Saint-Emilion,, France: Château Fleur de Lisse

I can't say I'm a big fan of the whole wine culture. I'll sip a glass every so often, but I'm not sophisticated enough to be able to tell the difference from one brand to the next. Still, I'm certainly willing to see how the liquid is produced, and wineries are prettier than most factories.

Therefore, I was good with a visit to Chateau Fleur de Lisse outside of Bordeaux. We saw a few different areas of the new and clean facility. There are a couple of rooms used for storage, etc. as they age. Me, I like to see those wood barrels that hold wine that will be consumed well down the road. The entrance triples as a tasting room and as a gift shop. 

I can report that after a lesson on how to drink the stuff, I could guess how old the liquid was, more or less. Smelled pretty good too. The reviews from others were quite positive, so I guess we picked a good spot. Too bad all of the rain that fell in the region made it impossible to walk around the vineyard without ruining some shoes and socks.

Bordeaux, France

The chance to take a nice walking tour is a highlight of any visit to the Old Town portion of Bordeaux - even when it was raining. Which it was that day. Hard. My clothes still haven't dried out.

But, the motto of such occasions is to make the best of it, and there's plenty to see that makes you want to clean the water off your glasses. In this case, it's the Maison Gobineau, which adjoins the Place de la Comedie. It might remind you of the Flatiron Building in New York City. The triangular structure currently hosts a wine bar on the first floor, but previous was the site of a cinema. Wonder how that worked?

Bordeaux isn't a huge city at 260,000 people, but more than a million others are in the suburbs - making it an important area in France. The cities have more or less banded together to run certain government activities. 

Not everyone comes here for the wine, but certainly it is an attraction. It's one of the world's capitals in such areas, and the food is pretty good too. What's more it's been going on for 2,000 years or so, as the Romans introduced it to the region back then. 

Bordeaux, France: Sanna Sculpture

If this doesn't catch your eye, you simply need to pay more attention while walking around.

This is Sanna, a large but thin sculpture. It was produced by Catalan artist Jaume Plensa. In 2013, the city hosted a large outdoor display of his work around the streets of Bordeaux, with emphasis on "large." These were big pieces, and attracted some notice. Having a height of more than 21 feet will do that.

In fact, when the time of the exhibition ended, the city of Bordeaux didn't want it to go away. So this Sanna Sculpture has remained in place, more than 10 years later. 

Public art is usually designed to be fun, and this certainly qualifies.

Bordeaux, France: Place de la Bourse

The effects of the French Revolution are probably everywhere in France. The catch is that you have to know where to look.

The square was built in the middle of the 1700s,. At some point after that, a statue of King Louis XV went up. Not too much later, the King died of smallpox. And then the revolution arrived, and the statue came down. As for Louis XVI, well, smallpox might have been an improvement for him and wife Marie. It's not easy being a King, as Mel Brooks once said.

A fountain quickly went up on the same spot as a replacement, but Bordeaux wasn't quite ready yet to call it a day (or a century yet). In 1869, the Three Graves Fountain went up in the same place.

Bordeaux, France: Parliament Square

Bordeaux had its own Parliament from the 1400s through 1790. And if you have an important legislative body, you need an important looking building to go with it. 

Everything was working fine until 1790. Then came the Revolution, and there went Parliament. Eventually, Bordeaux got around to rebuilding the region in the 1800s, and it's worked out fine. You can linger for a while, rest after some shopping nearby, or have something to eat or drink. 

The square picked up a limestone coating in 1980, but other aspects go back about 200 years. A fountain stands guard over the plaza.