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Daylight Savings Time begins in Bordeaux

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 Daylight Savings Time begins in France, so we lose an hour of sleep.  


Beautiful sunny weather awaits us at breakfast, then a drive through the big village of Hasparren and Utxurru with a visit to their Church of St.JeanBaptiste, with its 3 wooden galleries along the side, characteristic of Basque churches, where the male choir typically stands and sings.  Then coffee at the Café Atakara, back home for another lunch from chef Maxime: spanish ham & olives, followed by mashed potatoes and stew of wild boar (cooked CV, Cuit à la Vin: chilled, marinated overnight, then slow-cooked for three hours).  Then of course the cheese plate, followed by a replay of the Tarte Tatin.  Sitting and chatting, then driving to Bayonne station, where Maxime helps us with the suitcases as there is no elevator connecting the platforms, and our TGV InOui train is a double-decker (voiture 17, sièges 111 & 112).


Arrive at Bordeaux, a few minutes delay waiting for the platform, quite a large crowd exchanging trains – I ask a teenage passenger to help get one of our heavy suitcases down from the upperdeck, he very nicely agreed.  

We took a taxi to our airbnb at 6, Rue des 3 Chandeliers, a tiny road tucked behind the Place Camille Julian.  Host Alain met us there, showed us into a 17th century building renovated carefully into apartments—the entryway, courtyard, hallway seem as if 300 years old; then the apartment only 20 years old!  Small, with only 1 window, into the courtyard, from the kitchen/mainroom.  In order to simulate some space, the bedroom has a large window into the mainroom.  But all works fine, and it is certainly solid and quiet, and convenient!  

I walk out to the nearby Carrefour Express to buy a few breakfast items and wine, though their baguettes are sold out, as they closed at 8pm! 


TV has a varied selection, including France24 English & Arabic, and Med1 (Moroccan), and CNN and CNBC, and AlJazeera English & Arabic.


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