Last Monday's walk from Etableau - in pictures.

Left in the dark...

 

When at lunch with friends in Barrou on Thursday we received a call from our Menuiserie (window installer) to ask when we were coming back to the house as they needed access. 

He had told us on Wednesday that he was coming on the 4th of May but obviously had a change of plans. After lunch we intended going straight to Poitiers where Pauline was catching an aeroplane to Scotland but we said we could head over in about 15 minutes. 

On arrival we were surprised to see someone looking out of the window of our house! They had decided rather than wait for us they would just smash their way in as the windows were to be replaced anyway! They had started to take the old windows out,something that needed to be done to allow the masons to reinstate the stonework back to its original size. The previous owner had cut the openings bigger to suit standard size windows!

I arrived back from Poitiers to find sealed off windows and myself in the dark!

A visit from the 'sisters'

 

Lovely to have our friends from America back in Southern Touraine after a four year gap - haven't changed a bit!

A hazard of an open-air concert?

When enjoying the music and energy of  'Lccos Locaux' at 'La Taverne' here at La Guerche on Friday night I was lucky enough for Pauline to have noticed a bird bombing my pint with a direct hit of its droppings - meaning I had to poo poo any further consumption!

Can't beat a personal recommendation...or three!

Before heading out on our Bordeaux trip we were given some recommendations from a friend who had visited the city earlier. Our only experience was an overnight stay over ten years ago so they were most welcome. 

One of the recommendations was for a Thai restaurant 'Thai Sala' which we booked for the evening we arrived and we had a lovely meal there.

Next was a surprising one...'Bassins des Lumières' a former submarine base that dates back to the Second World War, The site now showcases multimedia exhibitions dedicated to the history or art and contemporary creation, currently dedicated to Dalí with music from Pink Floyd - amazing!

You can get a feel of the 'experience' from the video below.

The third was a more obvious choice a visit to 'La Cité du Vin' a high quality interactive exhibition about the many aspects wine (no surprise there) in a futuristic building.

It tells you everything you need to know about the world of wine (and somethings you don't) through interactive exhibitions and headset. My favourite was at the dinner table...

You finish the tour by heading up to the 8th floor called the 'Belvedere' which offers a great panoramic view of Bordeaux. You can choose a wine from one of the regions that the exhibition is focusing on and take your glass to the balcony to take in the view. 

Good details and images here also 

https://www.trace-ta-route.com/bordeaux-cite-du-vin/

Thanks to Alison for recommendations

Last Monday's walk from Le Grand-Pressigny in pictures.

 

Feeling a little agrèved!

We had been looking forward to our leisurely train journey down to Bordeaux for our short break away from the building work at La Guerche but instead, courtesy of  'Grève générale et nationale', we had a 4hr car journey. It proved to be mainly uneventful and included a lunch stop at Ruffec a fairly ordinary town in Charente where the 'statue of youth' (above) watched over our car as we dined out on a croque monsieur, frites and salad for the princely sum of 6.50euro per head! 

Sat-Nav guided us to a prearranged parking space in a huge building behind a street facade a short distance from our apartment - how did we ever manage without it?

This is our little apartment - it is described as 'Greek style', we have never been to Greece so can't really comment other than it is 'quirky'.

It has an interesting shower and a bed on a mezzanine to give a little (very) storage space underneath. 

We also have a 'bijou' outside space that we may not get to enjoy as it has rained pretty constantly since we arrived with the occasional blue sky break.

At the end of our little street we have this arch which leads to the 'Jardin Public' which we remember from our last visit.