Spring arrived today.... and been very busy

Spring did arrive today....we had a beautiful walk after a frosty start, but then the sun shone, the warmth on the sun came out, and the sky was very blue...SPRING... :-) but the most amazing thing was right above our heads in the garden, the Cranes arrived, a sure sign that Spring has arrived, they came in their hundreds, quite breath taking to see, they were making such a noise, I think to make us French people aware that "they are back"  .....  We managed to catch a few tits in the trees as well, the garden was full of birds today, flying around us as we worked on the Potager getting it ready for planting. 1st top cutting of the grass cut today, love the smell of nearly mown grass... now time for a cuppa..

Morning frost

Beautiful sky

Love walking through the woods

Love this photo

Sat and posed for me

Beautiful against the blue sky

Signing to me

refreshment time

Potager nearly rotavated

Lunch time

They arrived in their hundreds

All rotavated

Hundreds of them

Love the first cut of grass after Winter

Looking tidy again

Hubby hard at work

National Jean Moulin, Second World War Museum, Bordeaux.

We visited the Jean Moulin Museum, it has a documented archive and Museum of the Second World War, it's 3 floors house collections devoted to the Resistance, Deportation and the Free French Forces.

Jean Moulin (20 June 1899 - 8th July 1943) was a high-profile member of the French resistance during World War 11, he is remembered today as an emblem of the Resistance, owing mainly to his role in unifying the French Resistance under de Gaulle and his courage and death at the hands of the Gestapo.

Jean Moulin

The Museum is very interesting, they even have a replica of the canoe the Cockleshell heros used.The Cockleshell heroes raided Nazi-occupied Bordeaux in December 1942 in "Operation Frankton"The Cockleshell heros target was the harbour complex of the city. The port was very important to the Germans as many merchant ships used to supply the German army, stationed not only in France but also elsewhere throughout occupied Europe. They succeeded in sinking one ship and severely damaging four others and doing enough damage in the port to greatly disrupt the use of the harbour for months to come. Such was the significance of the raid the Winston Churchill said it helped shorten World War Two by six months.

The French Resistance played a vital part in aiding the Allies to success in Western Europe, especially leading up to D-Day in June 1944. The French Resistance supplied the Allies with vital intelligence reports as well as doing a huge amount of work to disrupt the German supply and communication lines within France.


My pictures will give a small insight of what is was like, a topic that could go on and on...and a very sensitive subject even today amongst the French.

Replica of Cockleshell Heroes Canoe

Machinery that forged Passports

Day 2 in Bordeaux continued..

Day 2 in Bordeaux was proving to be quite a tiring day, but we wanted to see as much as we could in the short time we were there.

The Grand Théâtre de Bordeaux is a very impressive building. The Théâtre was designed by the architect Victor Louis. In 1871 the théâtre was briefly the National Assembly for the French Parliament.
The inside of the théâtre was restored in 1991, and once again has its original colours of blue and gold. The grand théâtre is one of the oldest wooden frame opera houses in Europe not to have burnt or required rebuilding.

Today the théâtre is home to the Opéra National de Bordeaux as well as the Ballet National de Bordeaux.

The Grand Théâtre

Over at the Place de la Bourse, they've installed the "miroir d'eau" or water mirror, the most beautiful puddle in Europe. The granite paving by Michel Corajoud reflects elegant 18C facades, thanks to a fountain system that alternates a mirror effect (2cm of water) with a mist effect.

Taken at night (not by me)

We took this photo

Taken during the water fountain system (not by me)

with the mist (not taken by me)

                                 Photos of architecture that appealed to us as we walked around Bordeaux.

           The rue Sainte-Catherine, a 1.2km long pedestrian street, is the main shipping street in Bordeaux

Day 2 of our Bordeaux trip.. to be continued..

Woke up to a drizzly start of the day, day 2 of our trip in Bordeaux....and hubby's birthday..Happy Birthday to you ...

We decided to start the day by visiting Europe's largest sand dune, better known as The great Dune of Pyla, located in La Teste-du-Buch in Arcashon Bay.
The Dune has a volume of about 60,000,000m3, measuring around 500m wide from east to west and 2.7km in length from north to south. It's height is 108 mtrs above sea level. The dune is a famous tourist destination with more than one million visitors per year.

You can get the grand scale of size, by how tiny hubby looks climbing up it.

The sun decided to come out, so we decided it would be a good idea to go to the beach and have a lovely seafood lunch.  What a beautiful day it turned out to be, glorious blue sky and the sea looking very inviting albeit a bit cold..

Oyster Trawler

Moules

After our lovely walk on the beach it soon became lunchtime, well so our tummies was telling us...fresh sea air I think.

Found a delicious Fish Restaurant, be silly not to try the local produce, and it was hubby's birthday..

Delicious starter

Monk Fish

Infamous Crème brûlée