Much of today was going to be spent cruising the rivers to our next destination.  But the morning was an opportunity to explore more of the city of Bordeaux.  We had a guided tour through the old section of town, and the main town square.  The highlight was the Quinconces Fountain. The monument and park were erected to memorialize the Girondists who played an important role in the beginnings of the French Revolution. No history lesson forthcoming, other than to say somehow they ended up on the wrong side of the political wave at the time and were wiped out to start the Reign of Terror portion of the Revolution.

Our little band strolled through the city, the city square and down Catherine Street which is the longest pedestrian-only sh opping street in Europe.  I’d love to say it was a long stretch of charming shops, and there were a few cute ones along the way (mostly pastry and bread shops), but it is more like and open-air, modern day shopping mall replete with the requisite chain stores.

We looped down a small side street to the old city gate, then past the Bourse and water mirror.  I had been down here on our first day to get those wonderful night shots of the fountain and Bourse.  Today, there was all sorts of activity in the fountain! Children, parents, teens, dogs were all splashing through the water cooling off on a hot summer day!

Then back to the boat for lunch and settling in for a relaxing afternoon of cruising up the Garrone River to the Giron estuary, then down the Giron to our next port of call, Libourne.  Most of my time was spent sitting in the lounge (editing photos and reading!).  I have to say, sitting in a comfortable chair with a lovely glass of wine, reading a good book while staring out a window with the world passing by slowly has it's attractions!  Others sat on the top sun deck, played cards, or just napped (getting over jet lag still).  Generally, a nice quiet afternoon on board ship

There were some on-board activities if someone wanted to participate. Our executive chef, Daniel and pastry chef Michael gave us a demonstration on how to back French macarons. Those are small, round morsels of pastry heaven – light airy cakes about the size of a silver dollar, sandwiched around a sweet, creamy filling. Now, I watched this demonstration, have the recipe, but I can’t see me successfully executing this recipe if my life depended on it!  Fortunately my friend Connie is a great cook and she’s going to give it a whirl when we get home.

Dinner that night was a special event – our friend Ted’s birthday replete with a tour of the kitchen by Daniel, and a surprise birthday cake accompanied by a simply awful rendition of a French birthday song by the wait staff!  As dinner was ending, we pulled into port in Lilbourne just as the sun was setting. Perfect ending to another delightful day!

All the photos from our trip through day six are under "Our Travels-Bordeaux" on my web site.