The Anonymous Widower

Experiments With Selfies

I was trying to get a decent picture of myself.

Most seemed to be rubbish, so I only left myself with these. So if I kept these how bad were the others?

Note the Liverpool University Engineering Scarf, I often wear in cold weather.

December 13, 2013 Posted by | World | , , , | Leave a comment

My Hotel In Bordeaux

I stayed at Le Boutique hotel in Bordeaux.

Le Boutique Hotel In Bordeaux

Le Boutique Hotel In Bordeaux

It was OK and they found me a very good restaurant for supper on Thursday.

But I wouldn’t stay there again, as the lift to get to my room was not to my taste.  I can think of some, who would have used it once and left the hotel.

December 13, 2013 Posted by | World | , , | 3 Comments

Le Petit Commerce, Bordeaux

The hotel recommended this restaurant for my supper.

Any time I’m in Bordeaux, all other places where I eat will be judged against this restaurant.

It would also have been a place that C would have adored. Like me, she loved to eat fish and that was the bulk of the menu.

So in some ways it was fitting that I ate there six years and a day after she died.

December 12, 2013 Posted by | Food, World | , , | 1 Comment

A French Version Of My Mother’s Rule

I’ve said before that my mother told me that stops on the London Underground are two minutes apart. I called it Irene’s law for calculating journey times.

A French Version Of My Mother's Rule

A French Version Of My Mother’s Rule

This picture shows the institutionalised version on the Bordeaux tram.

Their interval is one minute and thirty seconds.

December 12, 2013 Posted by | Transport/Travel | , , | Leave a comment

Trams and The Place De La Bourse

I think that this set of pictures show how you can run trams through areas of architectural importance.

Bordeaux is actually a World Heritage Site. The citation states.

an outstanding urban and architectural ensemble

So you don’t really want tram wires all over the place! But then Bordeaux’s trams are trams without wires. Surely the trams in Edinburgh should have been designed without them.

Note too, that there is a tram stop here called Bourse, but the only things you notice are the slightly raised paving and the fact that trams stop and open their doors to let people on and off.

December 12, 2013 Posted by | Transport/Travel, World | , , | 3 Comments

Exploring Bordeaux

These are some of the pictures I took walking around Bordeaux.

It is an easy city to navigate, although a few more maps would help. But there is always a small one at evrery tram stop.

December 12, 2013 Posted by | World | , , | Leave a comment

Trams Without Wires

This set of pictures, shows trams running in the city centre and the unique ground level power system called APS.

APS or a system like it, should have been used in Edinburgh to avoid putting up unsightly wires.

December 12, 2013 Posted by | Transport/Travel | , , | 3 Comments

Bordeaux’s Trams

Bordeaux has three tram lines that cross in various places in the city centre.

They are larger beasts than typically and in the city centre they run using a ground current collection system, so that there are no unsightly wires.

Every tram stop seems to havce a local map, but these could show a larger area, as two or three times, the place I needed was just off the map.

December 12, 2013 Posted by | Transport/Travel | , , , | 2 Comments

Greeted By A Map In Bordeaux

Virtually without exception at any London station, you get greeted by a map on a lith.

Greeted By A Map In Bordeaux

Greeted By A Map In Bordeaux

It was a surprise to be greeted in the same manner as I exited Bordeaux station.

Unfortunately, the detail was a bit fine and I couldn’t find the road, where my hotel was located.

But I was put right by the girls in the Tourist Office nearby and quickly bought a ticket for the trams and was on one to Quinconces near to the hotel.

December 12, 2013 Posted by | Transport/Travel | , , , , | Leave a comment

A Strange Bottle Of Evian Water

I bought this bottle of Evian at Biarritz station.

Note that is says Live Young on one side and something in Dutch on the other.

Strange for a product made in France and sold on a French station.

December 12, 2013 Posted by | Food, World | , , , | Leave a comment