Drinking in the morning (4)

The excursion in Bordeaux took TSH and Diva to the wine museum. This is a very modern, interesting and well set up building – photo below. In order to hear the commentary and understand the exhibits, you need headphones and a transmit/receive device. Point the device at the indicated places around the museum and you hear the commentary in your own language. Unfortunately, no-one told TSH and Diva which bit of the device to point, so they needed help from some kind French people. In turn, they were able to help other people who had not been told how the system worked. They learned that the original meaning of ‘symposium’ was ‘drinking together’. So all those business meetings were accurately described after all.

The final part of the visit was to the Belvedere on the 8^th floor. Diva does not like crowded lifts but dug up enough schoolgirl French to ask the attendant not to allow too many people in with her. He was very sympathetic and held most people back for a later ascent. On the Belvedere, they each drank a glass of Bordeaux rose (seemed more morning-like) and looked at the views over the city. TSH and his camera went to the outside viewing platform.

Over lunch, Diva was incredibly impressed to hear people discussing the recently found possible discrepancy in the mass of the W boson (Particle’s surprise mass threatens to upend the standard model (nature.com)). This potentially overturns the standard model of particle physics. And one of the people on the next table had been involved in the work at Fermi Labs!!!

Later, outside Panorama lounge, there was discussion about the advantages of the James Webb telescope over the Hubble telescope. Silver Moon is a physics ship.

 

St Emilion and Belle-ile

The tour to St Emilion was the best Silversea tour this cruise. It took TSH and Diva to a medieval stone village which is a world heritage site. On the way, they passed many famous vineyards, such as Pomeron and Cheval blanc, whose produce is way beyond TSH’s wine budget. One of the highlights of the village was the stone church which had been carved out of the rock. During WW2, it was used to store the stained glass windows of the northern France cathedrals to save them from the bombing. Back in Bordeaux, they had a good external view of the new wine museum, open for just a few days, which is designed to look like wine swirling into a decanter. The inside seems to be a bit like the Guinness museum in Dublin, with tasting in the panoramic view bar at the end.

The Silversea boutique had a sale of venetian glass jewellery, so after a couple of glasses of port, Diva added to her collection.

The excursion to Belle-ile has two narratives. TSH thought it was interesting and scenic and he had a good time. Except when Diva was complaining. Because the walking in the heat up hills and over cobbles was far more than she had expected. And everybody walks faster than she does. It felt like games class at school. Parts of the coast were very wild and rocky, like Cornwall but the interior was mainly rolling small hills. The views on the coast were very dramatic – in one place, it was totally clear and in just a few moments the mist rolled in. TSH took so many pics that his SD card ran out of space.

An unscheduled stop next so that the Silver Wind can officially exit the Schengen area.

TSH photographed gannets following the Silver Wind and on Belle-ile he spotted a few lizards of varying sizes. Also special breeds of cows and sheep.

The executive chef is providing special food most evenings. Mostly cheese but sometimes antipasti, such as olives or oysters. Diva ate the oyster but TSH passed. He had eaten shellfish earlier in the day when he did not wear his specs to visit the buffet and he ended up with seafood pizza.