It took us almost an hour to get to the airport because of rush hour traffic and when we got there, we wondered if we were at the right place.  There was almost no one at the airport.  I guess Bordeaux is just a small airport.

The flight was less than 1 and a half hours and because of the time difference, we landed at 11:15 after taking off at 11:00.

We trained and tubed to our rental flat arriving aboout 1 p.m.

We walked west to get some lunch and found a pub called The Ship.

From there, we walked further west to Sir John Soane’s Museum.  The Museum was designed by Soane, one of Britain’s greatest architects, and was his home as well as his private Museum. It is a building of originality with its picturesque vistas and inventive handling of light and space. Soane’s collections – architectural fragments, Graeco-Roman marbles, casts, paintings, sculpture and furniture – are combined with the architecture of the building, and are still arranged today as they were at the time of his death in 1837.  The result is many floors just stuffed with objects.  Some good Turner paintings, as Turner was a friend, and some very good Hogarths.  No photos allowed but here is the exterior.

13 Lincoln’s Inn Field

For dinner, we went to St John Bar & Restaurant, which advertises itself as practicing nose to tail cooking, reviving British tradition of not wasting any animal parts.  The place reflects the owner, Fergus Henderson, very unpretentious, no attempt at decor, but serious about cooking. The place was very lively and the food was very good.

partridge and savoy cabbage with runner beans and chard

sprats, sardine like fish

roasted bone marrow, parsley salad and toast

roasted Middlewhite pork and swede, i.e. turnip