The Garonne and the Dordogne

Thursday - and is there a word that expresses frustration beyond "crummy"? That's how I am feeling about the Internet service we are experiencing since we left Bordeaux and the last decent connection we had. No images can be posted - only commentary!

We spent today in the Pauillac and Medoc regions of Bordeaux's wine country, passing the vineyards of Chateau Lafite Rothschild and Chateau Le Moulin Pomerol. This is the Château Cos d'Estournel , a rare Oriental style building built in the 19th Century by Louis-Gaspard d'Estournel who brought the front door from the Asian area and the outside floor tiles from the Taj Mahal in India.

We stopped to see if the lady of the house of Chateau Margaux was in residence and, voila, she was. But better manners ruled the day and we didn't ring the doorbell - or rather the "gatebell" - but the shutters to her chateau were open and we assumed she was puttering around the home, probably in stockinged feet and a tattered gown.


Later we stopped at Chateau Prieure-Lichine, a winery in the Medoc and Margaux area, for a tour of the winery and some wine tasting. And yes, those are concrete "barrels" but the wine is later transferred to wooden barrels for the aging process.


This visit was followed at the Chateau Kirwan by a dinner - the whole crew of the ship were bused into the chateau to cook the splendid dinner and serve three types of wine, the oldest being a 1995 vintage. Our meal consisted of a French soup "Tourin A L'ail Bordelais" augmented by a white wine "Signatures 2015".

The salad consisted of seasonal greens with harvest grapes, pine nuts, cured duck breast, duck confit and a sour cream dressing. This was served with a red wine "Les Charmes de Kirwan 2012": from the estate. The main course was a veal tenderloin with mushroom sauce, shrimp Provencale, steamed asparagus, baby carrots and potato gratin, burnished with the third wine, the "Chateau Kirwan 1995" of the same vintage.


The dessert course was a chocolate Viennetta with figs in black current sauce, red wine ice cream.

We rolled home to the ship, on the buses, at about 9:30.pm.

By the time we got back to the ship in dock it was time for some varieties of superb French cheese and a glass of Sauternes.