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.