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February 12, 2026 - First day in Bordeaux.

We have finally arrived at our apartment in Bordeaux. This will be our home for the next 3 weeks until we pack our suitcases and take the train to Angouleme where our friends will pick us up for the 1 and a half hour drive to their vacation home in Cussac. 

We have been watching the weather of Bordeaux for the past couple of months and it has been raining almost constantly. Over the past few years, we have been lucky with above average weather during our trips so hoping for the same this year. On our approach to Bordeaux, things did not look promising.


It was a long trip from Dieppe to Bordeaux. As Jacques said yesterday, we left home at 9 yesterday morning in the snow to arrive at 3 this afternoon (local time) to rain in Bordeaux. So far everyone in Bordeaux is friendly and helpful. Our flight from Montreal to Lyon was about an hour late arriving in Lyon because we had to de-ice the plane before leaving Montreal. We rushed through customs which was a breeze. We had understood that we had to fill in some forms for the new check-in system, but the custom officer just stamped our passports and away we ran to redo security and our next and final gate. 

After collecting our luggage, we hopped on the tram to the stop that is a 4-minute walk to our apartment. Jacques, the owner, was there to meet us. We should know by now that 1st floor in Europe means having to climb a flight of stairs. The apartment is in a heritage building so no elevator but a very narrow spiral staircase to climb to our apartment. I’m sure that tomorrow after we’ve had a good night’s sleep they will not look so intimidating. Jacques took about an hour to show us the apartment and tell us all there is to see in the area. It is smaller than we had assumed but still a good size with comfortable chair and sofa in the living room which is one of our main criteria after the bathroom and shower. We will be comfortable here during our stay. 


Stairway to our apartment

We did a small loop around the neighborhood before coming back to the apartment to relax with a bottle of wine. There is an artisanal bakery which apparently according to our host is very good just across the street.  About 200 meters from our door is a fromagerie. We stopped and talked to the owners. We will be trying quite a few cheeses from there, I think. We bought a small soft goat cheese to go with our breakfast tomorrow morning. Our other stop was to buy wine. We bought some very cheap wine at 2.99 for a bottle, one at 3.99 euros and one at 6.49 euros. We will start with this and work our way up. The 1st one which we are trying now is a Bordeaux supérieure and taste about the same as our 15-to-18-dollar wines. The 3.99 euros one is a AOP chateau Médoc and the last one is a Montagne Saint Émilion appellation protégée that has won a gold medal at the Lyon festival. They should get better as the price rises. We will see. 

The only other residents in our building are the owner and his wife. They occupy the 2nd and 3rd floor. He calls it a duplex. The apartment is very well placed close to a small square wit lots of stores and restaurants as well as many museums and attractions.

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