Bordeaux

Bordeaux. Julia lived here for a couple of weeks back in 2010, visited it again in 2011 and simply raved about the place.

We have been here a couple of days and I have to say I’m very impressed.

It’s pointless drawing comparisons with London, Paris or wherever as all cities have their strengths and weaknesses.

Whilst I love London and Julia prefers the likes of Bordeaux, La Rochelle or Paris, it’s interesting to compare a few key drivers.

Cleanliness. Bordeaux has it all over London in spades, though it is apparent that London has been doing its level best to clean itself up. In Bordeaux the streets are clean and in the central city they are all washed down overnight. Everything about the place sparkles. The population are well dressed, even the beggars.

Shops and restaurants are clean. Bar toilets look like they have just passed a hygiene test unlike their London counterparts. The buses are all new and tidy and basically the whole central city exudes pride in itself. The hi-tech, space-age trams glide silently throughout the city.

Food. Time to come clean. When it comes to London we love the stodge that is served up in most restaurants and especially in the pubs. Fish with chips, sausages and chips, Steak Pie and chips, Steak and chips, salad and chips, Turkish, Indian, Arab and Thai food with chips, Chips with chips, we love it all.

However, Bordeaux food is in an altogether different league. It doesn’t matter if you are having a little something with your morning coffee, a late lunch, a bite with your first evening drink or a full-on dinner. At every turn when your mouth touches the food you can guarantee you are in culinary heaven. Every day is a new high on the food front. This whole food thing is fast turning into a religious experience.

Drink. We can’t really get the most out of London’s pub scene as we don’t drink beer and to avoid cash flow issues we have to stick to the likes of Chilean Pinot Gris at around sixteen quid a bottle (three quid in Sainsbury’s).

The bars in Bordeaux are simply stunning. You can order cheap house rouge or if you are in the mood throw down twenty euros and nail a fantastic bottle of red. This is a wine drinkers paradise and we love it!

Technology. The French have quite justifiably chips on both shoulders when it comes to the rest of the world stealing their ideas and inventions, then claiming them as their own. Our three star hotel room is a great example of French innovation. Apart from the fact that everything works, as it should, the general layout, the Nescafe coffee machine, the four-way shower, the advanced lighting system, the hi-tech bathroom-magnifying mirror (a must for people our age), this hotel has got it all. At less than half the price of it’s London equivalent. And unlike London, when you turn the air-con on in this hotel your first thoughts don’t stray to the possibly of contracting Legionnaire’s Disease from a clogged-up and wet air-con system.

General Atmosphere. The thing about the English is that they are forever being polite to you. If the average Englishman (or woman) apologises for no good reason less than two hundred times a day I would be surprised. The French on the other hand simply don’t get into that nonsense and simply speak as and when they actually have something to say. All that aside, I personally prefer all that English banter over the rather quiet way the French go about things.