The skies were very Wes Andersen over Bordeaux this afternoon but I just wasn’t feeling it at all. The combination of warm weather, heavy traffic, and overcrowded streets wasn’t what I was looking for today and I was having a hard time appreciating Bordeaux for what it was.

Today was another holiday in France, which meant we’d do battle once again with more crowds than usual. After locating what appeared to be the last parking slot available on the Pey Berland, the first task at hand was lunch, a rather late one especially for Teko. We tried to get a table at the picturesque Cafe de Francaise in front of Saint-Andre Cathedral but were rebuffed as the kitchen was already closed for the lunch crowd. We got redirected to their next door neighbor where this is what greeted us after sitting down.

An unappetizing start to our two-day Aquitaine adventure. Add to this the questionable-looking characters I passed on every street corner and the city was so far not looking too attractive. Under the rays of a bright summer-like day, Bordeaux was starting to look like the poor-version of Paris. As for the lunch, decent service notwithstanding, Teko had the pleasure of a chewy entrecôte and I had an overpriced veal escalope with a side of watered-down spaghetti ragu that I barely finished my plate.

Trying to stay positive, and as much as possible away from direct sunlight – it was much more bearable walking around in the shade – I managed to see the beauty in the old center and saved a day that seemed to be going awry. We have yet to drop by the much-recommended Cite du Vin but as we’re planned to go to St Emilion and Medoc, the chances of wine fatigue are likely. As I’m only a casual wine drinker and Teko won’t even touch the stuff, we may just stop ‘wine-ing’ after a while. And as for Bordeaux, it’s now scratched off my life’s to-do list —- perhaps permanently.