Monday, November 10, 2025

Bon Jour from aboard the Viking Forseti. There are two rivers that converge in Bordeaux, neither of which we can pronounce or spell.  We know that's been said before and it will probably we said again.  We will sail up and down each, visiting all sorts of interesting sites.  We have just left Bordeaux, sailing upstream on one of those rivers.

An interesting story from our last night in Bilbao.  Saturday afternoon Tim attempted to make a dinner reservation at a nearby steakhouse that both our tour director and fellow passengers had recommended.  The restaurant was fully booked for Saturday night so we decided to stay in the hotel and eat at its restaurant. Tim made a reservation. When we arrived at our appointed time we discovered: 1. there were only maybe 10 tables in the restuarant and 2. the only person in the restaurant was the waitress.  We were the only diners the entire time we were there.  It was a fun and unique experience dining in a private room with the one waitress. A plus was the excellent meal.

Sunday we left Bidbao by bus and were transported to San Sebastian, Spain. We had a two hour walking tour that took us along the Bay of Biscay and then on into the old town area of San Sebastian.   San Sebastian was the finish line this day for a marathon run that started just inside the border of France, hence, San Sebastian was crowded and in a festive mood. While we enjoyed our time in Bilbao, we found San Sebastian to be, architecturally, a more beautiful city.  Lynda sat in a cafe enjoying a coffee as Tim took the two hour walk. He particularly enjoyed watching the runners being greet, ed by family and friends at the end of the race.

We reboarded our bus and continued on to Bordeaux where we boarded our ship. That turned out to be an adventure.  We had been informed a couple of days before our cruise that our ship would be docked in a different place then was published in our itinerary.  Our tour director and bus driver, despite having GPS, had trouble finding where our ship was docked. Once there we were blocked by barriers to our pier. Hilarity ensued among the passengers as we watched our director and bus driver try to get us past this barrier.  They were both a bit embarrassed but also saw the humor in the situation.

Monday, November 11, 2025

This morning our tour was entitled "A Panoramic Tour of Bordeaux".  It started with a bus tour around the city. The bus would stop in  front of some important  site and our guide would explain its inportance. We finally arrived at the central plaza in Bordeaux. There we began a 45 minute walk about the central shopping area and then were given some free time to explore (shop) on our own. Again, Lynda was not up to the 45 minute walk and when Tim returned from it we found a delighteful little cafe where we enjoyed coffee and Tim told Lynda about his walking tour. Both of our tour guides were long time residents of Bordeaux and were enthusiastic in their praise of the city.   We could not match their enthusiasm.  We look forward to seeing what tomorrow brings.