I’m part of an “international women’s club”, based in the Landes and the Pays Basque; mostly I just attend the book club, run in English, which means that once a month I can express myself properly, without effort and understand everything that’s said – a real treat! A lot of the other activities, such as lunches, cooking demonstrations, apéros, mah jong and bridge don’t really appeal to me.  Occasionally, however, they hold other events, such as Wednesday’s trip to Bordeaux. A cousin of one of the ladies has lived in Bordeaux all his life and is the president of the Bordeaux automobile club; he was our guide for the day and organised lunch for us at the club’s headquarters.

Anne Marie gave me a lift as far as Hossegor, from where we had a coach to Bordeaux, setting off under a glorious blue sky. Unfortunately the fog rolled in not far from Bordeaux, but that did nothing to dampen our spirits.

Vincent led us on a walk around the heart of the historic city, pointing out the important buildings and explaining a bit of their history. It was my first visit; I’d heard that it’s impressive, but I wasn’t prepared for the magnificence of the architecture, which I found imposing and rather majestic. I’ll definitely be going back.

Lunch was excellent, an imaginative menu, beautifully served in the automobile club’s restaurant, by waiters in old fashioned uniform. When I declined the dessert, because I can’t eat sugar, they brought me a plate of fresh pineapple instead – no fuss.

Once lunch was over, we had a short, “digestive” walk; there are some very interesting looking shops that I’d love to go back to explore. A bonus was the lack of traffic; I don’t know if cars aren’t allowed in the centre, or just discouraged, but there were very few. However, there is an excellent, modern tram system.

It was soon time to get back on the bus for the journey out of the centre to the Bassin des Lumières, which, for me, was the highlight of the day. Built by the Nazis during WW2, as a “service station” for submarines, this ugly, square, concrete block, on the banks of the Garonne river has been transformed into an amazing art centre. The whole is divided into three sections, each one with a huge, water-filled parking space for a submarine, surrounded by wide concrete walkways. The only light comes from the images projected onto the walls, and in some places, floors. These images are closely based on the work of various artists and move, sometimes fading from one image to the next, sometimes seeming to fall into the water. Of course, they’re all reflected in the water too and are accompanied by specially chosen music.

I went for the first time last year, to see a Dali and Gaudi exhibition and was blown away by it! This time, we thought we were seeing Mondrian and Van Gogh, but discovered on our arrival that Wednesday afternoons, at the moment, are for children (schools close on Wednesdays), so it was “le Petit Prince”, which was truly magical. I’m going back to see Van Gogh/Mondrian in a few weeks with Graham, my son in law, when he comes over, so I wasn’t at all disappointed.

It was late by the time the coach dropped us in Hossegor ; I was pleased not to be doing the drive home. A quick bite to eat, then bed; I was tired, but it had been a wonderful day.