also went to see my mum and sister as well a shopping in Worcester. Top of my list was Honey trap lip balm from Lush. I discovered a shop, Healthy Planet Books for Free, where I could choose 3 free books – which I did. How could anyone throw away a book? We made a donation in exchange.

The best part of the visit was the weekend we arrived. C & J took us on a trip on a steam train on The Great Central Railway. The stations on the route were holding a WW2 event. Each station represented a different country, Germany, France and a US base. There was plenty to see, even George VI and Queen Elizabeth, Winston Churchill and others, plenty of singers and music from the 40s. Many people were dressed in clothes from the time and uniforms, some were carrying gas masks. We even had ID cards which were checked while we were on the train – once by a very severe looking German soldier. It was a lovely day.