Bordeaux

Bordeaux is located on the banks of the Garonne where it flows north towards the Bay of Biscay. The main part of the city is on the west bank. Although the city dates back to antiquity, there having been a Roman town on the site, it’s importance in more recent times is based on the wine trade, especially with England, which has had a long affection for claret, i.e for red Bordeaux wines. Some of the world’s most renowned and expensive wines hail from the Bordeaux region – Chateau Lafite Rosthchild, Chateau Haut- Brion, Chateau Latour etc.
In fact Bordeaux was an English city for much of the Middle Ages, first under the Plantagenet monarchs and then through the One Hundred Years War. It was finally lost to the English crown in 1453. Much of the elegant part of the modern city was built in the eighteenth century before the Revolution. The main building material is a sandy coloured limestone, presumably originating in the Dordogne or Auvergne. It is similar to the Cotswold stone of Oxford. Many of the buildings have been recently cleaned and the city, especially along the quay and in the centre, has a bright lively feeling. There are many pedestrian-only streets and the city possesses an efficient, modern tram system.

The conference I attended was in the old Natural Sciences building of The University of Bordeaux. I would guess it was built in the mid to late nineteenth century. The steps up to the main portal were flanked by two female statues - a naked Nature on the left and a respectably clothed Science on the right. Perhaps a contemporary architect would put them the other way round?

There were two lecture theatres, "amphi" in French, where some sessions were held, which were most interesting. They were like old operating theatres that one sees in films etc. where operations and dissections are carried out in front of an audience of medical students. The space at the front for the surgeon or speaker was small and from there rows of benches rose precipitously each row fronted by a four to five foot balustrade of polished wood. One could imagine Arthur Conan Doyle as a medical student in Edinburgh sitting in one of these while his mentor Dr. Bell dissected a body brought in fresh by Burke and Hare.

Of course the great specialty of Bordeaux is wine. I tasted some respectable examples, by the glass in restaurants and at a reception put on by the conference. Another specialty of the region is oysters from the Arachon Basin. We did a tour there which involved a stop at an oyster nursery. However getting there was a trial. The bus driver finally found it on his third attempt after two excursions down narrow lanes lined with wooden huts and stacks of lime-covered roof tiles and other accoutrements of the oyster farming business. This ame driver had trouble on the return trip too. He took us by what seemed an unusual route into Bordeaux and we found ourselves in narrow streets with bollards and railings demarcating sidewalks. At one intersection we found ourselves stuck. The driver tried backing out, turning, driving forward, but all to no avail. At some point some of the passengers started to get up to go outside for a smoke, but the driver insisted emphatically that they stay on the bus. However after 20 minutes or so he was forced to give up and we found ourselves with a walk of a kilometre or so to get back to the Place Victoire and the University.

"In my country is big problem. And that problem is transport." Borat was referring to a fictional Kazakstan, but it could just as well refer to France. In fact the transport system is pretty good, but it always seems to run into problems caused by strikes or the Bolshie attitude or incompetence of the operators.

But back to oysters. I learned a few interesting facts about these bivalves. perhaps the most strange is that they are capable of changing sex from year to year! Sounds like fun. Also, just as the great vineyards of Europe were destroyed by the Phyloxera virus a hundred years or so ago, so the oyster beds of the Atlantic coast were decimated by an unknown pathogen a few years back. There is some speculation that it was a form of the herpes virus which did the damage. Anyway the farms switched to a different species of oyster. This time it was Canada to the rescue, although the species used was one of Japanese origin which had been introduced to Canadian oyster farms some decades back.

The oyster larvae fix onto tiles treated with lime. After some months, when they are only a centimeter or so in size, they are removed and put onto folded plastic mesh nets. They grow there for three years or more when they are harvested. But many are exported as nursery stock at the first stage (when only a centimeter or so). Apparently 90% of French oysters, Atlantic and Mediterranean, begin life in the Arachon. We got to taste the oysters with a respectable dry white wine from the Medoc. They were not bad, but were much smaller than the ones we get in BC. Apparently they are never cooked in France.

For the first day and half of our time in Bordeaux the weather was damp and cool but on the second day the sun came out and it stayed bright until we left after four days. This allowed us to do quite a bit of 'plein air' art. All of my work was in pen and ink - several buildings, including the Theatre (pre-Revolution), the Hotel de Ville and the Hotel Bordeaux. I also did a sketch of the great dune of Pyla - an enormous sand dune near Arachon, which grows continually burying everything in its path, and others of the monument to the Girondins - a column built in extravagant nineteenth century style, commemorating those killed in the Revolution and in subsequent wars and upheavals - and the usual cafe art.

One curious event which occurred while we in Bordeaux is worth recounting. We were sitting at a restaurant along the river in an area known as Les Hangars, enjoying a Basque meal. Between a row of restaurants and cafes and the river ran a promenade where the beautiful people of Bordeaux and other flaneurs strolled along with various roller skaters, skate boarders, unicyclists etc. As we watched the parade a bizarrely dressed African man carrying a stout staff and accompanied by a medium sized dog, came along. Directly in front of us the dog stopped and defecated, producing several damp, good-sized turds. ""Oh, Oh" we thought -there goes the outdoor dining experience. But teh African man bent down and with his bare hands picked up a handful of shit. He tossed it over the railing into the river and then proceeded to do the same with the remaining turds. And then without even wiping his hands he whistled for his dog and continued on his riverside promenade!

P.S. add some pictures later, but at present am in an Internet Cafe where loud youths are playing video games, shouting and smoking foul cigarettes!.



















On our second day in Bordeaux the sun came out and it stayed bright until we left after four days. This enabled