Inauguration of La Tram Douce
A couple of weeks ago I was cycling back from near the Marché des Capucins. It's not very far, but the direct route takes you down Cours de la Marne, the main road to the central railway station. It's a narrow road with lots of bus routes and desperately needs resurfacing. Not ideal cycling territory. So I decided to take parallel roads.
Oh the fun I had!
In the course of about 1/2 mile I got lost at least four times, occasionally having no clue whatsoever where I was. The problem is that Bordeaux is not built on anything resembling a grid. Not at all! If anything it is like a spider's web built by a deranged and intoxicated beast. Odd angles. Weird curves. Tangents and forks. We have it all...
Anyway, the Marie has come to my rescue! On Saturday we participated in the inauguration of La Tram Douce ("the soft weft"?) The idea is to provide a clearly marked route down the higgledy-piggledy side roads along a 2km route from la Place Sainte-Eulalie to the Place Sainte-Croix, or basically beyond where I wanted to go at both ends.
It was a wonderfully odd affair. First the speeches from the various mayors. Then we got an explanation of what would happen. Then we had to perform certain physical jerks before starting our route.
The route was punctuated by stops where we had to do actions based on various animals, such as walking sideways (pas chassées) like crabs, or standing on one leg with our arms held our, like flamingoes. Other stops had small concerts by two drummers, a trumpeter and a vocalist. The grand finale was a dance duo. We were given orange juice and cold chai to keep us going until the cake and orange juice that awaited us at the end of the route. In all it took us about two hours in the beautiful autumn sunshine. Then Pat and I followed the red line back home, and it took about 15 minutes.
Oh the fun I had!
In the course of about 1/2 mile I got lost at least four times, occasionally having no clue whatsoever where I was. The problem is that Bordeaux is not built on anything resembling a grid. Not at all! If anything it is like a spider's web built by a deranged and intoxicated beast. Odd angles. Weird curves. Tangents and forks. We have it all...
Anyway, the Marie has come to my rescue! On Saturday we participated in the inauguration of La Tram Douce ("the soft weft"?) The idea is to provide a clearly marked route down the higgledy-piggledy side roads along a 2km route from la Place Sainte-Eulalie to the Place Sainte-Croix, or basically beyond where I wanted to go at both ends.
It was a wonderfully odd affair. First the speeches from the various mayors. Then we got an explanation of what would happen. Then we had to perform certain physical jerks before starting our route.
The route was punctuated by stops where we had to do actions based on various animals, such as walking sideways (pas chassées) like crabs, or standing on one leg with our arms held our, like flamingoes. Other stops had small concerts by two drummers, a trumpeter and a vocalist. The grand finale was a dance duo. We were given orange juice and cold chai to keep us going until the cake and orange juice that awaited us at the end of the route. In all it took us about two hours in the beautiful autumn sunshine. Then Pat and I followed the red line back home, and it took about 15 minutes.
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