I decided to create a new blog for my holidays this year to keep things separate from my main blog. I'm going to try an post regularly while on holiday but it will depend on when I can get a wifi connection on my iPad. I'm going to be using my Kodak Playsport to take the pics and then do some basic processing on the Camera+ app. I've found that I'm not able to edit the blog using the normal editor for Blogger within Safari (it crashes when I try to publish) to I'm going to use BlogPress instead. One thing I need to edit after the initial posting is the photo size as it creates them at the small size by default and I prefer them a bit bigger.

After a bit more testing I've abandoned Camera+ because it keeps crashing when I try to save my edited photos so now I'm using PhotoForge2 which seems a lot better and has a lot more editing options. I've also found that when I add photos to the post in BlogPress that I can resize them within the editor so that makes things a lot simpler.

Posting the photos separately as the slow connection is causing BlogPress to time out I think.

Sunday 21 August 2011

Antiques Market at Bordeaux

The temperature is forecast to reach 38 degrees today so it's going to be a hot one. We set off fairly early when it was still a bit cool (25 degrees) and headed for the park and ride at Buttiniere. We had information at the gite about it where you park the car and get tram tickets for the day for 3 Euros. We had a bit of confusion getting into the car park but then the young lady at the cashier booth was very nice and gave us our tickets and a map of the tram routes and a timetable for our tram.

The car park was fairly deserted which we thought a bit strange but then the shops and offices won't be open today so it's just us tourists. The tram arrived almost immediately and took us straight to the city centre where the first pharmacie we saw was telling us that it was 33 degrees already. We walked past the closed shops and into a square where there was the Grand Hotel and some statues. All of the buildings were very white and very beautiful and reflected the sunshine, making it very warm everywhere, even in the shade.

We went to the Tourist Information and asked for a map of the city and also where we would find the antiques market. The young girl was very helpful and marked it on the map and also directed us to the tram to take us there. The trams were all over the city which makes it a great place to get around. The tram again arrived almost immediately and took us the three stops to St. Michel near to the market.

The market was in a square around a tower next to the church of St. Michel. Many of the stalls were just people selling any old rubbish but some had some nice things. We bought a little crystal glass cup at one stall and tried to bid down a guy for a very nice decanter but he wouldn't go low enough for us. We had a drink and then headed back up the river bank to find somewhere for lunch.

Lunch was very nice and the staff were quite funny and charming. The waiter especially was a bit of a joker and he left while we were having our food. He had to come and tell us he was going to the beach for the afternoon so we wished him a good day. As he got changed to gomhe removed his work t-shirt and had another one below. He then put on a shirt over that and then a jacket. The temperature must have been almost 40 degrees by now and we just could understand how he could wear so many clothes. I was sweating buckets in just a shirt and shorts.

After lunch we walked around a bit more. Bordeaux is a beautiful city and we will come here again when hopefully it might be a bit cooler and we can explore some more without melting away. Back on the tram and back to the car park. The car was under cover and relatively cool but it got hotter as we went back to the gite. Into the pool and a small amount of sunbathing for me. After the big lunch we're not having much for dinner, maybe just a few crisps and some vino.

More photos to come, maybe in the morning.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

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