It took us 3 hrs 15 mins non stop, to arrive in Bordeaux, at times travelling 145 kms per hour. A very smooth ride. I have found all the indoor places are well heated, which gives us cause to peel off our warm street clothes when entering then re-layering when we go outside again. Even our covers on the bed are 'hot', so we tend to sleep with the window slightly open. So far the days have been cool and crisp, with an occasional passing shower which is easy to avoid.
The train station in Bordeaux is under reconstruction, so when we arrived we needed to navigate around scaffolding and tempory walkways. A short taxi ride to our ship to drop off our luggage before a walk along the left bank of the Garonne River. We reached the Place de la Borse - water mirror, before turning around. As it was Friday, we found an antique market run by the local Rotary Club open. Wow, heaps of little stalls full of their specialised wares. Some had rugs, others had furniture, there were some stalls which had old cars, others motor bikes. There was a stall which had boxes of old records, then another with old paintings. The list goes on.
By the time we arrived back at the ship it was nearly time to board offically.
With Croisi Cruises we are served our choice of 3 different white wines, 2 rose's and 3 different red wines, beer or soft drinks with lunch and dinner. We are on a table of 8 Australians who are all drinking different styles of wine each night. Our wine bucket is always full of at least 3 chilled wines and on the table, we usually have 2 opened reds. Before dinner the ship has a cocktail of the day, or your choice of 'aperitis' Ports, Martinis, Campari, Whiskey, Gin or Vodka. Cognac,brandy, soft drinks, water, coffees, teas, infused teas and juices. This is all included in the price of the cruise. There is no lack of alcohol.
Our towels are changed daily, the beds made and bathroom cleaned. There is shower gel and combined shampoo and conditioner, and a hand soap dispenser alongside the basin. They do not have flannels or shower caps, but that is a small omission. For each meal we do not have a choice of menu. For lunch we have entree, main, cheese and dessert. For dinner we have entree, main and dessert. Our meals are suitably sized and reflective of the cuisine of the area. We have had 2 different styles of duck on two accasions. Breakfast consists of fruit salad or compot, 2 styles of yoghert, scrambled eggs, small sausage and some sort of diced bacon, boiled eggs, criosants, liitle bagette rollls, two types of cereal, prunes or dried figs, slices of cold meats and cheese for mainly the German passengers. Breakfast is buffet style.
On board the ship there are French, German, Russian, one English and one American couple, then the 4 Australian couples. The first night before dinner we were introduced to the crew, we were shown how to use the life jackets and it was explained to us how the ship operated. Now the crunch for us was that we sat through this whilst it was said firstly in French, then German, then English, then Russian and then some other language. You know, I find this just as exotic as being in a non English speaking country. Criosi Cruises have fined tuned their itinery to include various nationalities well.
Seated on the TVG to Bordeaux
Place de la Bourse - water mirror
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