Bordeaux the beautiful

Okay -- I have a lot of pictures of Bordeaux so I am going to try to break it up by showing bits and pieces and explain the whats and whys and stuff.

First off -- pedestrian signs.  Very important to pay attention to street crossings.  Looking both ways before you cross is always a good idea, but when there are multiple streets, specific bus and parking lanes, plus tramways to cross it pays to wait for a green light.

This is obvious -- green means go

   

 My personal favorite is the tramway crossing light as compared to the regular crossing light.  First, the addition of the word "STOP" (which is obviously an English word and stop in French is arrêt, but Google translate says "Stop" is "Stop" from English to French so. . .um, I am off point--back to why I like the light) to make it obvious that you should, well, stop.  But notice the difference between the regular light and the tram light.  I think it looks like the stick figure got splatted.  I mean if you decide to cross against the light, splatto!  You become a flat, star-shaped chalk outline.  As you can see, the tram is here and the stop light is lit.  Then the street crossing is red, but the far street crossing is green.  Luckily there are safe medians to stand on if you get stuck between the two.  If not -- Splatto!

M. Souris in a cast of the original town layout. 

This is still Bordeaux -- we are not at Disney World.  This building is one of the oldest in the city.

 This is the back side of the building and below is the front that faces the river that runs through Bordeaux.

We had a reception for the conference at the Hotel d'Ville (City Hall).  A representative from the mayor's office gave a welcoming speech.  We arrived at 7:00pm for drinks and hors d'oeuvres and then proceeded to have an exquisite five course meal.  We left at 11:30pm to take the tram back to the hotel.  The garden in the back was full of flowers and a very interesting sculpture.

Bordeaux Hotel d'Ville -- The City Hall

Yes, this is the sculpture in the mayor's garden.  It is a giant alligator head.

Hotel d'Ville lit up at night

There is a very large fountain that commemorates the relationship Bordeaux has with the sea.  There is a tower attached as well as a second side of the fountain.  I thought these were the best shots and liked how the merhorses looked with the water spraying around them.

 The magnificent cathedral next to the Hotel d'Ville is Saint Andrews.  These first pictures and the plaque are for the tower that is in the plaza with the cathedral.  It was built separately as the bell tower to prevent the bells vibrations from damaging the cathedral.  I tried to zoom in so that you can see the figure at the top. 

In the bottom left picture you should be able to see an arched window.  The low wall in front of the window is the terrace mentioned on the plaque.  As you can see from the top picture it is quite a ways up and as I had planned a casual exploration on this particular afternoon I was not up to climbing the promised 231 steps.  There is after all my slight fear of heights that tends to keep me grounded.

 The picture above cuts off the door which is shown on the left.  The cathedral is currently under some repair and is also being carefully cleaned.  The current mayor decided that Bordeaux needed a facelift and has been having the city cleaned.  The ugly gray and black pollution coating gets removed and these beautiful pale yellow and warm white stone buildings emerge.  The color theme for Bordeaux seems to be a pale gold/yellow and blue if you look at all the oldest buildings that have been cleaned.  And when you see a building that has been cleaned next to one that hasn't, let me tell you the difference is quite shocking.  Centuries of wood and coal smoke, followed by industrial and vehicle pollution really add up.  Bordeaux is working hard on finding clean solutions to everyday issues. 

On the right side of this picture you can see some of the cathedral in the gray/black that has not yet been cleaned.  When compared to the pale yellow, you can see how beautiful the cleaned stone is.